Smoked Venison Leg Roast

Seared, smoked venison roast. This roast pictured includes no sugar in the brine.

There’s not much better than a good piece of smoked meat, especially a smoked venison / deer leg roast. If you’re a long-time reader of this site you’ll know that I love charcuterie: sausages, salami, terrines and pates, as well as the cousins like whole muscle cures and brined chunks of meat like pastrami and ham.

This is a little different than most of the others. Simply put, it’s more casual, good for a beginner whose smoked meat-curious or for the hardcore eater who wants to sate that smoky-time craving. 

This is a simple smoked venison roast recipe, really simple. And, it’s really a compromise in that it’s not exactly charcuterie, but the brining and careful smoking will be familiar to any charcuterie buffs. The big difference here as I see it from something like venison pastrami is that the roast doesn’t include pink salt. Pink salt is nice for some things, especially pastrami, bacon, and corned anything, but it’s unnecessary for this. 

A Simple Chunk of Smoked Meat 

All this is really, is a simple smoked hunk of meat that you can eat hot, but better yet, make ahead and slice thin for sandwiches and all sort of other things. I like to use a whole muscle from a venison leg for this, but you could do something similar with a rolled neck, or even a chunk of backstrap if you want.

It’s easy to make, just make a good brine with vegetables and herbs, chill it down, then submerge the venison roast in it for 12-48 hours. Afterword you smoke the roast on a nice, low heat, and finish it with a good, hard sear after smoking.

Searing after smoking ensures you get a good crust. This is only possible if you don’t add sugar to the initial brine. 

The importance of searing

Searing the venison roast after smoking might seem counter intuitive, but it’s part of the secret of a good meaty crust here. If you take the roast out of the brine and try to sear it right away, it won’t work as good, since the meat is wet from being in the brine. A little time in the smoker dries out the surface of the meat, priming it for the dark brown meaty crust we all know and love. 

After it’s seared, you let the meat rest, and you could serve it right away, keeping it in a warm place and flashing it in the oven before carving off slices, or you can chill it (makes slicing easier) and eat it cold on sandwiches, chopped up in salads, etc. It goes without saying that it’s great paired with horseradish in any form. Here’s a few ideas. 

The “flap” off a venison football roast, brined with the fish sauce brine. This I cook to medium-ish for slicing cold for sandwiches.

How I use it 

• Carved and served hot like any other roast with mashed potatoes and all the fixings 
• Chilled and sliced for sandwiches, preferably with horseradish sauce
• End pieces are great diced and tossed in soups, or mixed in with things like fried potatoes for hash 
• Sliced thin, it can make a great smoked venison carpaccio or simple dish of cold smoked venison

Why is the meat not pink like pastrami? 

Smoked meat that stays pink after cooking is made from long-brined meat relying on pink salt (sodium nitrate) in the brine. Any meat that looks bright pink after cooking (hams, hot dogs and sausages, pastrami, corned beef, etc) has all been treated with pink salt.

I make a lot of charcuterie, so I use plenty of pink salt, but for some preparations, I don’t want it to have that look or taste. This is one of those times. If you want a pink salt or brine version of this, check out my venison neck pastrami, or one of the many versions of it on the internet. It’s hard to mess up. 

A venison “football roast” is a good one to cook like this. The dark outside bark comes from having sugar in the brine. The football roast I usually cook to medium or 135F-140F because of the sinew in the middle 

Sugar or No Sugar? 

This is a big question. Most recipes will probably have sugar in them. Sugar is not necessary, and will prevent you from being able to properly sear the meat, but it all depends on what you want to do with it.

My advice, is if you want to eat the venison like a roast, use my brine with salt only, cooking to your desired temperature, I like it about 130-135F. If you want to have cold roast venison for sandwiches, use the brine with sugar in it and cook the meat to 135-140F for medium. 

Basic Recipe with no sugar 

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Smoked Venison Leg Roast

A simple smoked venison leg roast you can carve and eat like a roast, or save to slice thin for sandwiches, etc. Pass the horseradish!

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Course: Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Smoked Venison, Venison

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 3 lb venison leg roast trimmed of sinew, or multiple, smaller roasts. I like the sirloin for this one, the long rectangle with the visible grain

Brine

• 2 3 inch strips lemon peel use a vegetable peeler to do this
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 10 Tbsp kosher salt this is 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons
• 2 qt water
• 1 small onion chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic crushed with the back of a knife
• 1 teaspoon black pepper corns
• 1 rib celery chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• A few sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme optional, use a good pinch of dried if you don’t have fresh

Instructions

Brine

• Bring the brine ingredients to a boil then cool completely. Submerge the venison roast in the brine in a small pot or similar container where it can fit snugly (or a thick plastic bag set into a flat tray or Tupperware to prevent spills). You may not need all of the brine. Refrigerate the venison roast in the brine for at least 12 hours, and up to 5 days. I like to aim for a solid 24 hours.

Smoking

• Remove the roast, then cold smoke at 225F until an internal temperature of 130-135 F. Remove the roast, pat dry, and prepare to sear it.

Searing

• Heat a heavy cast iron skillet, grill or other surface until nearly smoking hot, brown the roast on all sides until golden with a drizzle of oil, about 1 minute per side, then remove and rest in a warm place for AT LEAST 15 minutes before slicing. After resting, this should give you about a medium-rare to medium doneness.*see note

Notes

Serving Hot

* If you keep the roast in a warm place, you can reheat it in an oven a bit to flash it before you carve and serve it.

Brine with sugar for eating like ham 

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Ham Style Smoked Venison Leg Roast (Fish sauce brine with sugar)

Long-cured (5 days) venison leg roast with a rich fish sauce brine. Since the brine contains sugar, it will taste more like ham, and is good as a cold cut. (Pink salt is optional)

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Brining time5 d

Course: Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Smoked Venison, Venison

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 3 lb venison leg roast trimmed of sinew, or multiple, smaller roasts. I like the sirloin for this one, the long rectangle with the visible grain

Basic Brine

• 3/4 cup Fish sauce, preferably Red Boat brand 5 tablespoons kosher salt can be substituted
• 1 qt water
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, molasses, or similar
• 10 grams Pink salt (Sodium Nitrate) optional

Seasonings (pick and choose your favorites or make your own blend)

• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 3 inch strips orange peel use a vegetable peeler to do this
• 1 small onion chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic minced or grated
• 1 rib celery chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1 oz fresh ginger sliced

Spices (pick and choose your favorites or make your own blend)

• 1 Tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns optional
• 1 teaspoon black pepper corns
• 1 teaspoon whole allspice
• 10 cloves

Instructions

Brine

• Toast the spices then crush roughly in a mortar and pestle. Bring the brine ingredients to a boil then cool completely.
• Submerge the venison roast in the brine in a small pot or similar container (or a thick plastic bag set into a flat tray or Tupperware to prevent spills). Refrigerate the venison roast in the brine for 5 days.

Smoking

• Remove the roast, then cold smoke at 225F until an internal temperature of 130-135 F. Remove the roast, pat dry, and prepare to sear it.

Searing

• Heat a heavy cast iron skillet, grill or other surface until nearly smoking hot, brown the roast on all sides until golden with a drizzle of oil, about 1 minute per side, then remove and rest in a warm place for AT LEAST 15 minutes before slicing. After resting, this should give you about a medium-rare to medium doneness.*see note

Notes

Serving Hot

* If you keep the roast in a warm place, you can reheat it in an oven a bit to flash it before you carve and serve it.