Happy Monday. Cheat meals are about to get even better. Last week we went into how to make a cool summer snack to stave off the heat while contributing towards your daily protein target.
This week the summer trend continues. I figure since things are starting to warm up, it’d be pretty stupid to pass up a great opportunity to share with you all some brilliant summer food ideas.
I tried this recipe in particular just this past Friday with some venison I still had in the freezer and just had to post it up on here.
This one, like several prior posts is quick and easy. Credit goes to Average Hunter this time around.
Let’s get started.
Smoky, Tender, Mouth-Watering Pulled Venison – Cheat Day Just Got Better.
When it comes to choosing meats, I always opt for wild game whenever I can. The health benefits are obvious, and wild game in general is much leaner than your bog standard store-bought options.
This recipe is great because deer meat is lean, so you get very little fat content, but can still enjoy a tender, juicy summer barbecue meal. On the other side of that coin, because venison is so lean, like many lean meats it tends to dry out quick with too much heat too soon, so you’ve got to do things right and be patient.
This recipe is dead easy and makes sure your meat stays tender and easy to pull apart for mouth-watering pulled venison sandwiches.
Enjoy.
Makes: Leftovers your kids will fight you for.
Prep Time: Not long, if you can figure out what seasonings you want.
Smoke Time: 4.5-5 hours.
Total Time: Around 5 plus hours.
Items Needed: A smoker. 1 large foil pan. Patience. Quality smoke chips. Some more foil. Even more patience.
Ingredients:
- Your favorite cuts of venison roasts
- Your favorite spice and seasoning mix (I like a lot of black pepper)
- A quality beer (for cooking – not for drinking…or maybe both, hell it’s the weekend – just…in moderation, okay?)
- Apple Cider Vinegar (this’ll make your venison really tender)
- A quality maple syrup or honey
Directions:
- Prep your deer roasts of choice with whatever seasonings and spices you want.
- I was pretty generous with the black pepper.
- Get your smoker ready and keep the temperature low – you’ll want your venison to get up to temperatures somewhere in the neighborhood of 145-150 F/63-66 C degrees. Like hunting, this is a patient man’s game so it’ll take around 3 to 3.5 hours.
- Once your venison’s reached those temperatures, take them off the grill and toss them into a foil pan with some beer.
- Now for some more patience – slowly bring your meat up to 155-165 F/69-74 C degrees – don’t go over this temperature – you’ll end up drying the meat out and making it tougher than a bad batch of jerky.
- When your venison’s reached its ideal temperature, go ahead and pull it off the smoker and slice it up.
- Toss it back in your foil pan, adding some more beer with some apple cider vinegar and maple syrup/honey, amounts tailored to your taste, and let it sit in the smoker for a further 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- I like smoky and sweet, so went with a decent amount of maple syrup.
- Done.
Easy right?
Few things to mention.
Adding more liquid towards the end of the process allows lean meats like venison to stay tender and juicy – so by the time they’re done smoking, you’ve got an explosion of all those flavors you added during the whole process, now nice and fully absorbed by the meat.
Apple cider vinegar helps in making meats tender, along with maple syrup (which also gives things a nice glaze). Beer isn’t just nice to drink – it helps with keeping things tender as well.
Nutrition-wise, you’re getting a high protein meal that has antioxidant and mineral benefits from the spice/seasonings (as long as they’re not pre-packaged mixes…don’t be lazy), the cider vinegar, beer, and the maple syrup/honey (legit, real maple syrup is better in every sense when compared to the sugar cocaine you drizzle on your waffles in the morning).
If you read either SUPP UP. On The Go or At Home nutrition books, you’ll understand what minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients these ingredients provide you with.
When you take the slices of freshly smoked venison and pull them apart until they’re a pulled meat texture, grab a stainless steel or glass bowl, take some of your favorite BBQ sauce and go to town with mixing the two together – slap it on a bun or bread of choice, your favorite melty cheese (Monterey Jack anyone?), have some sweet potato fries, an ice-cold pear cider, maybe a side salad and well…you’ll thank me later.
Cheat meals just got a whole lot better – no reason to feel guilty here, you’ve earned it champ.
If you liked this recipe, share it.
If you really like this recipe, but don’t have the SUPP UP. books yet, buy either SUPP UP. On The Go or SUPP UP. At Home E-BOOKS now, and discover what other, unique to each book recipes are available under the “Snacks” chapters (preview of chapters available in shop).
Both books have recipes that provide nutritional breakdown so it makes things dead easy (as a heads up, this isn’t a recipe from the book, just something great I wanted to share – see ‘Recipe Credit’ at the bottom of this page).
Drop by next week for yet another great post to add to your workout and nutrition arsenal.
Stop doing guesswork, start making the necessities of your life easier.
SUPP UP. – Get your copies now.
If You Know How To Fuel and Train Your Body, Where You Are Matters Less.™
– SUPP UP.
Smoky, Tender, Mouth-Watering Pulled Venison – Cheat Day Just Got Better. is a post from SUPP UP.
Recipe Credit: Average Hunter
Photo Credit: Oliver Sjöström
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