29/10/2025
Venison neck roast pastrami.
It turned out spectacular!
Brined for 5 days:
3 quarts water
195 grams salt roughly ¾ cup
1 oz by wt pink curing salt sodium nitrite
3 Tablespoons pickling spice
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 large yellow onion sliced
3 dried bay leaves
1 bulb garlic halved horizontally
Rinsed thoroughly and braised for about 6 hours in a foil pan with aluminum foil over the top in a 250 degree grill (no smoke yet). You want the roast to end up being just like pulled pork, and the braise ensures it doesnt get dry.
Braise:
1/3 water 1/3 beef stock 1/3 red wine
Soak applewood chips in water for an hour and take the foil off your roast. Smoke your roast for a couple hours.
Observations:
We actually didn't think the smoke was all that great and probably would have just not smoked the roast at all, there was plenty of flavor and the roast was not too salty at all!
Probably could have knocked a day off the brining time. It was thoroughly cured but not too salty
We also decided against coating the roast with the typical coriander/black pepper coating.
