Smoking God - Not!!

[wildernessmaster]

Epic Fail!!!

I took an elk roast out and tried to smoke it last night... What an epic fail. It ended up way too salty, way too smoky, and still tough.

Here is my breakdown of where I think my failures are... Any smoking gods out there please mentor me... I want to become one. I love smoked game (and meat in general) and have a farm.

1. The roast was a ~3 lb'er that had been steaked into between 1/2" and 3/4" cuts.
2. I salted both sides and left in the refrig for about 36 hours. I used Himalayan Pink Salt
3. I then marinaded it overnight in some apple cider vinegar, sweet baby rays and spices.
3. I have an original Bradley smoker and I used cherry pucks. I got it up on about 200 and put the meat in. I then let it cool down and kept it at 150 for about 5 hours.

Epic fail.

How do you smoke game so it is tender, juicy and has that just right smoked taste?

 

[ZDR]

well, I have my share of smoking fails for sure but I'll give you my minus 2 cents:
1. I would have smoked it for ~60 mins and then wrapped in foil. Raise the temp on the smoker to about 225 and leave it until the internal temp hit 190. It seems like thats the magic temp for fall apart tender
2. If it did not have much fat, I would have wrapped in bacon as well. All else fails, eat the bacon.

Ive never done elk on a smoker so this is really a shot in the dark...
looking forward to hearing from some true experts on here.

z

 

[Mike Islander]

Way too cold. 225 - 250 for 4 hours. Don't precut. Don't marinade. Just put a good rub to it. Bag it in paper or foil after it reaches 150, then continue until it hits 200 inside. Pull and rest it 10-20 minutes. You only need a few oz of wood to get plenty of smoke flavor.

 

[dakotaduner]

Curious on this one too. As I am not a smoking God either. I do take notes on what works for me a what does not every time I do something.

 

[bsnedeker]

Agree with Mike. If you were trying to put a little smoke on it before you grilled it to MR your technique would have been perfect. Cut into steaks, put in smoke at a low temp for 30-60 minutes, then pull off and sear it on the grill until it's done.

If you want to smoke it all the way leave it whole, smoke at 225, wrap when it get's to 150-160, should be done around 200 degrees.

 

[Whisky]

Some cuts are just meant to become burger. You didnt specify what muscle the roast was from.

1/2-3/4" steaks are too thin. Especially for the treatment you gave them. You basically cured them with the 36hr salt, then marinated in salty vinegar on top of that.

Bradley smokers put out heavy, dirty smoke. I had one. They are better served for smoking things like jerky, sausage, cold smoke fish, etc.. Not what I would consider good BBQ smokers.

Steaks should be grilled direct, hot and fast to rare/medium rare.

Roasts smoked indirect and reverse seared to rare/medium rare... Or, give a whole roast the "Mississippi pot roast" treatment. ...Generally wild game roasts are tougher and dryer.

 

[Mike Islander]

I've been smoking tough cuts of venison all year. The technique above has made every cut taste great. They are loooooow fat, of course. So you have to accept that and enjoy it for what it is. When fully cooked, it's "fall off the bone" tender.

 

[Poser]

I’ll often apply regularly coats of lard during the smoking process.

 

[wildernessmaster]

********************** Update *************************
Great feedback Roksliders...

First, thank you to @whiskey! I had always thought that Bradleys were a bit strong on the smoke. But everybody raves about them, so being new to smoking, I thought it was me.

Things I changed:
- salted for only 24 hours and a lot less salt on the meat
- smoking time down to 30-45 minutes for thin cuts, and maybe an hour and half for roasts
- wrapped sometimes with bacon, sometimes not in foil and cooked at 190ish for 4-6 hours (depending on cut).

Wow, what a difference. I still need to figure out how to get the interior more juicy but the flavor is definitely there!

Big win... did a solid 3.5 lb elk roast. It was delish... The inside was not quite as juicy as I would like, but we ate it for days. In fact toward the end, I made elk sandwiches with it (like roast beef) and OMG good!

Thanks guys. I will continue to update as I improve with my tips.

 

[ChrisS]

I wouldn't smoke a roast from a hind quarter or even a shoulder. Most game is way too lean to benefit much from smoking.

Season the outside, sear, and roast at 375 or so with wood smoke until 135f, rest and slice thin.

Low and slow smokes are for tough gristly meat full of fat and connective tissue where you're shooting to get the internal temp above 170 to render the connective tissue to make it less tough.

 

[LostArra]

Epic Fail!!!


3. I then marinaded it overnight in some sweet baby rays

From this point on the poor roast had no chance.



Fortunately Mike set you straight. Those SC guys do know a thing about bbq.

 

[OctoberGold]

Sounds like you are making some good progress. If the middle isn't juicy enough, you may be overcooking.

I smoke my elk roasts like I smoke my prime rib. Coat the roast liberally with the rub recipe below and let sit on the counter until room temp. Smoke at 225 until about 125, then tent with foil and let the temp come up to about 130.

Rub Recipe:

• ⅓ cup kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons dry mustard
• 4 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic or dried minced garlic, or 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme, crushed
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons celery seeds

 

[TommyV10]

Never done an elk but have smoked many briskets and pork butts. I smoke at 170-185 until the meat temp reaches 165 with just a rub on it while spritzing it with an apple juice and Worcestershire sauce mix every 1-1.5 hours then wrap in foil, pour 1 cup of the mix over the meat keeping the excess in the foil and finish at 225 until the meat temp reaches 198-200. Meat is always super tender melt in your mouth and juicy.

 

[drewgttu]

I had a bad experience with leaving backstrap steaks in the refrig for an extended time ~24-36 hrs. I set it on a wire rack and it essentially "dry aged" just a bit and formed a crust. It wasn't well defined and I didn't acknowledge it and trim it off. It was cooked to a rare-medium rare but was tough as hell to eat. Trimmed edges off after eating some of it and it was wonderful.

Not sure if that's your case, just what I have experienced. Just saw that you set yours in for 36 hours and don't know if it was marinating or set out dry.

 

[Lytro]

I like to coat them with avocado oil and dry rub, put back in the fridge uncovered overnight. Next day supersmoke at 225 on the Traeger until it hits 110. Remove, crank the grill up to 500, and sear on all sides to get a crust. Remove at 130 and let rest for 5-10 minutes. I do the same thing with back straps or any thick cut beef steak.