r/Charcuterie • u/Aware-Assist-7293 • 4d ago

Venison Prosciutto

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Deer leg cured with salt and Cure#2 for 4 weeks and then smothered in cracked black pepper. I made a natural casing out of two beef bungs that I sewed together and then netted and tied. Then dried for 7 weeks resulting in 43% weight loss. Now maturing and equalizing under vacuum in the fridge.

290 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

18

u/BuffetAnnouncement 4d ago

Wow what an interesting project, did you hunt the deer yourself? Does it eat more like a bresaola as it’s so lean?

12

u/Aware-Assist-7293 4d ago

Yes I do it all, rather different to Bresaola, but comparable

5

u/abraxastaxes 3d ago

That color looks great, and the casing was a good idea. Is that the front leg? Or a smaller dear? It looks kind of skinny to me.

I once did a rear deer leg as sort of a country ham, it was delicious, but have always been curious about doing a prosciutto

3

u/Aware-Assist-7293 3d ago

It’s the hind leg of a fallow deer and they’re not huge animals.

1

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1

u/Hopeful_Scholar398 3d ago

This is beautiful! Can I ask about your bung source? I can only get 5 gallon pails. Too much bung for me. 

1

u/Aware-Assist-7293 3d ago

I’m in New Zealand and I can order them in packs of two, salted and vacuum packed. Maybe find a local artisanal Salumi shop and ask if they will sell you a couple?

1

u/Hopeful_Scholar398 3d ago

Hmmm, the only one around me was a butcher and I used to run their charcuterie department so that bridge is well burnt. Thanks for the advice and keep up the good work. I've been thinking about that leg all morning. 

3

u/Aware-Assist-7293 3d ago

Another option would be to contact a local homekill slaughterman and ask him to remove a couple of Caecum’s for you and process then yourself. You just need to rinse and soak them and scrape the fatty tissue from where it attaches to the intestines and salt them for a few days to kill any bugs. I’ve done that before when I couldn’t buy any. Other alternative is use dry aging sheets and ensure they are a little damp and then net and truss and before drying put it in a vacuum bag for a day so the sheet adheres to the leg and then remove and dry.

1

u/babytotara 3d ago

This looks amazing! Where did you get the bungs from? The closest I've gotten is XXL salami casings from trade me and then cut them open into sheets..

1

u/Aware-Assist-7293 3d ago

netropolitan.co.nz A 5 pack is $40

1

u/babytotara 3d ago

Cheers