I received an email from a fellow Trad Gang member, asking me about the Deer-B-Que, mentioned on Al Snow's thread titled "Ready or not?" I thought I would share my reply to him as to how we make it. Some of you might want to make a batch for yourselves.
My wife and I have been making Deer-B-Que for about as long as I have been deer hunting and that's been quite awhile. I don't think it's any exact way that it has to be done. In fact each batch that we make turns out different but always as good as anyone could imagine.
It's great on an open bun or hamburger style, with sliced tomato, pickles or anything else you would care to dress it up with. It's my main mid day meal when I'm hunting. I use a small single burner propane stove to heat a portion up in a pot.
Once it's warm, I shove it over to one side, drop a slice of bread in the pot. Then drag the Deer-B-Que up on it. I like to add pickles & Jalapeno pepper slices then cover it with another slice of bread. I eat it straight out of the pot while sitting on my trucks tailgate. Good stuff.
We almost always use deer shoulders. In fact we wrap and freeze the shoulders in pairs, just for Deer-B-Q. We have a very large Magnalite dutch
oven style pot that will hold up to 6 shoulders, depending on the size.
After seasoning them with Tony's season, black pepper and garlic powder, we put the whole shoulders in, add water and cook in the oven at 350 degrees. You need to let them cook down to where the meat falls off of the bone. Be
sure not to let the pot dry out. Add water as needed.
When the meat is done you can actually grab a bone and twist as you pull and it will separate from the meat as clean as can be.
The next step is to place chunks of meat on a cutting board and using an electric knife start shredding the meat until there are no lumps. Take all of the finely shredded meat and add it to a mixing container. We use a big canning pot that holds about 4 gallons.
As you put the shredded meat into the mixing pot start adding the ingredients.
This is basically what we use but you can really add anything that you would like. We start off with Bar-Be-Que sauce, pure 100% pineapple juice, brown sugar and Jalapeno pepper slices. We season with Tony's seasoning, black pepper and garlic powder. Of course you need to constantly stir the pot as you add the ingredients and seasoning. As to how much of each to add, that will be a personal decision that comes from trial & error and experience. You just taste as you go, keep adding what you want and as much as you think you
need. You are going to find the mix is pretty thick. We add the liquid from the pot to thin, it also adds more flavor.
We usually have about 3 gallons of meat from an average of 5 shoulders. Give the Deer-B-Que time to absorb all the seasoning and ingredients before
freezing. We like to leave ours in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Then we stir and taste. If needed, add more seasoning before freezing in individual freezer, zip-loc-bags.
It's really handy for a quick meal, that's about as good as anything you can find.
Enjoy,
Warren
Topic: Deer-B-Que (Read 2110 times)
