Venison Hocks
With hunting season here, and people starting to fill their freezers with tasty venison, I wanted to share a recipe I stumbled on out of laziness a few years ago.
I was tired of butchering my deer one night, and instead of taking the time to strip out the little bit of meat on the hocks and throwing it in the burger/sausage bowl, I put them in the fridge, to finish them the next day. After 3 days, I had packaged all the venison, and forgotten about the hocks so I came up with the idea of brining them with a batch of jerky that I had prepped for the smoker. They spent an extra day in the brine due to the smoker being full, and when they went on, they spent enough time to cure them like a ham hock.
I use them to make navy beans and (Ham), and they are one of my family's favorite parts of the deer.
The brine I use is a basic brown sugar/salt/seasoning of choice brine, and I use a big chief with hickory to smoke them.
-The beans consist of 1 pound of Great northern beans (quick soaked as per the instructions on the package)
-1 onion diced into 1/2 inch pieces
-3 carrots peeled and chopped into 2 inch pieces
3 cloves of garlic (crushed)
1/2 teas black pepper
4 sprigs of thyme
1 venison hock
2 cans of italian seasoned diced tomatoes
After the beans have soaked, add them to a crock pot, and put in all of the veggies and herbs except the tomatoes along with 6-8 cups of water. Let it go on the high setting for 3 hours, or until the beans are tender. The bones should come out completely clean at this point, and the meat should come off in large pieces. Break up the meat a little, and add the tomatoes along with more salt and pepper to taste. If you prefer a thicker soup, mash some of the beans, or you can add a can of white beans that have been lightly mashed to thicken. Make sure there is cornbread, and a bottle of tabasco on the table.
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