Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Venison Shoulder Barbacoa

Posted elsewhere about my 9 year olds first deer last weekend. Yesterday we worked it up.

The shoulder blades were deboned and thrown in the burger pile. Rather than fighting the silverskin and connective tissue, thought I'd try something else. Came across a Hank Shaw recipe for 'Venison Barbacoa'. Will probably use for enchiladas and the remains will go to tamales with some leftover pulled pork. This cooked down awesome, still had some work pulling the meat and the really thick pieces of ligament that were left, but not bad at all.

Only deviation from the recipe was I smeared the lower legs with yellow mustard, sprinkled taco seasoning, garlic powder, and garlic on them before smoking. In the link he just says 'to turn it up a notch, smoke it for a few hours with some salt'.

Lower legs on the smoker-I ended up smoking for 4 hours at 200-225.


In the roaster pan partway through-


2 lbs of pulled meat with leg bones 99% clean.


Might as well throw the workers picture up too-




Hank Shaw's Venison Barbacoa Recipe

Ingredients
2 to 3 pounds venison, from the shoulder or legs
2 to 4 chipotles in adobo, canned
1 red onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon kosher salt
½ cup lime juice
½ cup cider vinegar
1 quart beef or venison stock
1/4 cup lard or vegetable oil
Smoked salt (optional)
Cilantro, shredded cheese, sour cream, avocados and hot sauce for garnish
Instructions
Put everything in a slow cooker or Dutch oven and cook, covered, until the meat falls off the bone, which will be between 2 hours (for many domestic meats and young deer) and 6 hours if you have a very old animal. If you use a slow cooker, set it to “high.” If you use a regular pot, put it into the oven set to 300°F.
Pull all the meat from the bones and shred with forks or your fingers. Stir in the lard and as much smoked salt as you want. You want the lard or oil to coat the shreds of meat. Pour over some of the juices from the pot and put the meat in a pan for the table. Serve with tacos, in a burrito or on a bun.
Notes
Have lots of accompaniments for your barbacoa: It's a base for a meal, the do-it-yourself construction of your tacos is more than half the fun!