# Suggestions needed for venison haunch sous vide



## yaan (Jun 7, 2014)

Hi all

Me and my buddies are looking for guidance on cooking a whole bagged-up haunch sous-vide prior to barbeque smokin'! Already taken the plummet and vac'd it with some garlic, thyme, bay, black pepper, salt, 'tit peux olive oil and bones. Looking to finish the bad boy Sunday eve BST (now Fri 2 am).

Anyone have any experience or tips on how long? what temp? tips on defrosted from frozen (safety) info.

Look forward to your input (dinner invite for best tips is included! )

Cheers

Yaan


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## dcarch (Jun 28, 2010)

Venison haunch steak can be fabulously delicious, and lusciously tender, if done right. Overcooked, it can taste like liver and tough like expired car tire, under cooked it can be very gamy.

Correct temperature and timing makes it perfect for sous vide.

However, not knowing where the animal came from and the age, it is difficult to say what works.

I have done venison sous vide at 132F and 10 hours. May be the best thing to do is to try it out with a small piece and make whatever adjustments later as appropriate.

Please let use know who things work out.

dcarch

Oh, BTW, be careful with garlic for sous vide. Don't use too much.


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## allanmcpherson (Apr 5, 2007)

Also watch out for cooking game sous vide. If you are using truely wild venison, you could get into some texture issues. My understanding is there are (or potentially) much higher levels of lactic acid in the muscles of wild animals. This can create a "meelly" texture in low temp cooking. I had run into this with moose and rabbit several times before I heard this explanation from a report covering finding at (IIRC) a MAD symposium a couple of years ago.

Al


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## yaan (Jun 7, 2014)

Hi Al and dcarch

Thanks for your responses

Since this was defrosted wild roe haunch I had to get it on the go quick-smart last Sat. I did some trawling and found a recommendation to treat it like a leg of lamb - I was a bit dubious but gave it a go anyway, minus a few hours from my previous quite successful attempts (55 degC for 36 hr - med-rare) - I opted for 24 hr given the leanness of the meat assuming lower muscle/fat ratio than lamb.

This was too long! The meat colour was lovely as you would expect from 55 degC though the muscle fibres had melted right away - the texture was livery, wet (not moist) and resembled perfectly cooked chicken liver parfait (Al - not sure what you meant by meely, though that sounds more grainy/fibrous). The flavour was extremely gamy, so pureeing with some butter to make a parfait/pate was not really an option for us non-neanderthals. 

dcarch - I think your 10 hr recommendation would have been fitting and given much better results. 

It was a bit of a shame really but the haunch had occupied the best part of a freezer draw for too long and had to go. Was free so wasn't too upsetting. Glad to share this negative result with you so we can learn together!

All the best

yaan


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## dcarch (Jun 28, 2010)

Hahaa! Yaan Can't Cook!

Sorry! just having fun with your name. Not sure where you are. There is a show here (USA) "Yan Can Cook"

Thanks for reporting back. We all can learn from your experience here. 

I am sure your next try will be a big hit.

dcarch


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## allanmcpherson (Apr 5, 2007)

Was it just mush, or soft yet somehow chewy? The soft and chewy (meat mastic?) is what I was getting at.


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## yaan (Jun 7, 2014)

Thanks dcarch! In the UK - maybe I should tag my profile with 'if yaan can't cook, neither can you'. That might restore some of what little pride I now have left!!! . What a first post!

Al, It wasn't just straight up plain mush, it had a slight 'adhesive chew' to it, a little reminiscent of what slow braised beef can get like if it's been on for more than a while, but nevertheless, more on the mushy side. A 'textural nightmare' is what I have written in my notes.

Anyway, we didn't go hungry so it's all good. I hope no one is too disgusted by this failure of an attempt. I don't want to ruin any more dinners!


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