Wild game offers many fine cuts of meat. The loins, steaks, roasts, and Butterfly Chops are the best. What is not a cut, becomes grind. We add beef suet, pork shoulder, and sometimes bacon to the grind to add fat and flavor. This burger is useful for so many tasty recipes.
The problem with most deer, elk, moose, and other Big Game is that they do not spend their life lounging around a barnyard getting fed grain and regular food. Wild Game must survive in the wild being chased by other wild critters. They become lean, mean, survival machines, but lack huge fat deposits, fatback, bacon slabs, and fatty ribs.
You can cut ribs and what might be bacon, but the results are minimal and there is not a lot of meat on the bone.
Here is another choice to create Critter Bacon. I got this idea after I bought a Jerky Spackle like gun that squirted out Jerky strips made from spiced and blended wild game grind. It was not real jerky, but it made uniform meat strips/sticks that were tasty and good. It was another way to transform grind into something else.
The Bacon Grind is formed into a loaf, smoked, and can then be sliced to mimic bacon. It is great on sandwiches or… The final product is more like Spam than real bacon, but it is darned tasty and versatile.
The entire process will take 2 days to do completely.
Start with a 50/50 – 60/40 mix of fat with your grind. Less fat will fail to hold the product together and will become crumbly. I use Pork butt or shoulder, cut in 1–2-inch chunks, to add fat into my mix. Suet tends to make the bacon waxy.
Grind the pork and wild game together. Now add your preferred Bacon Cure spice blend mixture. Cabela’s makes one that is popular. Backwoods Bacon Cure is also an easy mix that comes in smaller packets. There are other choices. Follow the Bacon cure directions. This means adding water and hand mixing the grind. Wear rubber gloves.
Regrind the mix. This second grind will improve the texture and spread out the bacon cure spice blend.
Now use 2-inch-tall aluminum pans that are 9×10 inches in size or… Line with plastic wrap and press the bacon grind into the pan firmly. Avoid air pockets. Cover the pans with more plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Now it’s time for smoking. Pick a Hickory or your favorite wood pellet/chips to add flavor. The bacon pans need to be placed on the grill racks without the plastic wrap. Just invert and dump. A pizza peel or wide spatula is helpful.
Smoke at 185 degrees until the internal temperature of the bacon blocks is 155-160 degrees. I add some Maple syrup to my bacon, at this time. Halfway through the smoke, I flip the bacon block and add syrup to the other side.
Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack. This will allow the oil to drain off the bacon and not soak into it. At this point, the bacon block is tight and together.
You can package the bacon as a block or slice it using a meat slicer of a filet knife. Freeze the Bacon in a vacuum sealed 1–2-pound package.
When cooking the Bacon, fry it for 3-4 minutes to add a crisp exterior. The bacon is great on sandwiches or …
The final product is really something to squeal about. Enjoy!
Montana Grant
