When I was young my Dad would usually smoke up a bunch of elk or sometimes venison. Now this was not anything like your store bought jerky. It was smoked extra long and maybe a little extra salty. It wasn't really top of the line stuff for just eating. My Mother used to slice it very thin and make creamed smoked elk on toast or biscuits. It was one of my favorite breakfasts and we had it often. I have been hankering for some for a while so:
I saved out some elk this year for smoking. Night before last I put it in some brine, a simple brine just a cup of salt and a cup of brown sugar to a gallon of water. Let that brine for probably 15 hours and put it in the smoker yesterday and smoked until late last night.
This is a smoker like you used to see. About a 3x3 wooden building with racks in the top. No fancy heat control or anything.
The stuff came out pretty hard and a little salty but to tell the truth I wish I would have got it a little saltier. Remember this is not for chewing. It s for that wonderful gravy.
This morning i took it out and I had to try it for breakfast. Mom would have loved this. I put some in my food processor, no tedious work of slicing it thin.
It came out kind of a very coarse grind.
A little canola oil in a pan with a handful of that great smelling chipped elk. cooked for just a bit and then a couple heaping spoons of flour and a little milk. Soon I had this wonderful gravy that I had on some toast.
I know, not much of a recipe but I had to share this wonderful smokey gravy that took me back to my youth.
Next time I'm taking the time to make biscuits though.
