Bacon-Wrapped Venison Roast
A hind quarter under a bacon lattice, over charcoal for three and a half hours. Car camping only.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 58
- protein
- 58 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 210 min
- total time
- 235 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Venison hind quarter roast | 5-6 lb | bone in, from a young deer if you have the choice |
|---|---|---|
| Thick-cut bacon | 1.5 lb | about 16 slices, enough to weave over the whole roast |
| Coarse salt | 1 tbsp | |
| Black pepper | 1 tbsp | |
| Butcher's twine | a few feet | optional, to hold the lattice on the underside |
Method
- Build a charcoal fire and bank the coals to one side. You want the grate around 275F on the empty side, and you want to keep it there for three hours.
- Trim silverskin off the roast. Season all over with salt and pepper.
- Weave the bacon into a lattice over the top and sides of the roast. Tie it under with twine if the strips will not stay put.
- Set the roast on the cool side of the grate, cover, and leave it. Add six or eight briquettes every 45 minutes to hold the heat.
- Cook about 3.5 hours, until a fork twists in the meat with no resistance. If you carry a thermometer, look for 195-200F in the thickest part.
- Move it over the coals for the last five minutes if the bacon is still pale. Watch it, the fat will flare.
- Rest 20 minutes on a board before carving.
Venison hind quarter has almost no intramuscular fat, which is why steaks off a young deer go grey and tight the moment you overshoot. Leaving the quarter whole and cooking it low fixes the geometry: a big piece heats slowly enough that the connective tissue breaks down before the lean muscle dries. The bacon lattice is the other half. It bastes the surface for three hours and leaves a fat cap where the animal never had one.
This one does not travel. It needs a cooler, a real fire, hours you are not walking, and a knife and board to carve on, so it belongs at a car site or a basecamp after a hunt. Do not chase a pink medium-rare here. The target is fork-tender, which is well past that, and lean venison only gets there by holding it long.
Packing
Roast rides frozen solid in the bottom of the cooler and thaws over the drive. Bacon in its own bag above it. Bring twine, a long knife, a cutting board, and more charcoal than you think.
Variations
- No deer in the freezer: a pork shoulder of the same weight cooks on the same schedule.
- Half an onion and a splash of cider in a foil pan under the roast catches drippings for gravy.
- Cut the leftovers cold into a tortilla the next morning.
https://www.huntingpa.com/threads/venison-its-whats-for-dinner.1437