Smoked Venison Barbacoa Tacos
A whole deer shoulder, smoked then braised, shredded into tortillas at the truck.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 58
- protein
- 45 g
- serves
- 10, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 360 min
- total time
- 380 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
- Dutch oven
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Whole venison shoulder | 1 | bone in, kept intact when you butcher |
|---|---|---|
| Bell peppers | 4 | quartered |
| Onions | 4 | quartered |
| Chipotle peppers in adobo | 1 can | |
| Garlic | 2 cloves | minced |
| Dark beer | 1 can or bottle | |
| Kosher salt | 1 tbsp | |
| Chili powder | 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp | |
| Crushed oregano | 2 tsp | |
| Onion powder | 2 tsp | |
| Seasoned salt | 1 tsp | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1 tsp | |
| Corn or flour tortillas | 20 |
Method
- Mix all the dry spices at home in a jar. Set 2 teaspoons aside in a second bag; the rest goes on the meat.
- Rub the shoulder all over with the spice mix and press it in. Do this the night before if the cooler has room.
- Build a small fire and bank the coals to one side, or run a grill at low heat. You want smoke at roughly 225F, not flame under the meat.
- Set the shoulder on the grate away from the coals. Feed the fire a split every 45 minutes or so and let it smoke about 3 hours, until the outside is dark and dry.
- Move the shoulder into a dutch oven. Pack the peppers and onions around it, add the chipotles with their adobo, the garlic, the reserved 2 teaspoons of rub, and the beer.
- Lid on, back over low coals with a few on top. Braise about 3 more hours, until a fork turns the meat without effort.
- Pull the bone out, shred the meat in the pot, and stir it back into the liquid. Warm tortillas on the grate and build tacos.
Venison shoulder is all connective tissue and almost no fat, which is why smoking it start to finish turns it into jerky. Two stages fix that. The smoke goes on first, while the surface is still dry enough to take it, and the braise comes after, so the collagen gets the wet heat it needs to break down.
The beer and the adobo do the rest. Onions and peppers give off enough liquid on their own that you never need to add water, and the shoulder ends up sitting in its own seasoned braise. This one needs a cooler and six hours of fire, so it is a truck meal, not a pack meal. Cook it the first night of a hunt camp and eat the leftovers cold in tortillas the rest of the week.
Packing
Rub premixed in a jar at home, reserve portion in its own bag. Shoulder stays wrapped at the bottom of the cooler under the ice. Peppers and onions can be quartered at home and bagged to save knife work in camp.
Variations
- No dutch oven: wrap the smoked shoulder tight in two layers of heavy foil with the vegetables and beer, and bury it in coals for the braise.
- Beef chuck roast works the same way if the freezer is out of venison.
- Cook it a day early and reheat the shredded meat in its liquid for a fast second night.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/smoked-venison-shoulder-barbacoa-recipe