BBQ Deer Fatty

[Henrik]

I had a few pounds of ground (fallow) deer, so I figured it was time to make an American bbq classic: a fatty. Unfortunately I didn't have any bacon around to wrap it in, so I had to do without. It turned out very good anyway.

Ingredients
2.2 lbs ground fallow deer
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cilantro powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika powder

Filling
7 oz grated cheese
4 oz sliced smoked ham
2 banana shallots or 4 regular shallots, finely chopped

Topping
1 tbsp pork rub
1 tbsp brown sugar (for use later)

How I did it
Mix the spices with the ground meat well. Flatten it so it forms a large rectangle, 3/8 - 1/2 inch thick. Distribute the onions, ham and cheese evenly. Roll it all up, and sprinkle your favorite rub over it.

Run your grill/smoker at 225° F, and smoke the fatty using cherry wood. It takes approx. 2.5 hours. When the internal temp is 120° F it is time to dust the fatty with the brown sugar. Keep cooking until the internal temp is 165° F. Remove it, let it rest for 10 minutes, then slice and serve.


The fatty, with filling, ready to roll up:





Rolled up, ready for the grill:





Fatty on the grate, a little more than 1 hour in:





Smoked fatty, about to be wrapped for a little rest:





Here's the finished deer fatty with a proper smoke ring:




Suggestions for improvements
Well, wrapping it in bacon can't hurt . Also, I really like chili, but one of my guests don't, so I had to leave out any chili peppers. I will add some the next time if I'm cooking for myself only.

[Huskee]

Wow Henrik not only are you great with recipes and food photography, but I applaud your use of imperial measurements for us Americans! Are you that well-versed or is Google your friend?

[Dr ROK]

The more I use a digital scale, the more I like recipes in metric measurements. Chef Steps got me started using one and now that's my preferred method.

[Henrik]

Well, metric measurements are so much easier. Everything is divisible by ten. I may have to post both imperial and metric from now on, perhaps to get others to do the switch :-)

[Huskee]

Henrik, I for one think metric makes FAR more sense than imperial. If I recall correctly, it's all based on the speed of light, which is a universal constant. It would be a terrible few years of adjustment if the USA ever switched over, but it does make way more sense. Right now if you say it's 37 degrees out, it's pretty cold. To you, 37 is HOT! That's an example of the adjustments we'd all have to make, lol.

[smarkley]

Very nice, Henrik! Making me hungry!

[HC in SC]

Awesome as usual Henrik!

[Henrik]

Thanks guys, I'm really happy with this fatty because it has really well balanced flavors.

[Dr ROK]

Looks great! I've got some elk in the freezer that is just crying to become a fatty now that I've seen this. Great job laying out the details of the cook.

[Henrik]

Elk! It's so good! What cuts do you have available? Is it ground/minced, or do you have steaks or other cuts? I made a blueberry sauce a few days ago that goes well with game meat. Using elk by the way, which has a different flavor profile, I would use slightly different spices.

[Dr ROK]

I have a few steaks and about 40 pounds of ground elk that my brother in law brought me. I've made chili, tacos, tastee burgers, and all kind of stuff that normally calls for ground beef, but that fatty is next on the docket. What spices would you recommend for elk?

[Henrik]

Wow, 40 pounds, that's plenty! For the fatty I would skip the ground cilantro powder as per my recipe above, and replace it with coarsely ground black pepper.

For elk in general, that depends. I like juniper berries, crush them in a mortar or in a blender. I tend to use mostly salt and (plenty of) black pepper for elk steaks/roasts though, and put all the spices in a rich sauce instead. Either a red wine sauce, or a thyme or green pepper sauce, to name a few.

[Guy]

Henrik, I actually look for your picture everyday to see if you have anything amazing to show or teach me. I have access to plenty of Whitetail so a fatty is going to be one of my next cooks. What kind of cheese did you use? Also if you wrap it in bacon do you just dust the brown sugar on top of the bacon?

[Henrik]

Thanks, Guy! I used a relatively ordinary cheese, simply because that's what I had available. However, I can strongly recommend a cheddar cheese with this one. If you don't like cheddar for whatever reason, use a Swiss cheese. If I had wrapped it in bacon I would definitely dust it with brown sugar anyways. The purpose of dusting with sugar, and so late in the cook, is to caramelize the surface, bacon or no bacon.

[Guy]

Henrik, love cheddar and most cheeses. Thanks for the response. Sorry I had to edit. I meant to ask you what do you eat this with. Just curious about Swedish sides you might use with this fatty.

[Henrik]

I would definitely serve a potato gratin with this. A quick internet search will give you plenty of recipes. Potatoes in cooking cream with garlic and a few pieces of bacon in there. Superb.

[bbqoaf]

Great idea, looks amazing!

[Guy]

Yes I know some recipes for that thanks a bunch.

Guy

[Guy]

Henrik, getting ready to do the fatty with white tail deer. You mentioned chilies. What kind do you use?

Thanks,

Guy

[Henrik]

Great! Hmm, that depends, I must say. In this case I prefer if the chilies don't completely mask the deer flavor. In other words, don't go crazy with some super hot stuff. I really like the smoked chipotles here. Buy them whole, and give them a quick spin in the blender. Mix it all in with the minced meat. The reason is that you get a nice chili 'sting', but with a more complex flavor if you like, compared to other chilies. Also, they are not super hot, so you still taste the deer, ham and cheese. You could also use ancho chili. They are medium hot, and also a really good flavor match for the deer meat.

I had some of my deer fatty two days ago (kept some in the freezer), and it still tastes wonderful. Will make more soon. Good luck, and let me know how it turns out!

[Guy]

Henrik, thanks and will do.

Guy

[Guy]

Henrik, the White Tail fatty turned out great. It had great flavor. It took me about 3 hours because it was pretty big. My temps stayed between 217 and 246 with the most stable temp at 235. I used your recipe except I had bacon as you can see. I used Meathead's Memphis Dust for a rub. I almost forgot the chilies and ended up dicing and mixing them with onions. So I only got real chili flavor when I bit into one. I got the ground venison from a family member and it was ground a little too fine for this purpose. This made it difficult to roll up. I had to fight it until I got it into the frig for an overnight stay. The next day it was more manageable.


i
White Tail deer fatty ready to cook.




Finished after 3 hours. Ready to wrap for a rest.





Sliced and ready to eat.


I am planning to freeze half of it and eat again in a couple of weeks. This is my first cooking post with pictures so hopefully my writing outline and descriptions will get better.

[smarkley]

Wow... that looks awesome, Guy... now I am hungry!

[Henrik]

I agree, that's a nice looking deer fatty! I like seeing the green chilies in there! Yes, I guess I didn't mention it, but when grinding it should be medium "coarse". Great pictures!

[Henrik]

No, haven't heard of it. I use a real grinder. Whether a real grinder is better is of course completely dependent on how often you expect to use it. A real grinder typically has more power, is sturdier, and you can use different knifes for different granularity. I have started using mine more and more, since I like being able to mix different ingredients (like beef chuck and bacon, for example).

[Dr ROK]

I wouldn't get a real meat grinder unless you expected to process a lot of meat. I have both and the cuisenart is much simpler to clean and you can come close to what a true grinder can do without the hassle of dragging out the meat grinder, cleaning all the parts when your done and then putting it all away again for 12 months. The attachment for a kitchenaide stand mixer is also a good option if you have the mixer. If you do buy a grinder I'd recommend buying a powerful one so the meat is ground quickly and efficiently.

[Henrik]

Word.