Ingredients

• Leg of venison (l used a yearling red deer)
• Brine mix (I used the Maple Bacon Cure by Sausages by Design)
• Water (amount in your brine mix instructions)

Glaze

• ½ C pineapple juice
• ½ C brown sugar
• ¼ C honey
• 1 Tbsp whole grain mustard
• ¼ C whole cloves

Equipment

• A bucket or a tub (For soaking the meat. I used a 14L Sistema tub)
• Smoker
• Wood chips or pellets (I used Traeger BBQ hardwood pellets)
• Needle with siring (I got mine from Farmlands)
• Charcoal bricks (I used Heat Beads – easy, light ones)

Method

1. Add brine mixture to tub with recommended amount of water for your brine.
2. Inject brine into your meat. Make sure you do this thoroughly ensuring you get all around the bone.
3. After you’ve thoroughly injected your ham, place it into the tub of brine. Make sure the meat is submerged; this is very important – you don’t want the meat floating or it’ll rot. (I placed a cup on top of my ham so when I put the lid on, that pressed it under the water.)
4. Place the tub in your fridge and leave it to rest here for 4-10 days. (I rest mine for 7 days after the deer has been hanging in the chiller for a week.)
5. Take your venison ham out of the tub and thoroughly wash it. The longer you wash it, the less salty it’ll be. (I soak mine in water for 2 hours after rinsing – some people like to soak theirs for 24 hours.)
6. Light your smoker and get it up to around 100°C. Place your ham into the smoker and leave it in there to do it thing until it reaches an internal temperature of 65°C.
7. Remove meat from the smoker and let it cool. Preheat your oven to 160°C on fan bake. Put little holes in your ham so you can add cloves all over the top of the meat.
8. Make the glaze mixture and brush it onto the ham.
9. Cook for 1.5 to 2 hours, reapplying the glaze every 30 mins.
10. Carve, serve and enjoy!