If any of you hunters are like me you take pride in turning your trophy into a great tasting meal.  I usually process my own deer when I have the time, but the part I hate the most are those dam front shoulders.  They're tedious and you don't get a lot of meat off of them.  I usually end up turning them into burger.  Last year I had two deer process in the same day and when it came down to doing those front shoulders I was spent.  So I kept them whole and wrapped them up real good and stuck them in the freezer.  I few weeks later I was hungry for some venison stew and I had an idea.  Here it is.

Smoked Vension Stew

Ingredients:

hickory wood chips

2 venison front shoulders with most of the fat trimmed off

olive oil 

Cabela's Big Hunt Rub (or your favorite grilling seasoning)

 hickory smoke bacon

Creamy Wild rice soup mix

Preparation:

The day before you want to do this you should take the shoulders out of the freezer and put them into the fridge so they can defrost. 

First you'll need to soak your wood chips in water.  Then start your charcoal in your smoker.  You'll need to let the coals burn down til you have an internal temp of no more than 250 degrees.  I use a meat thermometer placed inside the smoker for this.  Depending on how cold it is outside it will take close to hour to get the right temp.  While you're waiting for the coals to get ready you can prepare the shoulders.  First you'll want to rub them down with a light coating of olive oil, just enough to make the rub seasoning stick.  Then give the shoulders a nice coating of the rub.  I used the stuff I found at Cabela's but your favorite steak seasoning would probably work just as well.  Then just cover them with some plastic wrap and leave them on the counter so the meat can reach room temp.  Once your coals are ready put the shoulders in the smoker (one on each rack).  Depending the size of your smoker you may have hack off a little of the shin bone to make them fit.  Now you can add your soaked wood chips directly on top of the coals.  I like to use half of the chips in the begining and the other half about 30-45 min later.  Becareful not to throw them on becasue ashes will fly up and go all over the meat.  Cook time should be roughly 2 1/2 hours.  Be sure to check the internal temp of the smoker every half hour to make sure its not too hot.  If its getting above 300 you'll have to pull the meat and let the temp go back down.  If you go below 200 degrees add a few coals (about 5 should do it).  You'll want to cook the shoulders til you get an internal temp of about 145 - 150 degrees at the thickest part.  This will give you med-rare to med throughout the shoulders.  The shoulder on the top rack will cook slightly quicker so be sure to check it first. 

When the venison gets close to being done you can prepare the soup mix.  I just went to the local grocery store and picked out one of those dry mixes that you just add water to.  For this recipe I chose the Creamy Wild Rice mix.  To add some flavor I fried up half a pack of hickory smoked bacon and added it to the soup.  Let the soup simmer on low while the venison finishes cooking.

Once the venison shoulders have reached the desired temp take them out and let them sit on the counter to cool just enough so you can handle them without burning your hands.  Then de-bone the shoulders, making stew size chunks out of the meat you pull off.  The meat looked so good while I was doing this that I had to try some.  I couldn't belive it but it was sooo tender and it tasted like prime rib.  Once you've gotten all the meat off add it to the soup mix and let it simmer for at least another half hour (the longer the better).  Now enjoy!!