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Corned beef sandwich with sauerkraut and dipping sauce on a white plate.

St. Patricks Day Mule Deer Reuben

Celebrating the luck of the Irish, wild game style

Description:

There are a lot of ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Some involve green beer and crowded pubs. Others involve gathering around the kitchen with family, a cast-iron skillet warming on the stove, and a package marked “Mule Deer Neck Roast 2025”. Around here, nothing says March quite like the smell of corned venison and toasted rye drifting through the house.

This Mule Deer Reuben has become a tradition in our home, made not just on St. Patrick’s Day, but several times throughout the year. It’s a meal that sparks conversation. It’s a way to share wild game with friends who may not hunt. And it’s a key part of my secret lifelong mission to educate the non-hunter who finds there way to my tailgate or table on the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and the joy of being in complete control of the food sources in your home.

-Makes 4 Sandwiches-

Ingredients:

Rye Bread
Kerry Gold Butter (NO SUBSTITUTES)
1 lb Corned Deer
1 lb Saurkraut (Drained to prevent soggy sandwiches)
Sliced Swiss Cheese
Thousand Island Dressing

Cooking Instructions:

Corned Deer:

Select the Cut

There are many cuts of a deer that work great for corning. I prefer the neck roast but a 4–5 lb roast from the front shoulder will also serve nicely. You want a cut that can handle the brining process well and shreds beautifully after slow cooking. You read that right, shredded not sliced.

Select a roast you want to make into corned deer. 4-5 lbs.

Brine Ingredients:

Make a Corning Brine

  • Add salt, sugar, pink salt, and picking spice to a large pot of water. Boil the brine to dissolve the salt and sugar, then chill in the refrigerator.

Make Corned Deer

  • Submerge meat in brine for 4 days minimum in fridge ( Sometimes let particularly thick or mature buck meat soak in the brine for 7 days but I wouldn’t go to much longer than that)
  • Rinse meat in sink
  • Place meat in crockpot with game stock on low until meat shreds easily (8-10 hours)
  • Corned meat can be frozen in 1 lb bags for easy access later and keeps in the fridge for several weeks.

The Sandwich:

  • Mix equal amounts of Shredded Corned Deer and Sauerkraut in a skillet on medium heat. cooking off most of the excess liquid but not so much liquid that you get a dry sandwich but not so little liquid that you get a soggy one either.
  • Spread liberal amount of Kerry Gold butter on 8 Rye bread slices
  • In a separate pan place rye bread butter side down
  • Apply two pieces of Swiss cheese to each slice of bread
  • Cook on medium heat until bread is crispy and golden brown
  • Place meat sauerkraut combo into bread forming a sandwich
  • Cut each sandwich diagonally.
  • Serve with a side of thousand island – if you put the dressing on the sandwich it might get too soggy – better to dip this in the dressing or spread on after sandwich is served

Cocktail pairing:

The best cocktail for this dish is a classic pint of Guinness. You can substitute with the Porter style beer of your choice but please know that according to everyone here at the Mule Deer Foundation using Guinness is the best, and you’re kidding yourself with any other substitute. Get the good stuff! https://www.guinness.com/en-us

More Than a Meal

Meals like this are about more than tradition or the holiday, they’re about connection. When we turn a front shoulder into corned venison and gather friends around the table, we’re sharing the full story of conservation. Ethical harvest. Respect for the animal. Using what we take in a way that looks and tastes familiar to everyone.

Mule deer are more than an icon of the West, they are central to the lifestyle we cherish. By supporting sound wildlife management and habitat conservation, we ensure future generations can experience not only the hunt, but the meals and memories that follow.

So this St. Patrick’s Day, raise a glass or two, toast the wild places, and celebrate the harvest.

Get Cooking!

If this article or any of our articles have helped you become a better hunter or conservation steward, consider becoming a member of the Mule Deer Foundation for only $35 dollars a year. Click here to join: https://muledeer.org/product-category/membership/

Trevor Hubbs

Trevor is the Communications Manager and Editor for the Mule Deer Foundation and Blacktail Deer Foundation. He grew up hunting and fishing the Ozark Mountains for quail, ducks, and bucks. Now he ventures west for mule deer as often as possible.

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