View Full Version : How do you rate venison?
sevenmmm
12-07-2002, 09:32 AM
Oh man, how I love the steamy wild smell of roasting venison. But my favorite is cubed venison soaked in minced garlic overnight, and fast fried in an iron skillet with copious amounts of mushrooms and onions.
Food for a King!
My family especially likes the fact venison is not forced fed only 3-4 types of feed, or being innoculated with hormones and anti-biotics.
And I like the idea of a deer gathering so many different tree parts, plants and grasses insuring I have an appropriate amount of greens!
Julio
12-07-2002, 11:02 AM
Dern Sevenmmm,sounds like you have figured out.Sounds grand.We dont have a cuber though.We put in jars & pressure cook it with a clove of garlic.Dont even have to warm it and eat all year.The non eaters believe its roastbeef. Eat well my friend
Tennessee Jed
12-07-2002, 11:58 AM
I'm with ya, babe! As the deer gets lined up in my sites, the drool begins to gather in my mouth as I think of the entire backstrap, marinated for 24 hours in Chef Williams' Red Wine Cajun injector, crusted with pepper, then roasted for 30 minutes over a CHARCOAL fire--no gas allowed! The outside is crunchy...tangy...and the inside is a glowing pink. Side it with steamed asparagus spears, mashed potatoes, pan-sauteed portabella mushrooms, and toasted sourdough, accompanied by Hogue Cellars Barrel Select Syrah (1997 was a very good year...) and not only do you have a meal fit for a king--YOU IS DA KING!!!
Thank God muzzleloader season opens in Tennessee again on Monday, and I'm a-goin'! Just bought a bow last week (Mathews Legacy) so I've just extended my Arkansas season to Feb. 28. Can you dig a five-month archery season: October 1-Feb. 28? We got it here in Arkansas, but don't y'all come down, now, y'hear? Uh, we don't have that many uh, deer, uh, ya know...and truthfully, they are smaller than the Yankee deer I hunted in Minnesota way back when.
Nordicron
12-07-2002, 01:14 PM
To me venison just isn't worth all the time, trouble and expense based on how it tastes. Don't get me wrong I don't think it tastes bad but if I go a year or two with out getting a Deer it sure doesn't bother me. Because no matter how you make it you can take the same cut of beef and its gonna be way better.
ryan the poor college kid
12-07-2002, 01:30 PM
what we college kids do at my house is one of the easiest ways to cook what seems like our endless amount of venison.
take a roast and throw as many onions, garlic cloves, peppers, and veggies in a crock pot and cook for the magical eight hours.
so good. best and most tender venison.......ever.
Buckeye
12-07-2002, 03:09 PM
Nordicron you must not be taking care of the venison after it's down. Careful field dressing (no urine, stomach content, or manure in contact with the meat)and proper aging makes for meat that rivals beef.
Proper aging before processing is the key. A commercial beef carcass is aged for around 10 days and gormet cuts for closer to 60 days. I age a deer carcass at 32 to 40 degrees for a minimum of 14 days.
Kodiak
12-07-2002, 04:13 PM
I rate deer meat as the second best meat you can eat....right behind moose meat!
Right on Buckeye! "The Complete Venison Cookbook From Field To Table" by outdoor writers Jim and Ann Casada has some fantastic recipes. You can get a sausage making book from "Fur, Fish, and Game" magazine. As far as cost, we process our own venison. You can get a VHS tape from your local library which shows you how to cut it up. "Hi Mountain" has several flavors of jerky cure which is very good even without smoking. The grinder on my wifes "Oster Kitchen Center" does a good job with the venison but a commercial style grinder would be faster. The wild taste some people complain about is from the deer fat. Triming all the fat off the venison will take away the wild taste. Add beef or pork fat for sausage or burger. We have two in the freezer, one to finish cutting, and took three to the butcher that cuts donated deer for the local food pantry.
Tom B
12-07-2002, 04:33 PM
I really, really, really like pork, the fatter the better and I LOVE beef, again, the fatter the better. I have been trying to convince my bro-in-law to breed one of his angus heifers with a straw of Waygu semen (Wagyu is the breed that "Kobe beef" comes from.) I love beef that has been aged 30 days, is well marbled and then cooked over wood coals, preferably rare.
Several years ago, though, I was at a deer camp and one of the guys shot a fawn.... we cleaned it up, built a fire and did it whole. Went on the fire at 11 am, at 7 pm there was nothing but bones. Holy cripes that was good.
Everyone talks about the leaness of wild meats and that is what I like least. Fat is where the flavor is!
Someday, when I have nothing better to do... I am going to raise some steers and pigs that I can really do some cooking with.
Tom B
Ilove meat and would have to say that VENISON is second to nothing. I have to get at least two deer a season or no way do I have enough to last the year. Beef is great too but it takes a back seat to Venison in my house. Also love Pork chops/Pork roast.
bigfish1965
12-07-2002, 10:09 PM
I had a fixin of bambi sausage..was the best ever..hard to find thoguh.
paulie
12-08-2002, 04:38 AM
You have to be kidding right? I must not see the humor this early in the morning.
photoread
12-08-2002, 04:52 AM
Don't rate it very high ,..I've had venison every way possibile. Everytime people tell me I'm going to LOVE it. Frankly I wouldn't eat it now unless I was starving. I think eatting/liking venison is a learned respomse. All over the world people eat things outhers don't care for or wouldn't think about eating. A Chinese person can eat mexican food, an Italian can eat Swedish staples etc,etc. But people go back to what they get used to and nurture it. I had a friend that was overweight he went to Moracco and hated their food at first,..lost the 65lbs,..after a few years he started to like the food and gained it back. He was transfered back here and found he didn't care for our food much.Lost about the 65 again,...last time I saw him hes gained it back and is into high fat foods here. He said "you know,..you crave what you eat" I guess thats true. When I was a kid we always had lots of venison around because ofmy uncles that had farms overun by deer and they could legally soot as many as they wanted. I was always afraid to tell everyone that I didn't like it as they would let me have it for "Not knowing what is GOOD" or its "unmanly" not to like venison. Nah,...you sure can have my share!
It's OK if it's been doctored up ~ as in Jerky/Slim Jim's, Sweet n Sour, Sausage, canned Minced Meat & etc. ;-) Otherwise it's tastes like Redneck Roadkill :-)
"Just Remember" that the way to communicate with the fish is to drop them a line ;-)
bullfroglabat
12-08-2002, 07:53 AM
Erie-If you took a prime mid-west corn-fed steer, shot it in the gut chased it for a half mile and let the adrenalin build up, gutted it, bounced it over rocks and stumps while you drug it back, threw it on your truck beat it around some more at the check station, took it home beat it around some more-I promise it would taste like road kill. I'm not saying that's how you treat YOUR deer, but that's my observation on how an awful lot are! The key with venison is that it has very low internal fat content, and needs either to be cooked no more than med. rare or it needs additional fat or moisture to be added in the cooking process. I love mine country fried rolled in seasoned flour and turned as soon as the blood comes out the top, or steaks and chops marinated in olive oil for 1/2 hour and grilled med. rare. With a good bottle of cabernet or red zinfandel it's enough to make a bullfrog bellow! BTW for all but the choicest cuts I grind the rest w/20% beef fat and I have the makins for killer chili all winter.
Nofish
12-08-2002, 10:26 AM
Hiya Rick
Venison is A-#1 in my book. Your recipe sounds great too!
I like to take a roast, cook it on the grill (using my gas grills smoker box and hicory chips) till just about done. Then put it in a slow cooker with a little beef or pork broth, onions, garlic, finley diced celery, finely diced carrot, diced tomatoes (I use shredded carrots then dice em up) and assorted seasonings.
I cook it all day (about 4 hours). I then sautee onions and garlic and shred the meat. Back into the pot and add your favorite barbeque sauce and a touch of brown sugar. Cook a little longer, about 1 hour to allow all the flavors to melt together.
This makes the worlds best barbeque sandwich I ever ate!!! It'd make a puppy pull a freight train!!! LOL!! (This also works well with any red meat, wild goose too!!!!)
Too bad I was unable to join you this weekend to procure a little venison for the freezer.......ah well, see ya tuesday!
Have fun.........R
Grizzly Abrahms
12-08-2002, 02:25 PM
Somewhere's t'ween squirrel and possum I do reckon....but let my tell ya'all, nothing better than a beaver rump roast.
It's great if handled correctly, cleanly like stated before, but also skin the animal asap. I think a good many ruin their flavor by hanging them in a tree with their hides on for weeks. Nothing wrong with correctly aging meat, but if the hides on while it's hanging, the flavor will be ruined and "gamey", imo.
sevenmmm
12-09-2002, 03:24 PM
Alright. I'll be there tomorrow. I hope you have an exciting fishing story to tell me!
And I printed out your recipe and will try it this weekend. I feel like Homer Simpson drooling over a beer and a hamburger!
Koldfront Kraig
12-09-2002, 03:32 PM
Why does everyone compare venison to beef. Why should it taste the same? I'm glad it doesn't taste like beef. Don't get me wrong I love beef, but I can eat that anytime.
sevenmmm
12-09-2002, 03:45 PM
Oh yeah, that reminds me of a fawn I took a number of years ago.
Cute little thing still had spots in October. I wrestled mightly with myself over harvesting this deer knowing it would not make the winter. Finally I decided to "waste" my doe tag.
Still couldn't bring myself to arrow this deer. I pulled on it a few times but those spots must have made me dizzy or something. Finally in late October the spots were completely gone and I killed it.
Let me tell 'ya, that was the sweetest, juiciest, tender meat I have ever eaten. We grilled some, roasted some, and had it fried. Always with the same result!
I have taken a number of doe fawns since then but none of them came close to the flavor of this deer.
eyewitness
12-09-2002, 03:50 PM
I agree. Sounds like the venny your eating hasn't been prepared right somewhere down the line. I have reli's who have hunted and shot deer for 30-40 years and I won't touch most of what they have in their freezer. Not butchered right. Muscles not seperated out and cut ACROSS the grain. Lots of tallow. Then I have guys with venny that I'd pay the price of fillet for. So good and tender you can grill it and it melts in your mouth instead of being all dryed up. That's WITHOUT soaking it or marinading it and killing the real flavor. Plus a fresh piece of venny has 10 times the iron and nutrients of store bought beef and pretty much NO fat. I can't think of a better thing to eat except fresh walleye. Of which I'm gonna go cook up right now!