Venison for Xmas!

One of the guys who works in my husband's dept is into hunting and fishing in a big way. We got talking one day and I told him how until I was 8 and we moved further south my father used his vacation time to go hunting and fishing with his family. He enjoyed it but as a hillbilly he took it seriously and felt he was providing good meat for his family. So, we ate everything he brought home. I remember him being really mad when my mother cut him off from driving 7 hours home with 2 deer slung over the car because it was a new Oldsmobile that my mother treated better than her kids. He had to bring the deer home packed up in a cooler. Which I guess ruined the experience for my father. Nothing macho about cut up venison in the trunk.

Anyhow, the point is, I ate this stuff as a child and have been told I liked it. I was a picky eater as a kid.

The guy hands my husband a good sized grocery bag full of venison; sausages, ground venison, roasts. I guess he's excited to know somebody who likes this stuff.

I've never cooked it. But, my husband isn't a turkey lover. We usually get a turkey breast for me and a prime rib roast for him. And then I make tourtiere some years. I'm thinking of cooking up a venison roast for Xmas. Nothing fancy or complicated. As I'm looking for recipes online, it looks like you're best to use a crockpot, lots of veg and some kind of sauce to keep it moist. I'm a huge crockpot fan so that's fine with me. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

 

I made drunk buck chili for christmas dinner (made it this weekend and froze since I'll be traveling just before christmas). I smoked a venison loin and I made a venison carbonnade with the venison my FIL gave us.....

 

Sometimes I get a pound or two of ground venison from a friend who hunts. Makes excellent chili.

I'm interested in answers here as well. The same friend gave me a couple deer tenderloins that I would like to roast. Wondered if they can be handled like beef tenderloin. They are very small. My hope is that tenderloin won't need slow, wet heat like other cuts probably do. As with lamb, when I roast it there will be enough garlic to neutralize any strong flavors. Or should I say any other strong flavors.

 

I'd be afraid to wreck it. I think tenderloin will still be more tender but not like beef. I mean, I don't know, but as the wife of a butcher, that's my semi-professional guess. I think if I were you I would ask somebody with a lot more experience with venison tenderloin.

 

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That's hilarious!

True, it won't be as tender. Perhaps some sort of marinade is called for. What flavorings would go with venison- dill, maybe?

 

This is the best tip I ever got and it works like a charm. Marinate the steaks in mile and eggs for 24 to 48 hours. It takes all the gamey taste and smell out by drawing the blood out. The meat then does not smell like wild game when cooking and def does not taste like it. I also have friends that soak in Italian Dressing with great results.

I have found that cooking slowly compared to beef and a lot of extra spice is the way to go!!

If you want some great jerky use a dehydrator and a jerky gun and its actually kinda fun to make! Best jerky ever too. I end up giving 80% of mine away bec people love it so much.

 

The worst tasting crap meat in the world. Rat tastes better and yes, I have eaten rat.

Good thing they were all over the place so the pioneers could survive, but squirrel and rabbit are better, and yes, I have eaten squirrel and rabbit.

As you can see from the above posts, it takes some sort of exotic preparation to get it to taste like anything desirable.

The only thing close to being as bad as venison is bear, and yes, I have eaten bear. I also ate skunk chili.

Venison is still awful.

The only reason I would shoot one is because they are tomato stealing bastards!

 

I agree, the preparation is ridiculous. I just give mine away anymore, I dont have time to make it taste the way I like. My ex wife and kids put a ban on me cooking it in the house because of the smell and how long it hung around.

I also agree about the bear, its the nastiest, greasiest meat I have ever tried! Prob work quite well at some of lower end buffets off strip!

 

So I take it you're not fond of Bambi? Me neither, but deer are afraid to venture into our little lakeside neighborhood. I knew a guy who wanted me to call if they came around too much where we used to live. He used a bow so as not to make noise. After watching "The Deer Hunter" I never had the heart to make the call.

Well, venison does make good chili. Perhaps I should thaw and grind the tenderloins and use them that way.

I assume rat tastes nothing like chicken.

 

Personally, I prefer venison to squirrel, rabbit, or moose. But I didn't like any of those when I was younger. I'm not a fan of red meat in general - I prefer seafood.

When I smoked the venison, I marinated (commercial marinade I happened to have open) for an hour or so and then wrapped in bacon and smoked at ~220 until 165. It was delicious. One key is not overcooking to dry/toughness.

If the meat is processed properly when killed, it should NOT taste gamey.

But, if you don't like it, you don't like it, and that's fair

 

And this is the chili recipe I just made - with my modifications noted:

Drunk Deer Chili 10 servings
1/4 cup butter
1 pound ground venison
1 pound cubed beef stew meat
1 pound cubed pork stew meat
1 large onion, chopped
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 (14 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes, with juice
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cubes beef bouillon, crumbled
1/4 cup Kentucky bourbon
2 (12 fluid ounce) cans pilsner-style beer
2 cups water

1. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the venison, beef, and pork in the melted butter until completely browned. Add the onion and jalapeno; cook until tender. Season with chili powder, cayenne pepper, and cumin.
2. Stir in the stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, garlic and beef bouillon. Pour the bourbon, beer, and water into the mixture and stir. Bring the chili to a boil; cover and reduce heat to medium-low; simmer about 1 hour, stirring frequently.

HOYA'S NOTES
•use chipotle pepper instead of the cayenne
• omit the water
• I used 1.5lbs venison, 1.5lbs local pig (ground both at home) because I had lots available - no beef this time
• I used 12oz beer, not 24. Omitting water and 2nd beer makes this a nice thick chili. If you prefer it thinner, add water and/or the 2nd beer.
• I also omitted the jalapenos from this batch (for Christmas) because more than half the people at the table won't want the spiciness. I have some of my husband's homemade hot sauce I can serve if he wants more "heat".
•normally I'd use my own tomatoes & sauce but I had a rotten year in the garden and none for my freezer this year

 

Venison all depends on what they are eating and yes some can taste freakin horrid. My wife did not like it at all from what her dad had brought home in the SE part of the state, what I call rock and acorn fed deer, the first time I brought some back from where I hunt which is much more agricultural she could not believe the difference, now she is hooked. The biggest thing with any wild game is not over cooking it which is easy to do for the neophyte game cook to do. Far as bear or rat over it no way, and yes I have eaten both as well as opossum, coon and armadillo, rabbit, squirrel and especially upland birds any day of the week I will take that over deer or elk. BTW the best wild large game I have ever had is by far Pronghorn, sweet, lean and not gamey even to the non experienced palate.
The question on the backstrap or tenderloin the best way by a stretch is a quick sauté in walnut oil that is near to the smoking point, about 1/2 inch thick, 1.5 minute/side BAM. Serve with a nice red wine reduction and there is little better.

 

All right! Now we're getting somewhere. I don't know what my friend's deer ate, but the ground venison was not strong smelling as it browned. Tenderloin I assume would be the mildest tasting part, as it is on a cow.

I always use my Thermapen on meat, so name the temp and that's what you get. I forgot about it on the thread about the item you can't do without, or I would have named it. No ordinary thermometer compares.

 

We stick with a lot of tried and true favorites

Baked spiral ham,Lasagne ,kielbasa and kraut, pierogies plus veggies and shrimp and a few other appys .

 

I had a closer look at that full bag of stuff he gave us. There's a homemade fruitcake, venison sausage, ground venison, venison roast and a moose roast. My husband doesn't know about the moose yet, it's his fav game meat. He's going to go crazy for it. I'm going to do a half turkey breast for myself and that chunk of moose for my husband. I'm glad he gave us good sized portions of meat, not huge honking chunks.

 

I'm sorry I let you guys down yesterday. We ended up taking an extended nap. Dinner was canned soup and leftovers from Xmas Eve.

But, I'll be making Xmas dinner today with that single turkey breast and moose steak.

 

Ha, me and a lot of my friends stay in a private lake cabin in Culpeper, VA and we had deer tacos the last time out.

Deer is perfect for the Indian couple that hangs with us.

I have never tasted gamey deer and I have had it in all forms from burgers to bologna. One of our friends hunts on that land in VA and bags about 4 deer per year. I think he has 4 tree stands there.

I wish I could stick a rifle out of my window around dusk since the deer wander in to my backyard all the time.

 

Sorry I am so late to this discussion. I hope I can help someone in the future with venison which is a favorite with my family.

Once the animal is downed, it needs to be immediately field dress properly. Then depending on outside temps it needs to be butchered by someone who really knows what they are doing. Nothing worse then opening up a package of venison and find deer hair in it. All cuts of meat MUST be de-boned ! ! !

Now lets presume all the above steps were done correctly. Then venison is a VERY easy meal to prepare. It's all these exotic marinates and rubs and slow cooking that can make anything taste bad.

Just remember venison is a VERY lean meat. Like a fillet with less fat. It should be cooked most times fast and rare, med rare at MOST.

Keep it simple......if you have some nice little boneless steaks, bring to room temp, use Kosher Salt, garlic power and pepper on both sides....then fry in butter for about 2-2.5 minutes on each side. REMEMBER med rare at most....enjoy.....you will think you just ate the best sirloin steak ever.

Roast can be done on the grill or oven.......but on the grill it should only get indirect heat. Either way just wrap the roast with bacon and place a digital probe in it and cook only to 135 degrees at most. Again it's a very lean piece of meat and taste great if you don't dry it out.

I never add any pork to my ground venison.......some guys do.....I don't find it necessary because I don't make burgers out of the ground venison. We use it in chili, tacos and even meat balls.....but if you do want burgers with it I would recommend mixing either pork or beef with it.......It's VERY dry on it's own. Probably the best red meat health wise you can eat.

Just keep in mind to keep it simple and don't over cook it.

I have feed many people venison that swore they will not eat it because they tried it and it was terrible. To this day my sister and one of my sister in-laws don't know they LOVE venison. They keep thinking it's beef...I have not had one person tell me that it was bad....they always ask to pass them so more.

Now let me tell you about cook wild ducks......LOL