I Have Venison...Now what??

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Revvy

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
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I was given a couple of pounds of ground Bambi and a few nice looking steaks:ban:

I haven't had venison in over 20 years (In fact I pretty much learned to cook several different styles like Blackened Cajun Cooking with venison.) But that was half a lifetime ago.

So I don't know what to do with my score...


I guess I could do some chili with the ground...but any ideas for the steaks??

I kinda figure with my luck it will be another 2 decades before I get any more, so I want to do something nice.

Also if you have great "Chili con Bambi" recipes I'd appreciate them.


Edit if you are reading this in 2009, go to my last post where I bumped it up.
YUM!!!
 
Rub it with a little olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper and throw it on the grill over some hickory wood. Cook it six minutes per side, let it sit for 10 minutes after you pull it from the heat and serve it with a baked potato or salad or something.

I mean umm, I have heard some horror stories about tainted venison this year. Better ship it to me for safe disposal. ;)
 
Rub it with a little olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper and throw it on the grill over some hickory wood. Cook it six minutes per side, let it sit for 10 minutes after you pull it from the heat and serve it with a baked potato or salad or something.

I mean umm, I have heard some horror stories about tainted venison this year. Better ship it to me for safe disposal. ;)

send it to me and ill take care of it

NO!!!!
:D

(I've been promised venison by people for 2 decades....but after they promise me they always seem to have bad hunting streaks...I was beginning to think I was a jinx or something....I did a homebrew tasting for this guy a couple weeks back-He's one of the faulty members of the med school-and he delivered on his promise...and he loved my beers...so If I keep supplying him, then just maybe.:D)

Wow Tenchiro, I never expected something so simple...I always hear people marinading in strong stuff to kill the gaminess....hmmmm
 
NO!!!!


Wow Tenchiro, I never expected something so simple...I always hear people marinading in strong stuff to kill the gaminess....hmmmm

I agree, although I haven't the slightest clue what you should marinade with. All the deer steaks I've ever had that were cooked like mentioned above were too gamey for my tastes......edible, but not very good. And as far as the ground stuff goes I think chili would be an excellent use.
 
NO!!!!
:D

(I've been promised venison by people for 2 decades....but after they promise me they always seem to have bad hunting streaks...I was beginning to think I was a jinx or something....I did a homebrew tasting for this guy a couple weeks back-He's one of the faulty members of the med school-and he delivered on his promise...and he loved my beers...so If I keep supplying him, then just maybe.:D)

Wow Tenchiro, I never expected something so simple...I always hear people marinading in strong stuff to kill the gaminess....hmmmm

Personally I like the flavor of venison, and with any good cut of meat I tend to keep it as simple as possible. With poor cuts of meat I am all about the marinades however.

EDIT - For marinades, people seem to favor Worcestershire/soy based marinades for venison. If you do go that route I would still cook it over Hickory though.
 
Whatever you do, do not over-cook the steaks. Remove the fat, and as said above, rub with olive oil.

I am an avid hunter, and all venison is tasty: Deer runs the most chance of being gamey. Elk and moose are best!

Basically, any typical steak marinade or rub works well, and I always use a bit of sage and celery salt. A nice fresh cherry, blackberry or blueberry sauce made with a bit of vinegar works nicely, too.

Just did that with some moose loin... yum!

Eric
 
Man, what kind of cuts do you have anyway? I cook all my cuts differently. You said "steaks"...but what kind? I'm a huge fan of venison backstrap medallions sauteed rare with a port-cranberry pan sauce. But short of that, just like everyone else said, do NOT overcook it. Rare is best. Overcooked venison is like chewing on a baseball glove because there's virtually no fat on the bastids. If you have a roast, then a crockpot long-slow braising is excellent. Make a stew or a chili with any cuts you want to turn into stew chunks, they work very well. And don't worry about the gameyness...it's minimal as long as it's not over- or under-cooked, and the gameyness you do get is actually very GOOD! Drink it with a nice cabernet franc from the Loire valley. werrrrd.
 
Man, what kind of cuts do you have anyway? I cook all my cuts differently. You said "steaks"...but what kind? I'm a huge fan of venison backstrap medallions sauteed rare with a port-cranberry pan sauce. But short of that, just like everyone else said, do NOT overcook it. Rare is best. Overcooked venison is like chewing on a baseball glove because there's virtually no fat on the bastids. If you have a roast, then a crockpot long-slow braising is excellent. Make a stew or a chili with any cuts you want to turn into stew chunks, they work very well. And don't worry about the gameyness...it's minimal as long as it's not over- or under-cooked, and the gameyness you do get is actually very GOOD! Drink it with a nice cabernet franc from the Loire valley. werrrrd.


Arrrgh....I just looked at the package and they're just labeld "steaks."
 
With all of the venison I obtain, I butcher it myself.

Honestly, with last years elk and moose a steak is a steak... the backstrap is no different from the chuck steaks. Both can easily be cut with a fork. The texture is obviously coarser from the round or chuck, but tender and juicy. This ain't your store-bought beef!

I served tonight's fare with a moderately hopped amber, followed by a Hales RIS (pikop andropov) for desert. Now... I ... need... a ...nap....

Eric
 
I've never had moose, but to me elk is a whole different ball game. Elk can be prepared just like (beef) steak, and it will still taste great. To me elk doesn't have nearly the "gaminess"
 
How fresh is it? You can look up my Venison Tartare recipe. :D

Another fav' is to pound them thin into cutlets and then coat them with a bound egg breading and shallow fry them in Olive Oil. Serve with Lemon wedges and a fried egg on top if you prefer (like Shnitzel a la Holstein).
 
For marinades, people seem to favor Worcestershire/soy based marinades for venison.

+1 I usually prefer to keep any nice cut of meat simple and follow the olive oil, salt and pepper route, but HWMO likes marinades and sauces. One of the marinades I used consisted of: minced garlic, Worcestershire, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, olive oil, and some kind of acid (lemon juice, flavored vinegar, etc).
 
The two big things with Venison IMO:
Gaminess
Cooking

Some people soak the meat in milk for a bit. That tames the gaminess.
I hunt my own so I can control how gamey they are.

That aside, keep it simple.

I avoid oil.
Instead I put just a dusting of Worcestershire Sauce on the meat with some cracked pepper, salt, and some onion powder.
Let it sit there for x amount of time. 20-30 minutes is plenty.

A general rule of thumb for cooking is 7 minutes on one side on low heat setting. Flip and do 5 minutes on the other side. This is completely dependent on how thick the cut is. Some do 5 and 3 with good results but that gets you a rare steak. Again, depends on how thick the cut is.
As others have mentioned they are very low in fat content so they will cook faster than you think. This is not fatty or marbled beef we're talkin here.

I'll toss a bit more cracked pepper and salt on them and let them rest for 10 minutes off the grill with some foil over the top.
 
the best venison I have ever cooked was by taking a backstrap cutting it down the middle and filling it with ground sausage, I pinned it together and wrap the entire thing in bacon. Coat with your favorite rub and smoke until medium or medium rare. You could do something similar with two steaks.

The guy that gave me the venison said it was by far the best he has ever eaten.
 
I used to live and hunt in Imlay City, about 40 minutes west of you. The deer there were all cornfed and had absolutely no gamey taste, they were awesome. I used to love putting deer burger in spaghetti sauce. You can't go wrong with anyway you cook the steaks. +1 on the overcooking it.
 
Like a few others indicated, whatever you do, don't overcook it. Medium rare for sure. I have found that most people who say they don't like venison have had it overcooked.

Cook it medium rare w/salt, pepper and olive oil, cut it into strips, mix with grilled green peppers and onions, throw it all in tortillas = venison fajitas.
 
I suggest that you soak it in butter milk for 12 hrs...after...warm up some veg. oi; tp 325-350...coat deer steak in combination of flour, salt pepper na a little garlic salt....fry till light brown....Mississippi deer steak with tomato gravy and mashed potatos.. cant beat it
 
I suggest that you soak it in butter milk for 12 hrs...after...warm up some veg. oi; tp 325-350...coat deer steak in combination of flour, salt pepper na a little garlic salt....fry till light brown....Mississippi deer steak with tomato gravy and mashed potatos.. cant beat it

Oof, no offense, but that sounds nasty.:eek:
 
Overnight soak in this then grilled to medium rare. This is how I always do my venison steaks.

marinade.jpg
 
I'm bumping this up because I now have two Venison Shoulders in my possesion..AND I don't know what to do with them...I should say I don't know how to cut the meat. My buddy said I could cut them for roasts or do with them whatever I want to.

SO how to I do this? I don't have a camera to take a pic of the meat...but they kinda look like boomerangs..I cant tell if they have bone or not, forming the"v" of the 'rang, but it feels like there is one "steak like" piece that sort of connects the bottom part of the ^ (kinda like the underline of the ^)

I hope that helps, but can someone talk me through this? Pictures would help...

One's in the freezer, but I got another one thawed that I'd like to cook this weekend...


Help!

This is the ONLY pic I could find...

Cuts-of-Venison-Chart.png


1. Shoulder.

2. Neck.

3. Haunch.

4. Breast.

5. Scrag.
 
Shoulder screams for slow cooking -- here's what I'd do, and extremely simple yet tasty recipe.

put the shoulder, some quartered red potatoes, sliced carrots, and 1 quartered onion in a crock pot. Add 1 pkg of lipton onion soup dry mix (mixed with ~1/2 cup of beef broth). Maybe some garlic, red pepper, etc.

cook on low for 8-10 hours; and enjoy (if you want you can take out all the meat/veggies and thicken the sauce with a flour-water slurry).

You can't mess up the cut this way.
 
The only deer roast I ever had that I actually liked was a neck roast cooked whole in the crock pot as described above. I always grind them into burger.


Here's another common recipe down here. I have never tried it, but know several that have.

I inject them with Creole Butter marinade and put it in an oven bag with some pepsi/coke, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms..etc and bake at 250 for several hours.... it'll fall off the bone. I also do hams and shoulders this way as well.
 
The only deer roast I ever had that I actually liked was a neck roast cooked whole in the crock pot as described above. I always grind them into burger.


Here's another common recipe down here. I have never tried it, but know several that have.

Sounds great...but is there a recipe for the creole butter marinade?

My crockpot isn't big enough to hold one of these bad boys...So the oven bag is a great idea.
 
Is it a whole shoulder with the leg attached? I would marinate the whole thing in a garbage bag for several days with a greek marinade (pepper, coarse sea salt, thyme, lemons and lemon juice, lots of garlic, olive oil, fresh oregano, maybe some rosemary but definately lots of black pepper), you may want to cut some slits in the meat and insert garlic as well. As I said, marinate it for several days in a garbage bag in the refrigerator or garage (it should be cold enough in Michigan to get away with that). Next Friday invite a bunch of friends over, break out the beer, and cook that whole shoulder over hard wood charcoal basting it with the leftover marinade as it cooks slowly. Seve it with rice pilaf, pitas, feta cheese, and a greek salad. It is my favorite way to cook a deer shoulder and tastes almost identical to leg of lamb. The gaminess from the deer translates very well. I only hunt elk now so I haven't had that in a few years (elk shoulder is a little to big to do that unless you shoot a calf). Drink a red zin with it. Seghesio is a great zin.
 
Ok...thanks to all of you I am eating heaven on earth...

So I found a recipe to make my own creole butter injector marinade, and made up a batch, then shot the hell out of it with my injecter. Then diluted the remainder in beer, lemon uice and olive oil, and stuck it all in a baggie overnight to marinade. Today I chucked it into a baking bag with carrots, onions, celery, oregano and taters and let it roast all day @ 250 degrees...

A little while ago I slit it open and was hit with an amazing aroma..The meat fell off the bones, and everything is sitting in spicy gravy...

I wish you all could come over and eat this huge meal with me...lokks like I'll have leftover creole venison stew for a week...sigh

All this needs is something like an ipa or my centennial blonde, which I'm out of...

And shunoshi I found the mesquite lime marinade...so THAT's Gonna Be for the other shoulder...venison fajitas in a couple weeks

icon_017.gif
 
Revvy if you didnt break down the shoulder yet let me know. I have to butcher my deer in the morning and I can take pics for you.
Ok...thanks to all of you I am eating heaven on earth...

So I found a recipe to make my own creole butter injector marinade, and made up a batch, then shot the hell out of it with my injecter. Then diluted the remainder in beer, lemon uice and olive oil, and stuck it all in a baggie overnight to marinade. Today I chucked it into a baking bag with carrots, onions, celery, oregano and taters and let it roast all day @ 250 degrees...

A little while ago I slit it open and was hit with an amazing aroma..The meat fell off the bones, and everything is sitting in spicy gravy...

I wish you all could come over and eat this huge meal with me...lokks like I'll have leftover creole venison stew for a week...sigh

All this needs is something like an ipa or my centennial blonde, which I'm out of...

And shunoshi I found the mesquite lime marinade...so THAT's Gonna Be for the other shoulder...venison fajitas in a couple weeks

icon_017.gif
 
alright revy you might try this... get yourself a good steak, not to thick but as wide and flat as you like. then Dry rub it with a mix of fresh ground peper, finnly choped onion, garlic pepper, some oregano, and some corn meal... then get a bakeing pan big enough to put you slab in and in the bottom of it underneath your slab butter the pan, stick it in the oven on low heat about 375. Get a spary bottle and hit your slab with a good marinade (its simple enough to just use about an ounce or two of tyerokie and tobasco in about 16oz of warm water) then spary it on your rubbed slab when ever you think it will get dry while its cooking. Venison should always be cooked as close to completely as you can my meat thermometer says 200 so i listen, or it should be slow cooked for sevral hours.... When it reaches temp let the corn meal brown up with out sparying on and serve with some mashed potatos with fresh venison gravy and good heavy butter milk roles... try this with beef and youll have a heart attack when your done, but with venison you run little risk of that.

Also venison borritos, tacos, nachos... makes great pizza sausage... other then that... let me know how that shoulder turns out... if you havent borken that down yet you might breaking into a section like pot roast and chucking it into a pot with about 6 pealed roaster potatos, some garlic, some portobello mushrooms, and if you like a bit of zing chopped jalapeno... add two cups of water in the pot and se the over to 350 and check the water level every 30 minutes or so until done... use the drippings at the bottom of the pan (what little there will be) as gravy for those potatos and bingo... damn now im hungry... can i come over?

Cheers
 
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