I am so thankful – DH got a deer this year! Our freezer was just about EMPTY. I’m always surprised when people tell me they don’t like venison, or don’t know how to cook it. Here are some tips I’ve learned over a lifetime of eating it:
Before It Ends Up in Your Freezer
A lot of how good a deer tastes depends on things that occur before it even gets to your freezer. Where it was raised makes a huge difference. Was it corn fed, or eating acorns? In Michigan, the deer in the lower half of the state tend to be corn fed, and thus don’t have as much “gamey” flavor as those in the Upper Peninsula which tend to eat more leaves and bark. The age of the deer also makes a difference; younger tends to be better. And how was it killed? Hopefully in a humane, clean shot that avoids as much of the meat as possible. Finally, it is important that it was field dressed as soon as possible, as cleanly as possible, and refrigerated as soon as possible.
It’s in the freezer . . . now what?
For a deer that was of good quality as specified above, the only difference between cooking beef and cooking venison is that it is very, very lean; it’s similar to cooking grassfed beef. You will want to be very careful not to overcook it. Often ground venison is mixed with ground beef to make better hamburger patties and to make it behave more like the ground beef that we’re used to.
If it is a little tough or gamey, that can easily be fixed by marinating and a lot of seasoning, such as in these recipes:
Venison or Beef Broccoli Pasta
How about you? Do you have any venison recipes or tips to share?
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I wish I had venison to eat 🙁 We love it!
No recipes to share. No deer in the freezer. No deer. Period. Waa….