Venison/Game Recipes

[big brown horse]

BBQed goat mmmm (Served in TX at every street corner.)

A bit off topic, but here is a wonderful lamb stew recipe from my Armenian Godmother:


Armenian Lamb Stew
INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. lean lamb breast or shoulder, cubed with all fat and gristle removed.
1 15 oz. can crushed or stewed tomatoes
1 large yellow onion [chopped]
Potatoes, carrots and celery [cut into bite sized portions]
1 cup red wine
1 teaspoon garlic [crushed or minced]
1/4 cup green bell pepper [chopped]
1/2 teaspoon fresh basil [chopped]
1/2 teaspoon fresh mint [chopped]
1/4 cup Armenian or Italian parsley [chopped]
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
PREPARATION:
Brown off lamb in olive oil and add onions, bell pepper and garlic and saute until onions are translucent. Add all other ingredients EXCEPT potatoes, carrots and celery and simmer for 1 hour.
Add the vegetables and simmer another 1/2 hour.
* For a thicker soup add a little flour, cornstarch, or instant mashed potato flakes.

 

[ScottSD]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but why would you want to "tame" the flavor of your "wild" meat?

Aww, but I like the wild taste myself...it is The Wife™ that doesn't care for it.

Gotta satisfy the The Wife™, you know.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Not all wild meat needs to "taste " wild. Game animals will often taste gamey if they have taken a long time to die. this is another reason (as if ethics isn't enough) to make sure you have a good sight on your target, and make a good kill shot. An animal that takes a long time to die, releases adrenalin and other endorphins into the tissues as a response to being shot. A quick kill lessens the amount of adrenalin and therefore does not taint the meat with its flavour. Venison does not need to taste gamey. If it does, a marinade in buttermilk or even plain milk will lessen the taste.
Also, rutting bucks will have more of a flavour than does, due to the testosterone. If you butcher the deer on the bone, the bone will give it a flavour also.

While I love venison, I am not a big fan of the gamey taste. My dh's friend gave us some lst year b/c we did not harvest one. It was on the bone, and it was so gamey, that i needed to marinate every piece that we ate. while I appreciate that he gave us some, I was so thankful hubby got his own deer this year.

 

[chrissum]

Here is a quick link to soaking wild game:
http://www.bassbucknbirdhunter.com/recipes/deer_soaking.html
WHo would of thought of Mt Dew! I've never soaked rabbit before but I might try it once!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Mt Dew, huh? Interesting. My dad used to soak steaks in Dr. Pepper. Makes sense for tenderizing, as the acids will take off rust & battery corrosion. Thanks for the link!

Another way to get mild tasting ground venison is to make sure you peel every last scrap of tallow off any meat you want to grind. That adds a lot of gamey taste to the ground meat, IMO.

Completely agree with Miss_thenorth, a quicker kill is better all around. She also mentioned another reason I prefer does, better tasting meat (mostly!) and they don't fight like bucks do, so the hide isn't scarred up as much..

 

[chrissum]

I will add Dr Pepper to the list as well! My wife is the one who thinks the deer meat has a different taste! But than again she is a city girl!

 

[dacjohns]

Icy salt water helps too, but I kinda like the "wild" flavor that puts so many people off. I just replace most beef dishes with deer, like lori.
I canned meat shreds and broth from a rack of deer ribs from the freezer. I don't care what anybody says, there is a lot of meat on deer ribs.
I brought them to a boil with lightly salted filtered water & apple cider vinegar (ACV) in my largest soup pot (5 gallon or so) and skimmed the foam off. Then I simmered it overnight.
The next day I pulled all the meat off the bones, & strained most of the broth from the shreds. I put the shreds into another pot & put just enough of the broth into it to barely cover the shreds. I brought them back to a boil, put the hot shreds in hot jars, leaving 1-1/2" headspace. Then I covered with broth to within 1" of the top & put in the pressue canner. The rest is just like canning any other meat. Vent, put on weight & pressurize. Process according to your altitude's weight & time. 90 minutes at 10lbs for me.
The broth was just jarred up with 1" headspace & processed for 20 minutes at 10lbs.

I got 5 pints of meat/broth & 5 of just broth.
After much reading I decided to season as we use it. That way you don't end up with taco meat when you really want italian flavored. Plus there are several herbs & spices that turn bitter when cooked for long periods of time.

A cup of vinegar in a pressure cooker is little bit too much. I know you didn't say how much vinegar. I'm just letting others know that might want to cook some ribs.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I just wanted to post a recipe I made last week using the deer neck from SO's deer.

I seared it first, then put it in the crockpot covered with fresh tomato sauce (I cut up some tomatoes and pureed them in the blender), about a cup of venison stock (made according to Nourishing Traditions) and a shot of wine vinegar. I cooked it for 2 days until the meat fell off the bone. If the meat is not completely covered by the liquids, turn the meat occasionally, so part of it doesn't dry out.

Then I used it to make a cuban dish called "ropa vieja"

1 1/2 tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
2 gypsy peppers, one red, one yellow (or red or yellow bell pepper), cut into strips
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/3 cup red wine
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
hot pepper, if you like your food spicey, I added 1/2 dried cut up jalapeno pepper.
minced flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

In a large saucepan heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and peppers, and saute, stirring, until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the oregano and cumin and stir for another minute or so til onions get slightly brown on the edges. Stir in the sherry and wine and reduce for 2 minutes.

Add to crock pot. Season with salt and pepper and add a bit of sugar to take the acidic edge off the dish. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, until flavorful and reduced, about 20 munutes. Garnish with parsley and serve over rice.

 

[Jen-pi]

I always save a seperate bag for "grind". What I do is get some beef fat from the butcher (for free) and grind that with the venison. Since it is dry, that gives it a little fat for moisture. Also, we mix some water in with the venison/fat mixture before freezing.

Im a big fan of bacon wrapped back-strap! I cut slits in it too and put garlic cloves inside before baking.

This year in Northern Wisconsin it is "buck only". So, Im sure a lot of families up there will go without any meat in the freezer this winter!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Im a big fan of bacon wrapped back-strap! I cut slits in it too and put garlic cloves inside before baking.

Filet mignon de la venison!!! I got some backstrap in the fridge chillin'. Time to get out a package of bacon did I mention