A friend of mine has given me some venison hamburger. Hubby says he doesn't like venison and I was wondering if any of you have some really good recipes for venison that I could try to see if he likes them. I don't want to waste the meat but I know it doesn't take like beef. I was thinking of maybe using it in chili or tacos, something that is quite spicy. I'm looking for some tasty ideas. She also has a roast to give me if I want it so I'll be looking for recipes for that as well.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), December 25, 2000

Answers

Colleen,

I just got up from a nice Christmas dinner not over an hour ago. The main attraction was a large venison roast, and you are right it doesn't taste like beef (or chicken either thank God).

A lot of how your venison dinner tastes starts with the meat itself. It depends on how old or young the animal was and how it was handled. The meat that we had was from a yearling buck, that was road killed. I am on the list with my local sheriffs office to do this service of picking up dead deer that are killed by automobiles. In this case the animal was dead about one hour when I arrived to pick it up. Killed instantly (no stress). Within another hour the animal was butchered, and cut into pieces, cooled and frozen immidiately as it was a pretty warm day. Picked the deer up about 9 A.M. and was done by 11 A.M. (I have done this before). Understand that if the animal had laid dead overnight and then was not skinned right away, that this might have made a noticible difference in the taste. This was a young deer and the texture of the meat was excellent.

The fat on deer is quit different than the fat on beef, and I think that this is where a lot of the problem lies. Deer fat is stiff and gets very hard when the meat cools. Often if there is an off taste it will be in the fat. Deer fat should be removed before cooking, and not served at all. If fat is needed for cooking add a little bacon. Do not let the meat get cold before serving. In my opinion the hotter the better with venison.

My wife Judy bakes the roast as any other roast usually adding one or two onions (about tennis ball size) that have been cut in half, and sometimes a few stalks of celery. Usually she manages to have very little left in the way of drippings.

For the lefrover meat I like soups (get rid of the fat), and it is also good in chili.

Now when we are all done with the bigger bones we have a goose named Margaret, who will chew on anything that is leftover on the bones. Margaret says Merry Christmas.

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), December 25, 2000.

Hi Colleen, I'm Ed's Judy, I have cooked deer for years, and we butcher them on the kitchen table. As in beef, some cuts are more tender than others also as Ed mentioned, age and sex of the animal is a factor. Your ground deer burger would go wonderfully in a traditional meat loaf recipe, you might add some ground pork, about 25 per cent pork to 75 percent deer meat. Onions, tomatoe paste, or whole tomatoes, bread crumbs, or rolled oats or cooked rice to make a nice mix and bake at 350 for about an hour (pan the size of a regular bread pan. You can doll the top up with a mixture of brown sugar about 1/2 C, one tablespoon vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard. Enjoy, any more deer meat questions, feel free to contact us. Have a Merry Christmas. Judy

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), December 25, 2000.

Sloppy joes are another use for ground meat that makes it easier to "hide" the flavor. Marinades are a good way to make wild meat taste less "gamey". One especially good thing to use for a meat marinade is Italian dressing. I think it is the vinegar (or lemon juice) in marinades that take away the gamey flavor.

Personally, I grew up eating venison, grouse, pheasant, elk, antelope, etc. and always liked it just fine. Can you tell my dad liked to hunt? Antelope and moose were favorites with me, and wild sheep (bighorn) was good. The only thing he brought home that I didn't like was caribou. I didn't know about the marinades back then, so maybe that would have helped. Oh, and a few geese that were apparently old and very, very tough. Mom cooked them forever and they never did get tender. I think the dog got those . . .

And eating the meat hot, as mentioned, does make it taste better. If you come up with something great, post it, as my mom is bringing me some venison (frozen) in a couple of days, and it's been a LONG time since I had any to cook.

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), December 25, 2000.

I have ground venison and mixed in a little beef tallow during grinding. This adds enough fat for grilling or frying and tones down the game taste some.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 25, 2000.

Ditto sloppy Joe & cutting away fat part.I do a moist cook with my venison.Also pressure can it for later use.This works great

You could mix it half with turkey burger if you think you won't like the taste;however,we prefer it to beef.

Crockpot Sloppy Joe- 1 1/2 lb burger,browned .pkg sloppy joe dry mix or your own mix Sweet red pepper & sweet onion,finely chopped. 2 cups thick tomato sauce like prego.

Cook on high 2-3 hours

BBQ Venison chunks Same crockpot cookery-Put in a jar or abt 2 lb frozen venison chunks (thawed of course0. If using frozen,add a little water to provide a moist cook,or the meat will be dry.Cook til soft,abt.2 hour on high.Maybe Half an hour on canned product. Drain and add in your favorite BBQ sauce and cook til warmed up.Ready to go.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 25, 2000.

I don't prefer the taste of venison, but I like the fact that it's free of the hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides in supermarket beef. I was given 4 deer this winter; canned most of it. It is dry because it's so lean. I like it best in a stew: canned chunks with broth, a small can of tomato sauce, fresh carrots, onions, potatoes, seasoning. Also in chili or barbecued.

-- Sam in W.Va. (turnip55a@yahoo.com), December 25, 2000.

For meatloaf I sometimes mix 1 pound each of ground deer, hamburger, turkey and sausage, add oats, a few eggs, some BBQ sauce or ketchup, some onions or relish. this is spectacular and makes a lot to freeze or make sandwiches out of. I cook it in small portions. If I have steaks (or a roast you could slice into steaks) I use a method my great-uncle told me about. Place the steaks in a container with a lid. Cover with vinegar of your choice (on a different thread were recipes for herb vinegars that are great for this) let this soak in the refrigerator about 6-8 hours. Shake occasionally if you get the chance. When you're ready to cook, add a little oil or fat to your pan, roll the steaks in flour and fry until done. Remove from pan and make gravy with the drippings. Put steaks back in gravy and simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve the gravy over toast or biscuits. This is so awesome. The meat will fall apart when you touch it! I think I will fix this for dinner tomorrow... I also pressure can the meat which makes it taste very good and makes for quick, easy meals. Hope this helps.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), December 25, 2000.

I used to be married to a VERY enthusiastic deer hunter(yes he would bring ME the deer to butcher...at least he field dressed it). Unfortunately I don't care for strong tasting deer meat. One way to get it to taste less gamey is to soak the meat(even ground meat) in half milk(or a bit over half) and half water..add a bit of salt helps too. If you ever get fresh deer meat make sure it is bled real good. We would keep ours in an ice chest with ice water (not straight ice) for a couple of days to make sure and get all the blood out. Chili is a great use for venison that is ground up. Our favorite way to eat it is southern fried...just flour, salt, and pepper steaklets and fry.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), December 25, 2000.

I grew up with eating venison and agree it depends on the age, size, and location of the deer (or what the deer are eating). I like taking ground venison and cook it with fennel seeds, crushed red pepper, garlic, some sage, salt/pepper to make an italian sausage mixture. I use it in spaggetti, lasagna, baked ziti, goulash etc. Mixing vesinon with pork is also a great idea.

I cooked a Venison roast for Christmas dinner and stuffed it with loose italian sausage meat, parsley, garlic, and romano cheese. I tied the roast and layed two thick piece of bacon on it, basting frequently. Even some of my skittish dinner guests ate it with suprise! With large pieces of venison meat, I find if you marinate it in milk over night, rinse well, and then marinate it in you favorite marinade, it tenderizes the meat and takes the wild out of it.

Recipes for lamb also work well when dealing with venison. Remember venison is very lean and dry. If not cooking in stews or sauces, it needs some fat (sausage, bacon, fatback, pork or beef suet). If you don't care for lamb, you probably will not enjoy venison. Also, if this venison you try does not work out well, don't give up on venison. It may be the deer or the recipe. Good luck.

-- Al Cadavero (Al4wocn@aol.com), December 26, 2000.

We had deer roast for dinner the other day and the children didnt know the differance between it or a beef roast. When deer raost is baking in the oven it fills up the house with a sweeter scent then beef roast.This is the way that I fix a roast and it is YUM YUM. I put a little oil in my dutch oven, warm that in the oven, then I moistin the roast, and cut it into smaller pieces, then I coat the meat in a mixture of flour, tespoon salt, a teaspoon pepper and some thyme.After coating the meat I brown it in the oil in the dutch oven at about 350 degrees untill both sides are browned, then I add about 2 cups of warm water (never add cold water to a hot dutch oven) let this roast with the lid on for about 2 hours, meanwhile cut up the potatoes, carrots, celery and onions,add these and roast for another hour. This roast is good enough to serve a king and is one of our favorite meals.

-- Trendle Ellwood (trendlespin@msn.com), December 26, 2000.

I have contributed this recipe before, but it's so good it warrants repeating. Venison Steak Au Poivre (sp?).

Grill 1" thick venison steaks (cut from the rear haunch) until not quite done - best is very rare, then finish cooking to med. rare later in the recipe. While grilling steaks, heat a large cast iron skillet on the stove until hot. Add some peanut oil and some olive oil (about 1-2 Tablespoons each, depending on size of pan and quantity of steaks), and 2 tablespoons butter. Heat til sizzling, then add some crushed/rough chopped garlic (2-3 cloves for the cautious, more for the garlic lovers). When it starts to smell good (just a few seconds), add the underdone steaks to the pan. Finish cooking the steaks in the pan, remove to a warm platter. Keep the heat on under the pan, and deglaze the pan with 1 cup or more red wine - i.e., add wine to the pan, and bring it to a boil, scraping up the scraps and yummy bits from the bottom of the pan. Boil the wine down for a bit to a sauce consistancy - pour ovewr the steaks and ENJOY!!!!!!

-- Judi (ddecaro@snet.net), December 26, 2000.

The only way I can really eat venison is by doing what Jay suggested..it certainly makes a big difference! Have also added onions to absorb that wild flavor when I have cooked a roast.

-- Lynn (mscratch1@semo.net), December 26, 2000.

Here are some useful tips on venison.

http://www.msue.msu.edu/imp/mod01/mod01v.html

jonesey

-- David A Jones (jonesey65244@yahoo.com), December 28, 2000.

venison hamburger makes wonderful chili and can be used as any ground meat. You made need to add some bacon drippings when cooking or boil the meat and then add it cooked to tomato sauces. My husband and son really enjoy it browned with bbq sauce added. Then we place it in biscuit dough shells in a muffin tin. Bake the biscuit shells till brown. They call them bbq cups. Also try the meat mixed with taco seasoning and browned put a corn bread mixture on top and bake till corn bread is done. Hope these help. Son loves to hunt and does well

-- dee (abbysnanna@hotmail.com), January 17, 2001.