Preparing venison

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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Anyone got any ideas on preparing venison? I've got quite a bit of it, most of it is at least minimally freezer burnt, and it's mainly steaks and sausage, some ground meat. Other than chili and spaghetti for the ground meat, stew for the steaks, and who knows what for the sausage, got any ideas? Really want to cut down on the gamey taste and the freezer burnt taste. Cook a ton of onions with it?:confused:
 
When I chicken fry backstrap, I generally soak it in milk over night. This helps draw out some of the blood, and makes the batter stick better. The easiest way to eliminate gamey taste is to gut it, skin it, debone/defat it, remove the "silver skin," cut it up and freeze it as soon as possible after the kill. Prolonged contact with the skin, bones, and and other waste tissues is what causes gamey flavor. Letting it sit in the sun, and rolling it around in the dirt for a couple of days doesn't help. You'd be amazed at what you will see at a deer processing shop. If the deer was poorly cared for post harvest, you are pretty much stuck. I know that is south texas they soak feral hogs in apple cider vinegar for a few days, and that is supposed to cut down on the gamey flavor. My advice would be to spice it up and have fun cooking it (spicy stir fry comes to mind), but have the pizza joint on speed dial.
 
So I tried making chili out of sausage...Best chili I ever made, it has become my recipe. I don't bother getting any ground meat, all is made into sausage.

Give it a try.
 
get some baby red potatoes and cook in same pan as steak, with some chives, a touch of garlic, olive oil, and you won't notice the gamey taste.
 
It's probably been too long for me.

My grandfather (yes -- I DID have one!) was a genuinely 'mighty hunter' who brought home every sort of meat. And lots of it.

To deal with your issue, SHS, my mother (yes -- also had one of THOSE!) would do one of two things. The first has already been mentioned -- chili, and extremely spicy. If the meat was gamey, who could tell?

She would also make some very nice roasts. She soaked it in some sort of marinade overnight (can't be sure, but could well have involved apple cider vinegar...that 'sounds' right). Then she seasoned the meat (I think just salt and fresh ground pepper). Finally, she made many small incisions in the roast and filled them with cloves and slivers of fresh garlic. She'd roast them at relatively low heat for quite some time (I was just a kid, so can't remember how long).

The roasts were extremely tasty. Never gamey. Hope this helps a bit!
 
OK. I've done this and it works great for making venison taste like beef. We use venison as a huge staple to our diets and eat it on a weekly basis, but if you don't like the taste this will work:

Trim all the waste off your steaks, etc. (freezer burn is nasty-cut it off)
Cube it
throw it in a pan with butter, mushrooms and onions and SLIGHTLY brown it
toss slightly browned meat and rest of the mess into a slow cooker
cover with beef soup (Campbell's is good)
add pepper or other seasonings to taste (we are pepper people here)
cook on low for a half a day or so (until meat is done through and falling apart)
serve over potatoes or as a sandwich meat.

You can also use beef bullion in the slow cooker - the idea is to soak the meat in the beef broth and let it cook for a good long time.
 
The most important step to avoid 'gamey' flavour is to promtly dress out the deer ,then get it chilled and butchered as soon as possible .Most gamey flavour [other than the deer eating foods like sagebrush] is due to this !!! Freezer burn taste is due to poor wrapping. For those who don't like the flavour of venison then stews, meat sauces ,sausage are the way to go .marinades can help also.
 
One recipe that my grandmother used was to marinate steak with italian salad dressing, one clove garlic ( crushed ) and a small onion Cover in Saran wrap, place in fridge overnight . This was served after frying over long grain rice, and kidney beans.
 
My recipe is similar to wayne37's. Here ya go:

cube the venison roast or steak-1" cubes, (removing silver skin, freezer burn, etc.) place in 5 quart ice cream bucket (use enough meat to fill the bucket 1/2 to 3/4 full)

slice 2 large white onions very thin-break the slices up over the meat in the bucket

peel and slice one full head of garlic (all the cloves)-pour over meat (you can use more or less to your taste)

add: garlic powder, ground fennel, powdered dill, pepper, or your favorite spices-do this to your own taste buds, make it hot or whatever you like

mix vinegar and oil and water (I use a Good Seasonings cruet for the proportions) (and I add their spice packet also), pour this over the mixture (you may have to do several cruets full to cover the meat mixture)

once the meat is covered, stir thoroughly, cover and store in fridge for five days (sometimes I go seven), stirring twice daily. The vinegar will break down the meat, remove any gamey flavor and tenderize it.

on the fifth day remove from fridge. Cut up carrots (or use the mini's), potatoes, green and red bell peppers, onions (or use larger pearl onions). Leave the veggie chunks large enough so they won't fall apart when cooked. Boil the potatoes and carrots till they just start to soften and remove from heat. Using skewers (metal preferably, if wood or bamboo soak in warm water for an hour before cooking so they won't burn) skewer the meat and veggie pieces, alternating as you go. You can add the onion slices from the bucket to the skewers at this time if you want to. They are good!

make sure the grill is ready, not too hot though! Place your skewers of food on the grill, rotating and making sure they don't burn.

Here is the good part-while the food is gooking on the grill, use a basting brush and brush the leftover marinade from the bucket over the skewers. Be careful not to overdo it though. You will get flareups so you have to watch and turn/move the skewers. When the meat and veggies are cooked, serve!

Good luck!
 
1 kg venison meat, trimmed and cubed
150ml red wine
100ml oil, of own choice (I used olive oil)
100ml veg stock
12 juniper berries, crushed slightly
4 cloves
8 black peppercorns
1 clove garlic, skinned and crushed
2 rashers rindless thick cut streaky bacon, in chuncky lardons
2 med onions, skinned and sliced
2 level tbsp flour
150ml beef stock
2tbsp redcurrant jelly
S & P
chopped fresh parsley

Put meat, wine, half the oil, berries, cloves,corn and garlic in a bowl and stir well leave to marinade for at least 24hrs.

In a large fry pan, fry the lardons in the remaining oil until coloured, remove from pan. Strain the meat out of marinade and fry in several batches until coloured. Add the onions and cook for about 3 mins. Then add the flour and cook for 2 mins, stiring all the time. Put into heavy casserole dish.

Gradually stir in the stock, redcurrent jelly and the marinade. Add in the bacon and put in the oven for 3 hours until tender, stirring every hour at least; S & P to own taste.

Stir in parsley just before serving.

Great with mashed potatoes and braised cabbage.
OR roasted carrots and parsnip and poasted potatoes,
 
The poster who said trim off all the silver skin is dead on. The difference in taste is remarkable. Braising is good for venison because it makes the meat tender and gets other flavors into the meat. Add some aromatic vegetables, (celery, onion, garlic,) Cook in a slow cooker with beef or vegetable stock some balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper. Cook 6 or 7 hours and serve with mashed potatoes.
 
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