Unfortunately, venison tastes awful, but there are a few things hunters can do to make it b taste better.
Hunting in the real world is not like the Outdoor Channel portrays it to be. Hunters make bad shots from time to time and the deer has to be tracked for a while. Shot placement and the stress the animal received while being trailed plays a big role in gamey meat. The faster a deer dies, the sooner it can be field dressed. This will reduce the amount of acid that builds up in the deer’s muscles.
Hunters often fail to get the deer cooled as quickly as possible. The first step it to field dress the animal immediately and was out the cavity with cool water. Be sure to dry the cavity out as the water is a breeding ground for bacteria. If the temperatures outside are in the mid-30s or cooler it O.K. to let the deer hang. Anything warmer than that and the deer needs to hung in a walk-in cooler, or skinned, quartered and put on ice if you do not have a walk-in.
Growing up as a kid I can remember how much my dad loved the taste of fat from a good cut of beef. The same does not hold true with deer fat. Simply stated, deer fat tastes awful. It is not red meat, cut it off before it is made into steaks or burger. This includes all fat and silver skin.
Every year before deer season begin we call in an order to the local butcher shop for beef suet. Even though we removed all of the deer fat, we need to add some sort of fat, whether beef or pork, when grinding it. If this is not done the lean venison will quickly fall apart when making burgers, meat loaves, etc… We add beef fat at a ratio of 3:1 (three pounds venison per pound of fat).
If you have the means, the time and the knowledge I recommend processing all your deer yourself. When you take a deer to a meat locker you are not for sure how the meat is handled, or if you even get your own deer back. For all you know you could be getting someone else’s deer back that was gut-shot and not properly handled after the shot. If you have to take a deer to a processor research the facility by talking to other hunters who have used it, and also talk with the workers. Hopefully the will be honest with you.
Do not overcook venison. Cooking deer for too long causes it to become chewy and dry. Venison is best cooked to medium-rare, but the outside needs to be cooked. To accomplish this, the grill must be hot enough to quickly sear the outside and lock in the flavors and juices. Turn your venison only once, and there are not grill marks after three minutes or so the grate is not hot enough.
Another issue is a lot of hunters do not save all of the meat from a deer that they could be.
Too many hunters throw out the liver, shanks, heart, ribs, and more of the deer.
This is all edible food, when properly prepared, tastes great.
The folks at Outdoor Life Magazine have put together six creative recipes, and some videos, to help us hunters make use of some meat we would normally throw out.
Bring a fresh liver into deer camp and one of your buddies will likely argue that you can’t eat it because it filters toxins. But the fact is, venison liver is packed with vitamins and nutrients. And most important, when prepared properly, it tastes delicious. So, here’s a hot take on liver venison (that doesn’t taste at all like traditional liver and onions). Serve it in camp and turn those skeptics into believers. [Continued][Continued]
Photo by Krissie Mason
