Venison

[snowangel]

I stopped at the local meat market today when my deer was delivered (hopefully, next year, it will be the one I got), and she is beautiful. Roughly 130 pounds, with a very clear head shot, so she didn't suffer, nor did the meat. The meat market guy noted how well she had been field dressed.

I have asked for roasts, stew meat, some chops, and the trimmings in ground meat. (Since I have plied this butcher with smoked brisket and butt in the past, he indicated that some other folks trimmings just might find their way into my ground meat.)

It has been a bountiful venison season here -- to date, this tiny meat market has processed some 300 deer (the season is but just a week old) and looks to be a record breaker.

I will pick up the meat on Monday, so it looks like I will spend a portion of Sunday cleaning out the freezer!

[budrichard]

With a few tools you can process your own venison and not have to worry about the quality of any trimmings that make it into your ground venison.

You need a hanging rack from which to hang the deer and do the initial butchering. This simply is skinning and then cutting away all the muscle groups. We don't cut through bone anymore but simply debone the whole carcass while it is hanging. This will take a couple of hours depending on your familiarity and skill. Sharp deboning knives are an asset.

Next is the cutting up of the muscle groups and packaging into whatever sizes you want. I generally do this over two days but last year two of us did it in about 3 hours.

I will shoot at least one doe this fall as I did last year. We have just about consumed last years venison and all of it was outstanding. I just don't trust anyone but myself with my venison.-Dick

[johnnyd]

A few chefs here in Portland Maine got together for a venison cook-off last month in case anyone is looking for ideas. Pics and wine list included.

[snowangel]

Thanks, John, for the link (which I bookmarked). My FIL gave me one deer. Apparently, sometime on Tuesday, I can expect another deer and a half which have been skinned an quartered on my doorstep. Armed with a copy of "How to Make the Most of your Deer" by Dennis Walrod and a mess of sharp knives and a food-saver, I'm ready to do some wiser butchering that I did two years ago. Oh, but first, best clean out, defrost and organize the chest freezer.

So, in the meantime, more suggestions are welcome. Strikes me you won't be seeing much in my kitchen that isn't related to venison.

[snowangel]

The deer that arrived on my doorstep this morning was a 170 pound buck. My FIL swore that he saw it last year, as well.

But, it was delivered skinned and in quarters, and let me tell you, it sure is easier to make nice white packages of meat when the deer is hanging on a rafter in the garage. The haunches are currently on the deck, in a Rubbermaid Action Packer, as I'm fighting weather. It's been warm, so the garage is not as cold as I wish it was.

Onto the haunches tomorrow and finish the deed!

I just hope my family wants to eat nothing but venison for the next year!

[teagal]

This year, our (ok-my husband's ) deer was butchered by us (ok-I just mark the baggies and fill them). After all the loins and 'steaks' were bagged up the rest gets taken to a meat shop and made into a summer sausage. This is real popular around here-everyone debates who makes the better one. We'll take some of this as our contribution to a wild game dinner in a couple weeks.

This year we're also getting back some deer bratwurst (they have to add some pork for that). I'm excited to try that. It'll be dinner sometime this weekend.

[mstopy]

Venison jerky (smoked) is simply mah-vah-lous. Freeze large pieces of boneless round until firm (to ease slicing). Slice to about 1/8 to 3/16 in. thick, with good knife skills if you don't have a slicing machine. Getting the strips thin and uniform is worth the effort.

Marinate the strips for about an hour. Lots of room for creativity on the marinade.

Lay strips on a smoker rack or hang them on bacon hangers (not touching each other). Allow strips to dry at room temp until the surface is dry and forms a glossy layer (pellicle). Smoke the strips at 130 F with light smoke for 6 to 8 hours. Continue to dry at 130 until the strips crack when you bend them sharply but not to the point where they break when you bend 'em.

The last batch I made had an Asian twist -

5 lb venison strips

1/2 cup good quality fish sauce (nam pla)

1/4 unseasoned rice vinegar

1/4 shoyu (or soy or tamari sauce)

2 T sambal oelek

2 T brown sugar

20 g crushed garlic

10 g fresh grated ginger

10 g Prague cure #1 (optional - I like the cured taste)

[Darcie B]

A friend brought over some big ol' venison chunks and asked me to cook it for him. He wanted at least part of it smoked. There was one package marked 'shoulder' and one package descriptively marked 'chunk.' Anyway, I brined it overnight while I perused this thread for ideas since I had never cooked anything but ground venison before.

I partially disassembled the shoulder part since it was very long. I cubed the trimmings from that plus a chunk of the 'chunk' and did a simple braise with onion, carrot, sherry, broth and fresh herbs. I took the remaining pieces, rubbed them with a Morrocan style rub, and threw them on the smoker for 2 hours @ about 200 degrees. I transferred those pieces to the oven for another 2 hours. The 'smoke ring' was incredible - about 1/2 inch. The meat was a tad dry but not bad, and was fairly tender. My friend proclaimed it a great success and is going to bring more to me later. We are going to do some jerky next time too.

Thanks to Susan and everyone for the great advice in this thread. We didn't have to order pizza as I had feared.

[markemorse]

Thought of this thread when I was Googling "pipian rojo" and came up with quite a few hits for venison. Here's one of the more interesting links.

[snowangel]

Given that we have a chest freezer (not the biggest model on the block, but not a small one) that is filled with venison, that's what we're eating.

Ragu with venison. Definite hit.

The beef stew recipe from Cradle of Flavour. Another hit.

Currently on the stove is a massaman curry with venison.

But, as to the cuts. Wow, do I love the neck meat. Perhaps next year, I can get my FIL to swap out the necks for tenderloins. That neck meat just melts in one's mouth with not that much of a low and slow simmer. The shoulder stew meat in the massaman is much slower to let the tough stuff go.

I've promised my family one night per meal that doesn't feature venison. Oh, my, I have a lot of venison in the freezer, and I'm loving it!

[Sentiamo]

http://www.nzvenison.com/english/recipes/contents_right.asp

I discovered this page for a friend a few days ago....so many wonderful recipes there that I might take up hunting myself.

[teagal]

I just got back from the 'wild game' dinner and the hit of the night, at least at our table was the corned deer. So moist and really good.

[snowangel]

I just got back from the 'wild game' dinner and the hit of the night, at least at our table was the corned deer.  So moist and really good.

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Can you supply any more details on this? Cut, prep method, hints, etc., etc.?

[snowangel]

To add to to what I've made so far:

tacos with ground vension

prik king curry (a Thai jungle curry with long beans and ground vension)

a beyond awesome "beef" and potato curry from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook

But, the more I look at the venison in the freezer (oh, me oh my, you're going to see a lot of it on the table in the next year!), I can't stress how much more I like the stuff that I butchered. As mentioned up-topic, one of my deer was professionally done, one by me. When I did it myself, BTW, I was ably assisted by a great book -- "Making the Most of Your Deer" by Dennis Walrod. He does a wonderful job of explaining how to field dress, break it down, how to cut the hunks o deer off the bones, etc., and even includes directions on how to make a candelabra out of the antlers!

But, what I'm most loving about the vension I butchered myself is that I really marked the packages well. When I get them from the meat market, its pretty much stamps like chops, ground, steaks, roasts, stew, etc.

When I did it myself, I was able to clearly mark whether the meat came from the neck (meltingly soft), neck (add "good for braise" to the label), big stew meat, little stew meat, kabobs, stir-fry, leg steaks, etc., etc.

The meat from the shoulders seems to be the toughest. The leg breaks down into four parts (think Denver Leg). Parts of this are better suited to steaks and super tender than others. But, I've learned that even with vension, an extremely low braising temp can turn a leaner cut of meat into a work of art).

In addition, by doing it myself, I was able to package the meat in quantities appropriate for my use. Before I butchered, I looked at some recipes I was interested in, and took note of how much our family eats at one time, and took note of what I would use for things I wanted leftovers of.

[janeer]

Wow, do I love the neck meat.

I am so jealous. I love the neck meat for making mincemeat, and haven't been able to get my hands on any in years--since I moved away from my one hunting friend.

[teagal]

For the corned deer I found out they used the shoulder and soaked it in a brine for 10 days--sorry, but that's all I could find out. It really was great.

[snowangel]

Thanks for the update on the corned venison.

As an update here, we've had more curry, venison larb ( ), sloppy joes, tacos, more curry, a couple of pot roasts, and I'm thinking of a combined fatty pork and venison rendang. As I said at dinner the other night "You asked for chicken? I thought you said venison!" I figure I still have another 100+ pounds to go through. As I said to the kids "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!"

[Chufi]

we were having mole (with guinea fowl )yesterday and I was thinking, that venison mole would be a very good thing. I have some mole left in the freezer and I think I will try this soon.. have to empty the freezer before we move anyway!

[Shelby]

We eat venison that I've cut up and packaged all year long. In fact, I hardly every buy beef.

For corned venison, we brine ours for a month.

[viva]

This thread is incredibly helpful!! Family has asked if I want to "go in on a deer", and if so, what cuts I want. Uh... okay... so...

Here's my list from what I've gleaned from eG threads and cookbooks - all please feel free to audit for additional suggestions or complete craziness:

- fillet (to use in La Cucina di Lidia's recipe for fillet of venison in a red wine sauce)

- leg (to roast using Fifi's method above with pork skin and fat - maybe stuffed with mushrooms/leeks/rosemary? Can you stuff a deer leg?) ETA: and which leg are we talking about here? Front? Back? I've been looking at this primal cuts chart and have been getting confused: Venison Primal Cuts

- stew meat (for venison pot pie and venison stew in wine)

- ground (for a shepherd's pie concoction plus burgers)

- backstrap (to make Mayhaw Man's backstrap recipe from the Braising Bambi thread) - from the chart linked above, backstrap = loin, yes?

- sausage

- a few pounds of scraps and bones to add to stew/braising liquids

Thoughts?

Edited September 2, 2008 by viva (log)

[Shelby]

I'd definitely stay away from from the leg--unless you're making a roast out of the hind quarters or front quarters. Any lower than that and the meat is filled with tendons and is VERY tough.

[budrichard]

I avoid sausage as its usually made from a composite of many animals and I avoid scraps and bones just because we have CWD here in Wisconsin and everything is boned out and no cuts are made into the bones or spinal column. -Dick

Edited September 2, 2008 by budrichard (log)

[Dejah]

I'd definitely stay away from from the leg--unless you're making a roast out of  the hind quarters or front quarters.  Any lower than that and the meat is filled with tendons and is VERY tough.

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Give the legs, front and back ones to some older Chinese folks. The tendons are prized for medicinal soups in building strength in the consumer's legs.

A friend of mine went hunting with a group and gave my cooks 40 legs! They worked for hours stripping the tendons. These were cleaned, dried, then takened back to China on one of their visits home. The soup is cooked slowly with specific herbs - often in "double pots".

[viva]

I'd definitely stay away from from the leg--unless you're making a roast out of  the hind quarters or front quarters.  Any lower than that and the meat is filled with tendons and is VERY tough.

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Definitely interested in a roast. Are you referring to the rump/haunch and shoulder cuts? And avoiding the shins/shank? Or is "hind quarter" something a deer processor would understand?

Alternatively, could you use the shanks for Osso Bucco?

Sorry if these are silly questions - never done this before!! Trying to read these meat charts online is frustrating - everyone seems to refer to cuts of meat using different terms.

[Shelby]

I'd definitely stay away from from the leg--unless you're making a roast out of  the hind quarters or front quarters.  Any lower than that and the meat is filled with tendons and is VERY tough.

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Definitely interested in a roast. Are you referring to the rump/haunch and shoulder cuts? And avoiding the shins/shank? Or is "hind quarter" something a deer processor would understand?

Alternatively, could you use the shanks for Osso Bucco?

Sorry if these are silly questions - never done this before!! Trying to read these meat charts online is frustrating - everyone seems to refer to cuts of meat using different terms.

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Hey, you're doing great! I grew up cutting up our own deer and now I cut up at least three a winter.

I wouldn't use the shanks. I see above where some make soup, but I don't have the patience to get all of the tendons out. Believe me when I say they are seriously stringy.

Yes, we make rump, shoulder and round roasts--delicious in the crock pot!