What to do with Venison?

[Syberchick]

A kind fellow I was doing a job for recently, asked me (out of the blue) if I liked venison. I said 'sure, I've had it before'. He asked me to wait a sec and brought out a bag with several venison steaks, a roast and some ground venison for me. Great! But I've never cooked it before.

Is there anything special I need to do when cooking venison? I think I've read about soaking it in salt water or something... but I don't see why that would be necessary? Does it really taste that funky if you don't do something to 'get the wild flavor out' or whatever the complaint is supposed to be?

Any ideas for preparing a venison roast? I guess it would be the same as beef? I'm pretty clueless here. Thanks for feedback.

[Twitchin Kitten]

I'm just as clueless as you on cooking venison!

I've had it before and it was tough.

I also know that 'gamey' flavor depends on if you're eating a buck or a doe. That gamey flavor is buck. Beef and other animals that are male and bred for the table are usually castrated to eliminate that flavor and to help the animal gain more weight. Frankly I fail to see the weight loss factor and I would rather say it's more to keep down the incidence of how many preganant animals are made and other fights among them.

I would just marinate the meat and season it as you normally would. I've heard different conflicting reports where some would say you have to marinate it and others saying it's good right off the hoof.

OK took a break from the reply and asked the other half here - He's cooked it right off the hoof without any special treatment. He said to cook it as you would any other meat.

[Syberchick]

Thanks =D

I'll report back on how the roast goes. I hope it's good!

[Twitchin Kitten]

Did you make the roast yet?
I'm thinking if you haven't yet, braise the outside first in a pan with seasonings before roasting it. This seals in the skin and keeps the juices in the middle of the roast.

I do this a lot for roasting meats. Gives the outside a nice 'crisp' coating too.

[LKTraz]

The reason to soak venison in salt water is to tenderize it.

Soaking does remove some of the "wild taste" as well. The gamey flavor is due mainly to fat. Both buck and doe meat are prone to it with buck being the stronger as Twitch mentioned. Trim any excess off but don't trim it COMPLETELY lean or you will wind up with a very dry cut of meat.

I also recommend treating the meat with a seasoned tenderizer. My favorite is actually a rather cheap one. Spice Classics. They are the low priced line from McCormick.

It's available online here as well as their other spice products. I use many Spice Classics spices and find the quality to be very acceptable.
http://shop.netgrocer.com/shop.aspx?&sid...soned&ns=1


The other hint for venison is to slow cook it over low heat. Only turn it up in the final cooking phase to bring the core temperature up. This will help you get a more tender and juicy result.

[Twitchin Kitten]

So, slow cooking it will make a well done steak if you're making steaks. Same for roasts.

I don't make venison, I think I made it once a long time ago.
Soaking in cold salted water I see how it could remove the gamey flavor. You wouldn't really need to trim the fat either because the salt will leech out that flavor from the fat and it will also reduce some of it with the leeching.

Is it ever eaten rare or must it be cooked well?

I like my steaks practically screaming on my plate and found that cooking meat on a hot flat pan instead of the grill gives me the best steak on the planet. (I'll have to get my steak recipe on here)

Roasts too - If I make a roast beef, I make it rare.

[Eric]

Well IMHO , venison is great the way it is. Its like a good steak or chop leave it alone and season it lightly. as for the salt water I wouldn't just jump right into that. Just for the record the fat doesn't give the meat a gamey flavor the meat and what the animal eats is what gives it the taste the fat ( which is next to none ) is what holds in moisture and give the meat structure.

thus why when folks grind up lets say deer , they tend to add beef or pork fat to it as you need a binder hence you add beef fat to make it more like beef burger ( the ability to stick together , yet still crumble ) or pork fat which gives you the consistency of a breakfast sausage ( the ability to stay together , great for sausages , jerkey when you grind it and use a shooter, etc )

as for the removal of the fat on the venison, it would totally destroy the whole concept of eating it. Slow cooking and Proper prep is the key. Course if I was doing a roast I would either Use an Injector and inject the roats with herbs and some evoo. If I was NOT to do this then I would rub evoo lightly the entire roast and wrap it in a cooking bag.

Sorry Just giving my opinion.......

also here's a nice recipes if you ever wanna try a good deer burger:

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 lbs. ground deer meat
* 1 egg
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
* 1 tsp. worcestersire sauce
* 1 tsp. dijon mustard
* 1 tbls. soy sauce
* 1 tsp. salt
* 1/2 tsp. each of basil, majoram, pepper, paprika
* 6 onion rolls

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients, make patties cook to desired doneness on stove , broiler ,or grill. serve on onion rolls with lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles. choice of condiments and side.