Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Venison 101

Kitchen Tip Tuesday
Our family enjoys venison, but I realize that many people do not. I think that venison gets a bad reputation because it is not always prepared well. There are many people that have come to my house and eaten venison and not even known it. I will later have them tell me about how much they hate venison and would NEVER eat it! For a couple of years, venison is about the only meat we had, so I became a bit creative. Venison is actually healthier for you because it does not have all the fat that beef has in it.
Cooking Venison Steak
  1. I usually marinade my vinegar steak in 1 1/2 cups water, 1/4 c. vinegar, 2 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp minced garlic. (I tried many different marinades, but this worked well and is more frugal that the others I tried, such as ones with A1 or other sauces:0) I marinade it overnight and then rinse the marinade off and cook as desired.
  2. Last week, I threw 4 pounds of frozen venison steak in the crock pot with the marinade, plus water to cover and cooked it for 8 hours, then rinsed the meat and divided it into portions to freeze for later use in fajitas and stroganoff. This worked really well and helps cut down prep time later. :o) It was great in stroganoff this week.
  3. You can basically substitute venison steak for any "cheaper cut" of beef steak, such as round steak. Just remember that it does better slow cooked due to its low fat content. You can add oil or beef broth to add moisture to the steak if needed.
Cooking Venison Roast
  1. The best way to cook Venison Roast is to cook it with a beef roast. I then mixed them together. They make really good Italian "Beef" or meat pie.
  2. I personally prefer to have the roasts made into burger.
Cooking Venison Burger
  1. When I cook venison burger, I cover it with water and basically boil it until browned, then rinse it really well with hot water. Season as you would ground beef.
  2. If you are planning to make a meatloaf or burgers, you would need to mix it with ground beef or another meat with fat in it. I usually don't use venison for these; I use ground beef instead.

For more great kitchen tips, visit: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3302

*I typed this post for last week and scheduled it to post on March 3 instead of the 31. I could not figure out where it went last week. It was a blessing to find it today when I was trying to remember what I had already posted. I found the missing post!!! Guess I'll have to check the dates on my posts better! :o)

7 comments:

lizzykristine @ Uplifted Eyes said...

Hmmm, interesting. I've never cooked venison, but my husband grew up hunting and says he's going to go get us a deer one of these days! So I've been keeping an eye out for tips. :)

Kolfinnas Korner said...

We had some venison given to us and I'm clueless how to cook it. Thanks for posting this. I'm going to link your post to it on my recipes to try page on my blog for future reference.

Sandra said...

We eat a lot of venison here too. We have had good results with putting the roasts in aluminum foil and putting them on the smoker and cooking them slow. I guess that is sort of like the crock pot only you get the smoked flavor. We also bought a cuber for $17 and it really tenderizes the meat and is easy to use.

Anonymous said...

Great tips, we eat lots of deer meat as well. WE like to have lots of deer meat ground 50/50 with beef into 1 lb packages, to use in meatloaf, spaghetti, etc.

I also love chicken fried deer back strap, yum!

Unknown said...

My husband started hunting two years ago and we started eating venison for the first time ever. I was told how disgusting it was my entire life, and so I've been pleasantly surprised with how much I have enjoyed it! Even the ground meat. Thanks for these tips!

Cainan & Ryker said...

We eat only venison here. We don't even use beef anymore. My husband usually gets 2 or 3 deer a year so we have plenty to use. I use the ground meat exactly like I would beef and no one ever notices. (I dont' use it for burgers because it won't hold together, but I use it in spaghetti, meatloaf, etc.) When we have it processed we ask for some pork fat to be mixed in. Voila, no special cooking instructions.

I also use the roasts for Italian Beef and sloppy joes. Once again I don't add anything else. I personally don't prefer the steaks, but maybe with your marinade I would enjoy them. Someone told me to marinate them in milk to take the gamey taste out. I've never tried it though.

AmyG said...

Terrific!
One of the first times I tried a vinegar marinade for Venny, I for got the water and just soaked it in vinegar and salt overnight...we ate pickled venison for dinner! I don't reccommend it!