Best venison recipe from our pros or experts?

[otteray]

I loaned a rifle case to a club member for a deer hunt up near Calistoga, CA; so he gave me a nice roast.
I never cooked deer meat. He told me to soak it in milk overnight and then throw out the milk, and that is will be less gamey but still tough.
Sounds appetizing.................................................
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NOT!


Who are the chefs here that can lead me to a successfully delicious spicy venison BBQ, sandwich, roast or crock-pot stew?
Southern, Thai, Western, Eastern, Northern, North Eastern Carolina, Tex-Mex, Euro, Asian, African or whatever else; what are your recipes?
Ray

[Griff]

Get you one of those "roaster bag" kits for beef. One of the best venison roasts I've ever done was done like that... cut up potatoes, used pearl onions and chopped carrots, couple of cups of water and something else... can't recall what it was, and followed the directions just like it was a beef roast.

Served it to my wife's family as their very first taste of venison... they each took a little bit and LOTS of veggies on their plate, then went back for the rest of the meat... it was about 8 lbs at the outset (before cooking) and the 5 of them DEVOURED it! There was not a leftover on the platter... still had veggies left tho'!

For my steaks, I just rub in cajun seasonings, soak for a couple of hours in Worchestire(sp?) Sauce and grill!

It really helps if you know how the carcass was handled before it was given to you. How long from the kill to being deboned and packaged... how long did it hang, what were the temps... how was the kill? Did it run for a ½ mile before it dropped, fall over dead? Where was it killed, what was it's primary forage... all of the above factor into "how gamey" it'll taste.

[rwb]

I would add trim all fat and debone before you cook. And always throw in a couple cloves of garlic.

[CEMENTHEAD]

Trim as needed, put in large container, add 2 liters of Coke'O'Cola, 1 cup of Brown sugar,1/2 cup of white sugar, 1/2 cup of Vodka.....soak over night (12 hrs) turning every 4-6 hours. Throw out marinade. Cook in an oven bag in the way Griff suggested. Or I steak it up and grill it. Enjoy! Thanks, Tom

[Griff]

... 1/2 cup of Vodka...

Seems like way too little vodka to get over the taste!

[CEMENTHEAD]

... 1/2 cup of Vodka...

Seems like way too little vodka to get over the taste!

Yeah it does Griff..... It's adapted from a recipe I got from a Korean woman. She used that recipe with pork ribs and beef. She didn't use vodka though....she said it was too expensive. She used Ginro SoJu (korean gin). I tried it with venison and it seems to work pretty well. Thanks, Tom

[dr walker]

I agree, oven bags work great on venison roasts. I like to sear the meat on a very hot skillet before putting in a bag.
If it comes out tasting "gamey" it is probably because it was left rotting somewhere during processing. I have had one deer out of dozens taste a little off, that was a very old buck shot late in the season, well after rut.

[BigSky56]

Debone and trim then make a marinade of redwine vinegar worcestershire sauce about 1/8 to1/4 cup each (size?) dehydrated onions and montreal steak seasoning put in a big ziplock bag and set in refg 12 to 24hrs or so turning every few hrs then cook with taters onions and carrots like a pot roast, Ive done this with a rank ole mulie and it was good. danny

[Griff]

OH yea! Forgot one important ingredient... BACON. Vension is very, very lean... and even with the fluids in the roaster bag, I draped uncooked bacon over the roast so the fat'd soak into the meat and give it a bit more moisture. Held on with toothpicks, it also helped in getting the heated air around the meat and cooked evenly. Also cut down the number of necessary bastings (where you use one of them "baster" thingies and sucked up the juices in the bottom of the bag and then squirted it out over the top)!

[HEAD0001]

Let me give you one of my favorite recipes, that is quick to make, and very very good, and will feed a lot of people.

First cut your meat into small chunks, the size of stew. I prefer about 1/2X1 inch pieces.

Then add a little olive oil to a skillet and brown the chunks. Brown to the point that all the juices are cooked out of the meat. Then salt and pepper to your taste while browning.

In a separate sauce pan take a can of mushroom soup, and add 1/3 of a can of water. Stir the soup and heat it up to a consistent(but thick) soup.

After the meat is browned(and cooked) add the soup to the skillet and turn the fire down to simmer. This is why I like small chunks of meat because after you brown the Deer meat it will be fully cooked after browning. Also it does not matter what type of deer meat you use. You can use steak, roast, or my favorite--backstrap.

Let your skillet simmer for a few minutes. Then add one can of peas and one can of sliced potatoes. Since the peas and potatoes are already cooked all you have to do is heat them up. You can add any additional vegetables that you like.

If I have any baby carrots I will brown them with the deer meat. I have also added green beans to the mix. However you can add anything you want.

This is a very fast and filling meal. And it tastes great. Tom.

[papabear]

Get you one of those "roaster bag" kits for beef. One of the best venison roasts I've ever done was done like that... cut up potatoes, used pearl onions and chopped carrots, couple of cups of water and something else... can't recall what it was, and followed the directions just like it was a beef roast.

Served it to my wife's family as their very first taste of venison... they each took a little bit and LOTS of veggies on their plate, then went back for the rest of the meat... it was about 8 lbs at the outset (before cooking) and the 5 of them DEVOURED it! There was not a leftover on the platter... still had veggies left tho'!

For my steaks, I just rub in cajun seasonings, soak for a couple of hours in Worchestire(sp?) Sauce and grill!

It really helps if you know how the carcass was handled before it was given to you. How long from the kill to being deboned and packaged... how long did it hang, what were the temps... how was the kill? Did it run for a ½ mile before it dropped, fall over dead? Where was it killed, what was it's primary forage... all of the above factor into "how gamey" it'll taste.

also put in red wine for taste and corn on the Cobb cut in half use small red potatoes it comes out excellent that way ( the wine is not necessary its just a little extra flavor)

[ndcowboy]

We eat lots and lots of venison. Last year I had five tags and my wife had one and we filled them all. Anyway, I have one word for you: Crockpot.
You don't need to marinade, you don't need to throw anything out after a night of refrigeration. Just throw the roast in when you get up in the morning, toss in some potatoes, salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you need, a little water, and enjoy a great, tender roast in the evening.
Also, I know you didn't get any burger, but here is a tip for anybody cutting up venison: When you grind your venison into burger, throw bacon with it in the grinder. We figure one pound of bacon per 5 pounds of venison and we use bacon ends/chunks (because they are cheap and fatty). The bacon will take out gamey taste and will make the burger stick together better if you make hamburgers out of it.

[mescalero1]

ndcowboy,
Thanks for the burger tip.

[otteray]

I'm leaning toward the cooking bag or crockpot method with the crockpot offering the best taste for the least work (I'm lazy, sigh)
Incorporating several ideas here; I might make a crockpot bbq shredded venison by cooking it with bacon in a wine (or cider vinegar) based cooking sauce with garlic, pepper and hot peppers, onion; for 10 hours, then shred and add some spicy smoky BBQ sauce, cook a bit more, then spoon onto crunchy olive oil/garlic slathered buns (lightly toasted over a mesquite fire) with BBQed veggies, coleslaw and served with baked beans.
Sound promising?

[Pete44ru]

Well, if you can get ahold of either backstraps or the tenderloins, you'll have one of the finest meals available anywhere - just salt/pepper it before browning all sides in butter/garlic in a skillet with metal handles, then add a splash of red wine, cover the skillet, and pop it in a pre-heated 350-degree oven for 20-25mins B4 serving with veggies, etc.

I actually grind most of the other cuts, excepting a few thin breakfast steaks, into hamburg by adding some beef or pork lard/suet to the mix.
Venison burger can the easily make delecious venison meatballs, or used browned/chopped apart as the meat in a box mix labeled "Zatarian's New Orleans Dirty Rice".

.

[Pisgah]

If venison tastes "gamey", throw it out. The only reason for that is that the meat has not been properly cared for and processed after the kill. I have one friend who loves to hunt, but gives all his deer away because he says the taste is gamey. I won't take them because I know why they're gamey. He'll kill a deer early in the morning and then not field dress it for hours. In fact, usually he doesn't do the dressing at all but takes it, after dark, to a local processor. Rapid dressing and cooling is absolutely mandatory, and if you don't do it the result is gamey, nasty-tasting meat.

As for cooking, venison has zero fat. It needs to be added, whether it is salt pork larded in to a roast or just butter in a skillet when you're cooking some quick medallions of loin. Venison can be used in any dish you would use beef in. But because of the lack of fat, it's going to tend to be tough unless it is cooked hot and fast, or warm and slooowww. Loin steaks salted, peppered, and popped into a hot skillet with some butter or good olive oil and cooked fast for just a few minutes (stll rare in the middle) is hard to beat. Wrap them in bacon and you'll pass out from pleasure. And the best way I've ever found to use a deer shoulder -- place it in a large baking pan with some 'taters, carrots, onions, what-have-you, salt and pepper, about a cup of decent red wine -- cover tightly with foil, place in a 275-300 degree oven for a couple of hours. The meat will fall off the bones and be fork-tender, the veggies will be delicious. If you happen to have some fresh herbs to toss in to something like this, you will find Paradise.

[mescalero1]

I have a sauce whose original reason for being was just this problem.

[dkmlever]

We ONLY eat venison, elk, deer or antelope and roasts are trickier than steaks. What ever you do do NOT over cook the meat. You must leave it pink in the middle to avoid the toughness. No fat means no breakdown of the meat as it cooks so it gets tougher the longer you cook it. Most beef recipes for stir fry say throw the meat in first then veggies, we do it the other way, veggies first then the meat so we only cook the meat till it is rare to med rare. For a moist and tender vension steak they must be cooked pink!