[Lupinus]

So with hunting infull swing and dear meating their maker all over figured I'd ask- How do you like your venison?

Steaks and roasts? And just how do you like them cooked? I know people who don't feel comfertable eating game that isn't well cooked, while others will eat it as rare as they will beef.

How bout kabobs, cubes for stew, bambi burger, etc.

Also one other question I had was that I had heard that after butchering it is a good idea to freeze for thirty days to kill any little critters in the meat. This true or does anyone do this? (still have yet to get or take care of a deeer from the get go)

[Twycross]

Lately I've been grinding it all into hamburger. It's just a lot more versatile that way, considering my family's diet.

[RCL]

Back straps get cut into boneless chops (actually, I de bone all the meat).
I separate the muscle groups on the rear hams and cut them into steaks and roasts. Everything else (except the loins!) goes into the grinder, we use a lot of burger in a variety of recipes.
And, medium rare to medium please, preferably over charcoal.:D

[rust collector]

The tenderloins and liver go on the grill ASAP after the animal is down. Backstraps are butterflied, marinated in teriyaki and grilled to medium rare (it's like deer candy). Round and other hindquarter cuts make jerky and chili, as we're not big on venison roasts. The rest goes into deer stick which is used for sustenance on deer and pheasant hunts.

Diced venison in wild card chili (w/ refried beans and a whole lotta chili powder) is a wonderful adjunct to a roaring fire, howling blizzard and your favorite lab lying on your feet. Go ahead, throw some fritos and a little grated cheese on there. Mmmm, life is good.

[Chawbaccer]

Some gets ground and some cubed and I make lots of jerky.

[Lupinus]

good stuff all :)

What about the freezing for 30 days thing though? I knew a few guys in NJ that swore by it and others who never heard of it lol.

[RCL]

A lot of my venison gets eaten before it sees a freezer:D

(that 30 day thing is something I've never heard of:scrutiny: )

[Mannlicher]

The cooking method depends on the cut. Venison should be treated like good beef in that respect.
For this Thanksgiving, we smoked one haunch, and that was delicious, but it paled in comparison to the loins we cut into filets, wrapped in bacon, and broiled until Med Rare.
I make sausage from the neck, shanks, and flank. A haunch makes wonderful Saurbraten. Stew, paprikash, chili, well the list goes on and on.
Secret to good venison at the table starts with the hunt, the kill, and the prep work. A deer that has been run hard, and where the meat is full of lactic acid and adrennelin will never be as good as a deer taken when unaware.
Gutting the deer and cooling the body down quickly is very important. Keeping dirt, hair, body fluids ect away from the meat is important too. One thing that is sadly lacking today with preparing venison for the table, is curing the deer. I still hang my deer in a walk in cooler with the hide left on for a few weeks, and then butcher it.

[orionengnr]

(...also known as ToxicLand (TM)) been drinkin' de water wit de mercury, Nuclear runoff, PCBs, DDT, etc for so long they ain't got no internal "critters".

De freezin' for tirty days don't have no affect on sometin' wit' a half-life measured in eons...

No offense to ToxicLand residents :neener:

Nuke/Bio/Chem protectant, triple-layer flame suit on!!!

[Lennyjoe]

Steaks, tenderloins, flanks and such for jerky, roast, cubes for kabob's and the rest in the grinder for summer sausage.

[birddog]

Steaks, roasts, and burger.

Lately, I've been taking the backstraps and cutting them in half and freezing them that way, only cutting them into steaks after thawing. Less freezer burn after long storage. Also, that gives you the option of throwing a delicious half-strap on the grill in the summer. Good stuff!

[DigMe]

We get ours processed at Hudson's Meat Market in Austin. They're incredible.

We just cut the backstraps into steaks. They are lucious.

The rest we get made into Hudson's jalapeno cheese sausage, jal. cheese summer sausage, back wrapped ground patties, cutlets and chili meat. It's all outstanding.

brad cook

[Slingster]

I use the backstraps for grilled steaks and saute the tenderloins gently in butter or olive oil. All the rest of the meat goes into sausage and ground meat. This year I have enough to make up three types of sausage: South African boerwors, German touristwurst, and venison salami. I'll still have about 32 pounds of ground venison in one-pound tubes for chili, curry, etc.

[auschip]

I like to cut the tenderloins into medalions and make chicken fried venison. Served with garlic wasabi mashers and a good cream gravy. We need a salivating smiley!

[mete]

The shanks, usually ground up or discarded , can be braised. This is an incredibly flavorful dish !!

[Lennyjoe]

I like to cut the tenderloins into medalions and make chicken fried venison

Funny you should mention that. Cause that's exactly what I had for dinner last night.:D

My brother in law in WVA takes the whole deer and cuts it into steak um style meat. Processes the whole thing thru a meat cutter about
1/8" thick. Fries it up with green peppers and onions. Tosses it on a hogie bun with cheese. Good stuff.

[NRA4LIFE]

I just had a venison pasty for lunch smothered in gravy. YUM You Yoopers know what I'm talking about. It's basically a mixture of course ground venison, chopped onions, chopped carrots, chopped rutabaga, salt and pepper all mixed up and enclosed in a pie-dough like pastry shell and baked until golden brown. Other than that, I eat venison in almost every way, shape or form imaginable. Not much mention here of canning it. I canned about 36 pints this year. A great way to conserve freezer space (shot 5 this year and got ~ 25 lbs of elk meat to boot) when times are good.

[Lupinus]

A lot of people I know hate canned meats, personally I love them.

Plus soups stews everything already to go, or jsut basic cook meat to be thrown into something later. And no freezer burn.

As to the shanks comment I love shanks. A lot of the tough cuts are great when braised. Shanks short ribs ox tails I eat um all :D

[1911 guy]

First of all, the freezer thing. Some of my venison always gets eaten before freezing and we've never had a problem. It comes off the carcass, onto a table where it is turned into cuts we want, tossed into salt water. When the pans of water are full of meat, they are taken inside to the sink where the meat is rinsed in fresh water, patted dry to avoid freezer burn, and wrapped for freezing. Some set aside for fresh eating.

Now recipes.
Tenderloins are good with either teriyaki marinade or light salt and pepper then saute' in marsalla wine. Mushrooms with both, please.

Roast are good with an easy juice in a crock pot. 1/4 cup white wine, 1/4 cup ketchup and 1/2 cup water. double if it's a big roast. Toss in onions, carrots and taters, cook for 6 to 8 hours on low setting. Put the onions under the roast to eliminate the burned flavor some crocks give you.

The tough meat everybody throws away is some of my favorite. Canning tenderizes it and makes for a filling meal. Cook some wide egg noodles, stir in the meat.

[Lupinus]

why rinsed in salt water? Do you allow it to soak in there for a certian time or just fill it and then rinse right away?

[1911 guy]

This is not an absolute, it's just something I've always done. Probably because that's how my Dad showed me to do game and he probably got it from my Grandpa who got it from...

Anyway, the theory is that salt will help kill any nasty stuff. As far as soak time, I really don't have any standard for it. When the buckets or pans get full or almost too heavy to carry, they go inside for fresh water rinse and packaging or cooking.

[scsherm]

use a marinade called bulgogi one jar and ten pounds sliced in a crock pot add nothing else