campergeek
Member
Tonight I cooked venison for the first time (tenderloin cuts given as thanks for helping a friend drag his buck out through heavy brush), and I couldn't eat it. I'm curious as to whether it was the deer or me. Below are details on both the deer and my cooking. I'd appreciate any tips.
The deer:
The deer was big for around here (8 point, 180 lbs. dressed) but from the teeth seemed young. After my friend shot and field dressed him, he came looking for help to drag him out. From shot to when we got him in the truck (dragging him about 1/2 mile through brush and over downed trees) was probably about an hour. Then we washed out the carcass with a hose, and put the buck into my friends van where he waited until we could clean up the cabin (a personal emergency required my friend to head straight home from the processor). Total time from shot to processor was probably about 3 hours. The day was 50-60 degrees. One other note is that my friend did not remove the musk glands - when asked why he said he was afraid that if he did it wrong it would be worse than not doing it at all. I don't know if those would affect the tenderloin, though. As far as I know, this particular processor returns the meat from the same deer you brought in, so let's work from that assumption.
The preparation:
This was the first time my wife would be eating venison, so I didn't want it to be overly gamey. To try to make the flavor mild, I used the same technique my mom always did with liver. After thawing the meat, I soaked it for about 4 hours in milk. Then I rinsed it and soaked it in marinade for about 45 minutes. The only marinade on hand was Watkins honey mustard, so that's what I used. In a pan I carmelized white and red onions and garlic in olive oil with some black pepper. I pushed the onion mix aside and fried the venison in the resulting oil (not a lot), about to medium - medium/well (my wife has a thing about anything cooked less - I did prepare one chop medium/rare for myself).
I've eaten venison twice in the last few months, and both times I really enjoyed it. This time I put it in my mouth and it had a gamey/musky flavor that was overpowering: it literally took your breath away. My son (4 y.o.) spit out his first bite. After two bites (had to be sure) I decided it just wasn't right. My wife, seeing our reaction, wouldn't even try.
I'm open to any suggestions as to possible problems. Maybe the onions? Maybe the honey/mustard marinade? Maybe just bad meat? Please help me convince my wife and son that this is not how it's supposed to be.
The deer:
The deer was big for around here (8 point, 180 lbs. dressed) but from the teeth seemed young. After my friend shot and field dressed him, he came looking for help to drag him out. From shot to when we got him in the truck (dragging him about 1/2 mile through brush and over downed trees) was probably about an hour. Then we washed out the carcass with a hose, and put the buck into my friends van where he waited until we could clean up the cabin (a personal emergency required my friend to head straight home from the processor). Total time from shot to processor was probably about 3 hours. The day was 50-60 degrees. One other note is that my friend did not remove the musk glands - when asked why he said he was afraid that if he did it wrong it would be worse than not doing it at all. I don't know if those would affect the tenderloin, though. As far as I know, this particular processor returns the meat from the same deer you brought in, so let's work from that assumption.
The preparation:
This was the first time my wife would be eating venison, so I didn't want it to be overly gamey. To try to make the flavor mild, I used the same technique my mom always did with liver. After thawing the meat, I soaked it for about 4 hours in milk. Then I rinsed it and soaked it in marinade for about 45 minutes. The only marinade on hand was Watkins honey mustard, so that's what I used. In a pan I carmelized white and red onions and garlic in olive oil with some black pepper. I pushed the onion mix aside and fried the venison in the resulting oil (not a lot), about to medium - medium/well (my wife has a thing about anything cooked less - I did prepare one chop medium/rare for myself).
I've eaten venison twice in the last few months, and both times I really enjoyed it. This time I put it in my mouth and it had a gamey/musky flavor that was overpowering: it literally took your breath away. My son (4 y.o.) spit out his first bite. After two bites (had to be sure) I decided it just wasn't right. My wife, seeing our reaction, wouldn't even try.
I'm open to any suggestions as to possible problems. Maybe the onions? Maybe the honey/mustard marinade? Maybe just bad meat? Please help me convince my wife and son that this is not how it's supposed to be.