- Jun 9, 2017
- 173
- 218
- 141
I have a cat that was born and raised in a village of Alaska Natives near Kodiak City, where I used to live . To her, deer meat and salmon (wild salmon--farmed salmon is trash!) are soul foods. Wnen I open a vacuum bag of venison she goes absolutely insane.
I killed lots of deer, in Montana, Kodiak, and Alabama. I love the taste of Alabama whitetails. So far I have harvested 11 of them in 5 seasons. We eat venison at least twice a week. The trick with it is not to cook it too much. Freezing it for two or three weeks will kill whatever parasites may be present in the meat (probably none). Then one can cook it rare or medium rare. My favorite way of cooking loin and thigh stakes is by soaking them first in a mixture of beaten eggs, milk, a spoonful of corn starch, salt, garlic powder, and grated Parmesan cheese (imported, naturally, as American "Parmesan" is terrible), then breaded and fried at medium heat in abundant peanut oil, turning them once and making sure that the breading remains golden brown, not dark brown.
When I butcher a deer, loins and most of the thigh meat are cut into steaks, less than 1/2" thick. The shoulders are left whole for oven roasts or BBQ. The rest of the meat goes into the grinder. I use the ground venison for meatloaf, hamburgers (probably the worst way of cooking ground venison, as it's very lean and the burgers turn out dry and falling apart--unless one mixes the meat with bacon grease), meatballs and spaghetti and lasagna sauce.
I guarantee, AngieMaesChix, that if you tried my venison you'd like it. My secret? I do not hang and age the deer I kill. I think that although it does tenderize the meat, it imparts a gamy flavor to it. I skin and dress the deer within an hour from harvesting them (I hunt within three miles of my house or even closer to it--last season at two hundred yards from it!), then I quarter them, separate the loins from the backbone, wash well each piece in cold water, wrap them all individually in bath towels and place them in the refrigerator. After three or four days I bone out and cut the meat, grind all the pieces that I can't make into steaks and vacuum pack and deep-freeze everything in individual packages with enough meat for two or three people (except the shoulders, that once cooked will last two or three days). I'd have a hard time telling my venison chicken-fried steaks or meatloaves and meatballs from those obtained from beef--if it weren't that I can digest the leaner deer meat much better.
Many many years ago, in Montana, we were poor and the meat we and our cats ate was mostly what I shot (deer, partridge, pheasant, grouse, cottontail rabbits, jackrabbits and ducks). One day, payday, we decided to splurge and bought two large, thick T-bone steaks. I barbecued them and we feasted on them. We really enjoyed them. But the fatty nature of well-marbled beef did not agree with our guts that had been fed a steady diet of lean venison and game. We got the runs so bad we swore off beef for quite some time. I am really worried about the spreading of CWD. If I had to quit deer hunting, besides the loss of more than three months of enjoyable hunting I would have a hard time giving up venison.
BackYard Chickens is proudly sponsored by:
well thighs , shoulderand loin
I killed lots of deer, in Montana, Kodiak, and Alabama. I love the taste of Alabama whitetails. So far I have harvested 11 of them in 5 seasons. We eat venison at least twice a week. The trick with it is not to cook it too much. Freezing it for two or three weeks will kill whatever parasites may be present in the meat (probably none). Then one can cook it rare or medium rare. My favorite way of cooking loin and thigh stakes is by soaking them first in a mixture of beaten eggs, milk, a spoonful of corn starch, salt, garlic powder, and grated Parmesan cheese (imported, naturally, as American "Parmesan" is terrible), then breaded and fried at medium heat in abundant peanut oil, turning them once and making sure that the breading remains golden brown, not dark brown.
When I butcher a deer, loins and most of the thigh meat are cut into steaks, less than 1/2" thick. The shoulders are left whole for oven roasts or BBQ. The rest of the meat goes into the grinder. I use the ground venison for meatloaf, hamburgers (probably the worst way of cooking ground venison, as it's very lean and the burgers turn out dry and falling apart--unless one mixes the meat with bacon grease), meatballs and spaghetti and lasagna sauce.
I guarantee, AngieMaesChix, that if you tried my venison you'd like it. My secret? I do not hang and age the deer I kill. I think that although it does tenderize the meat, it imparts a gamy flavor to it. I skin and dress the deer within an hour from harvesting them (I hunt within three miles of my house or even closer to it--last season at two hundred yards from it!), then I quarter them, separate the loins from the backbone, wash well each piece in cold water, wrap them all individually in bath towels and place them in the refrigerator. After three or four days I bone out and cut the meat, grind all the pieces that I can't make into steaks and vacuum pack and deep-freeze everything in individual packages with enough meat for two or three people (except the shoulders, that once cooked will last two or three days). I'd have a hard time telling my venison chicken-fried steaks or meatloaves and meatballs from those obtained from beef--if it weren't that I can digest the leaner deer meat much better.
Many many years ago, in Montana, we were poor and the meat we and our cats ate was mostly what I shot (deer, partridge, pheasant, grouse, cottontail rabbits, jackrabbits and ducks). One day, payday, we decided to splurge and bought two large, thick T-bone steaks. I barbecued them and we feasted on them. We really enjoyed them. But the fatty nature of well-marbled beef did not agree with our guts that had been fed a steady diet of lean venison and game. We got the runs so bad we swore off beef for quite some time. I am really worried about the spreading of CWD. If I had to quit deer hunting, besides the loss of more than three months of enjoyable hunting I would have a hard time giving up venison.
BackYard Chickens is proudly sponsored by:
well thighs , shoulderand loin
