How to cook deer meat?

[momofkhm]

My dh got his first deer today! He's so excited. I'm of course out of town (taking care of my mom after surgery). The guy he went hunting with said to ice it for 3 days and then cut it into smaller pieces. But how do I cook the stuff, once I get home. He says we have 2 hams, 2 strap-backs and 1 tenderloin. He figures the hams will give us 2 or 3 roasts each. For a roast, we usually just throw it in the crockpot, can I do that with venison?

 

Let me know ladies! All I know is cut it into shish-kabob, marinade it in Italian salad dressing and grill it.

 

Thanks!

[freethinkermama]

Ooh!

 

Well, you can slice the loin thin and pan fry with a flour and spice dredge.

We never did roasts, I don't recall. We had lots of hamburger and had lots turned into sausage. Hmm, I reckon you can put the hams and roasts in the crockpot though.

 

Do you have the sweet meats? Yum!

 

What happened to the rest of it? Did you have it ground?

 

T.

 

I'm unfamiliar with icing the animal--or the meats. We hanged ours out back to let the blood drain, but it was cold where we lived.

Edited November 20, 2010 by freethinkermama

[fairfarmhand]

 

http://www.deerhuntersclub.com has some recipes.

[gardening momma]

My parents do a lot of deer hunting, so I grew up eating venison (and seeing deer hanging in the garage). I don't know which parts are which, except the backstrap and tenderloin are both very tender. Dad says a lot of people don't know about the backstrap, so I'm glad you know about it. I can't remember how they cook it, except I know they cut a lot of it into steaks and cook it the same way you'd cook a steak (at home it was in a frying pan with some oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder & paprika).

 

Another thing you should know (hopefully it's not too late) is to not cut through the bone. When you do that, the marrow gets on the meat and gives it a very gamey taste. The meat should be cut off the bone instead.

Edited November 21, 2010 by gardening momma

[Whereneverever]

We don't ice the meat at all before processing it. We cut it all off the deer and then freeze. The tenderloins are best the first 24 hours after the deer has been killed.

 

You can cook it the same way you cook turkey or very lean beef. If you pan fry it watch it carefully so it doesn't burn. I like to do my roasts in the crockpot with potatoes and carrots.

[kwickimom]

We dont ice the meat either. We cut and freeze. We process about 10 deer every year. (we raise deer, hunt, and my DH is a taxidermist...we breathe deer here LOL)

We cook all of our deer meat as if it were lean beef

 

The roast are yummy! . I usually put the roast in a crockpot with a packet of onion soup mix and some water. I think my DH did a few with a can of beer.

 

We slice the back straps into steaks and marinate in a store bought marinade and grill.

My DH usually smokes the loins in a smoker (that is the only part of the deer I cannot stand!)

 

All the other parts of the deer we grind. We mix 60/40 with ground beef for some fat since the deer is so lean and use for burgers, tacos, spaghetti, meatlof etc. We also mix 60/40 with pork and seasoning for breakfast sausage.

 

Enjoy! and congrats to your DH!! First deer is always so exciting :) I have one more day of shotgun season and I hope to kill out tomorrow myself!!

[gardening momma]

All the other parts of the deer we grind. We mix 60/40 with ground beef for some fat since the deer is so lean and use for burgers, tacos, spaghetti, meatlof etc. We also mix 60/40 with pork and seasoning for breakfast sausage.

I would definitely do this for flavor, if you're going to grind any of it. I like venison steak, but don't like ground venison at all (my parents always used it as-is, no other meats mixed in).

[DarlaS]

My dh got his first deer today! He's so excited. I'm of course out of town (taking care of my mom after surgery). The guy he went hunting with said to ice it for 3 days and then cut it into smaller pieces. But how do I cook the stuff, once I get home. He says we have 2 hams, 2 strap-backs and 1 tenderloin. He figures the hams will give us 2 or 3 roasts each. For a roast, we usually just throw it in the crockpot, can I do that with venison?

 

Let me know ladies! All I know is cut it into shish-kabob, marinade it in Italian salad dressing and grill it.

 

Thanks!

 

Trim it very well. Any gamey flavor comes from the fat.

 

I like to cook with recipes that include onions, tomatoes, cooking wines etc. Stew, swiss steak etc.

 

I pretty much always cook it in the crock pot. Since it's so lean, it can be a little tough. I tried using some cut up round steaks for fajitas once and it was like shoe leather. Might have worked better with the backstraps since it's the loin roast of a deer and a very prime piece. Next time, I'm going to try it in the crockpot! We love fajitas.

[Melissa in Australia]

I have roasted it in an enclosed roasting pan. it is very lean and drys out very easily. I basted it regularly, and treated it like veal. It makes the most amazing gravy, and the meat is terrific in meat pie.

[creekland]

We have deer vegetable soup cooking right now in our crock pot. It's ready to eat, but we won't eat it until we come home from church.

 

Our crock pot is large - adjust the recipe down if yours is smaller.

 

Oil the crockpot

Cut a roast or other "tougher" section into small cubes and add.

Add 2 pounds of frozen mixed veggies (peas, carrots, green beans, lima beans, corn)

Add one carton of beef broth

Refill that carton with water and add

Add one small sliced onion

Add two stalks sliced celery

Add two cloves minced garlic

Add 8 oz canned mushrooms

Add 1 teaspoon Mrs Dash Original Recipe (or spices you like)

Cook on low for 8 hours or so

 

My whole family loves it including my youngest somewhat picky eater

 

Otherwise we do...

 

Fried tenderloins similar to above

Pot roast with potatoes and carrots, etc, same as with beef

Swiss deer (same as swiss steak, but...)

 

And we grind much of the deer into deerburger. We do NOT mix it as many do and my family likes it better NOT mixed, but obviously, tastes vary. We use deerburger in recipes like Hunter's Pie (same as Shepherd's Pie, but with deer instead of lamb), stuffed peppers, sauces, and anywhere else we'd normally have used ground burger. When we ran out once and used ground burger my boys thought the meal tasted strange!

[cheryl h]

We use the backstrap for lots of things. We do the pan fried version, and also use it for stroganoff, fajita's, marinaded in what ever. Every time I have tried to do a roast it comes out too dry so we usually make everything but the backstrap into burger. When we make the burger we grind it 90/10 with bacon. Dh has told me the amount of time you let it hang or sit in the frig before freezing, will determine how tender it is...especially important for older deer that are more prone to being tough. We usually hang the larger ones for 5-7 days, but we almost immediately took care of my dd12's forked horn. Congrats to your hubby.

[Laura Corin]

I like venison stews: very good with red wine, cooked in the crockpot.

 

Laura