It was a good gun season for a fair number of Ohio hunters and right now thousands of pounds of deerburger, steaks, chops, roasts, and more are sitting in area freezers. And a good many cooks are looking at their new mound of meat and wondering what to do with it. There are lots of answers to that question.
A vital point to keep in mind for cooks is that deer meat, when properly dressed and butchered is quite similar to beef. It has a slightly different “wild” taste that I like very much, as will you, and it’s a fine, healthy, low fat meat unless you had the meat cutter fill your deerburger with beef suet. So, anything you can do with beef can be done with venison.
Lots of it is truly simple. For example, take a pound of venisonburger, chop up a little onion and green pepper in it, add a touch of Worcestershire sauce, then dust lightly with garlic powder, and fry. Be sure you don’t skip the garlic. The patties will have no flavor of garlic at all, but the powder seems to bring out flavor. If you’re still uncertain, try a patty both ways with pickle, more onion, mustard and catsup on a hamburger bun, and eat. Deer meat makes a great burger.
It makes a fine sloppy joe too, using either your own receipe or just frying some and adding sloppy joe mix from the supermarket. And I’ve used many pounds to make chili because venison adds something elusive (and good) to chili, and to spaghetti, stuffed peppers, and other standard hamburger recipes.
Barbecue is always good. Pressure cook a roast, or even chops or steaks until nearly done and tender, then add your favorite barbecue sauce and let it simmer a little more. Ladle onto buns and dig in. If you don’t tell the kids it’s deer meat, they’ll probably go for thirds.
Here’s another simple receipe for deer. Thaw out a fews chops, dust them lightly on both sides with onion and garlic powder, then drop them into a hot skillet coated with olive oil. A couple of minutes on each side and they’ll be done. Please don’t make the mistake of overcooking venisons or any other wild game. I read in an old book the tongue-in-cheek receipe for deer steaks that said “Cook it till it’s done, then overdone, then fry the h-ll out of it!” Fried leather isn’t tasty.
You can vary the frying by dredging chops in flour too, and using the drippings for gravy, or broiling over a charcoal fire with appropriate condiments. Lots of choices for venison. And don’t forget your ace in the hole for quick meals: venison and French onion soup. Toss a roast into the pressure cooker, add a can of soup, and cook till tender. This one is REALLY good.
From this point on, we can get exotic. Like Stroganoff. Dice a large onion and saute it in a half stick of butter. Then add a pound of venison cut in one inch cubes, a half pound of cut up mushrooms, and a sprinkle of seasoning salt, and brown lightly. Next, dissolve a couple of beef boullion cubes in a cup of water, and add to the mix along with two cans cream of mushroom soup, and a package (8 oz) of French onion dip. Cook over low heat until venison is tender and serve over noodles. Does that sound great?
There are lots of other recipes. Venison pot roast, meat loaf, oven roasts, appetizers, meatballs, corned venison, the list goes on. You’ll find that freezer filled with meat will disappear fast, in many tasty ways.
Tags: Deer Meat, Venison, Venison Recipes
