Venison Cooking: Not As Difficult As It’s Rumored To Be

In a world where most people’s idea of meat is limited to beef, poultry, pork, and seafood, it can seem like deer meat is reserved for hunters and their families.  But the truth is, venison isn’t hard to find and you don’t have to know a hunter to get a hold of it.  You just need to know what to do with it once you get some.  Don’t fret if you’ve heard horror stories about deer meat tasting gamy and being tough.  Chances are, the person that prepared that meat wasn’t familiar with the cardinal rules of venison cooking.

Believe it or not, the flavor and consistency of the venison meat relies partly on the hunter.  After the deer has been shot, preparation should immediately.  This includes thorough field dressing as well as chilling and refrigerating the meat promptly.  If you continue to follow the guidelines for venison cooking and still wind up with tough, gamey meat, you may want to speak to the hunter you received the meat from.  Ask him about his practices for field dressing and how soon he chills the meat.  Or if you don’t know the hunter directly, try to find a different supplier.

Now that you have your venison handy, you need to know what you’re working with.  Deer meat is naturally lean, but you should trim off any fat that you see; the flavor is not pleasant.  However, since the meat is so lean, you’ll probably need to cook it with another source of fat like butter, oil, beef fat, or bacon.  Alternatively, you can mix ground venison with ground beef to reduce any gamey flavor the venison might have in addition to using the beef itself as a source of fat.

It usually only takes one instance of venison cooking for the cook to realize that deer meat needs to be seasoned differently than beef.  Of course, these are two completely different types of meat, and they each come from animals raised in distinctly dissimilar environments.  So it makes sense that they wouldn’t behave the same way when cooked.

First of all, you should refrain from salting venison before you cook it.  Salting the meat will prevent it from browning properly and it removes juices, leaving the meat dry.  The only exception to this rule of venison cooking is when the meat has a strong gamy flavor.  In this instance, you can soak it in water with vinegar and salt for a few hours to get rid of the unpleasant taste.

Next, be careful when you cook the meat.  If you allow the venison to overcook, it will be dry, tough, and the flavor will be less than wonderful.  One of the best ways to cook venison meat without risking over cooking is to let it simmer in a sauce, use in a stew, or cook it in a crock-pot.  In fact, when you braise deer steaks, you should use moist heat to prevent over-cooking.

Last but surely not least, you’ll need to know the rules of venison cooking for getting rid of a strong gamy flavor.  While marinating the meat is a good option, not all marinades intended for beef work quite as well with venison.  Of course, if you make your own marinade, you can adjust the ingredients to suit the deer meat.  Other ways to reduce unpleasant flavors in venison include slow cooking techniques, and allowing the meat to cook in sauces, gravies, soups and stews.

Venison cooking really isn’t difficult or complicated, despite popular belief.  In fact, after just a few experimental sessions, you should feel comfortable enough using venison to allow it to grace your plate a little more often.