Venison should also be aged for a period of 10-14 days after being dressed out. This allows the meat to dry out some, reducing the gaminess and making the meat more palatable.
You can discard deer fat, though it’s also commonly rendered into tallow, and makes for excellent soaps, and suets for feeding birds. “Silverskin” is a thin membrane that you’ll find on many recently-processed cuts of venison, which you’ll want to remove if it hasn’t been already. It can be somewhat tedious, but peeling it off the meat as much as possible will improve the flavor and also make it easier to cook.
Use thinner cuts with marinade and brine larger cuts. At most, an overnight marinade will only penetrate about an 1/8th on an inch into the meat, making marinading a large roast kind of pointless. Use thin strips of flank or backstrap to marinade to get the most out of the process. [1] X Research source For a simple marinade, use Italian salad dressing, or make your own with a half-cup each of vinegar and olive oil, a clove of minced garlic, and a teaspoon each of brown mustard and Italian seasoning (or oregano and basil). For a BBQ marinade, sautee half a finely-chopped yellow onion and 3-4 cloves of minced garlic in about 5 tablespoons (74 ml) of butter until translucent. To this, add two cups of tomato sauce (or a cup of ketchup), a half cup each of apple cider, apple cider vinegar, and brown sugar, and two tablespoons of chili powder. If you’re not a fan of the “gaminess” of venison, use a citrus-based marinade. Citrus tends to mask the strong flavor of venison, and can make it more palatable to children and less adventurous eaters. Try marinading a half-cup of lime juice mixed with a half-cup of olive oil, half a cup of chopped cilantro, a minced green chile, a teaspoon of ground cumin, and a shot of tequila.
Barding is done by adding fat to the outside of the meat. This method works best on the grill or in the skillet, because it involves essentially basting the meat with a fat source. After turning the meat over, you can brush some melted butter or olive oil onto the browned side of the meat to imbue flavor and moisture. Larding is done by inserting fat into the meat, through little cuts. This method works well for larger cuts and roasts that you cook in the oven, and works especially well with other meats like ham or bacon. Use the tip of a chef’s knife to make incisions into the thick parts of your venison roast, then push small cuts of bacon, or fatty pork, into the slits. As it cooks, the fat will help to keep the meat moist.
Backstraps or tenderloin are the tenderest and usually the most desirable cut, and can be cooked whole, cut into individual steaks, or cut into smaller chunks for stews and stir-frys. Tenderloin can be served rare-medium. Roasts are best from the lower hams, which should be braised or stewed at a low temperature for a long period of time to ensure tenderness. Steaks are best from the top half of the hams, which are the most versatile section of venison. While it’s initially a bit tough, after being properly-tenderized, this meat can be used for a variety of purposes. Stew meat should come from the lower ribs, the belly, and the neck. If you’ve got a meat grinder, this also makes excellent ground venison or venison sausage.
Both gas grills and charcoal grills are perfectly appropriate, if you want to imbue the meat with that smokey flavor associated with grilling. Heat the coals for 30 minutes before grilling, or turn the gas grill onto medium. A good cast-iron skillet is the perfect way to cook a venison steak on the stove. Heat the pan on medium-high heat, and add a tablespoon or two of olive oil before cooking. The pan needs to be hot before adding the meat, to get the right sear on the outside. Wait until the oil is just about to smoke to add the steak.
If you add a steak to a hot pan or grill grate just out of the fridge, the outside will heat while the inside will remain cold, making it very difficult to cook to the proper internal temperature without burning the outside black. Cooking room-temperature meat is much easier and more efficient, yielding a better finished product.
If you’re cooking your steak in a cast-iron skillet, remember that your skillet will hold the temperature for a long time and stay hot, so after giving it a sear, it’s probably ok to turn the heat off completely to avoid scorching the outside of the steak. The length of the sear will depend on the thickness of your steak. Even steaks an more than an inch thick should only be in the pan for about 10-12 minutes at the most, though. Keep a close eye on the meat and check the underside to make sure it’s not over-cooking. Venison is done at an internal temperature of 130 °F (54 °C). At 150, it will start to toughen up some. Steaks more than 2-inches thick will probably need a cooler part of the grill to cook for slightly longer, or will need to have the heat turned down on the skillet to cook to the proper temperature. [4] X Research source
For a good short-hand to steak done-ness, touch your fingertip to your thumb, and with your other hand feel the fatty part of your thumb, where it meets your palm. Meat cooked rare should offer the same resistance. Meat cooked medium-rare should feel like your thumb meeting your middle finger, medium should feel like your ring finger, and well-done like your pinkie.
For aromatics, use whole cloves of garlic, sprigs of rosemary, thyme, or sage. For adding fat, chopped bacon makes the best addition, but you could also use cold pats of butter.
For a basic dry rub, mix up equal portions of oregano, basil, parsley, paprika, onion powder, salt and pepper. For a whole-seed dry rub, toast up a quarter-cup each of fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and cumin seeds in a dry skillet. When they become fragrant, remove them from the pan and crack them with the flat side of a kitchen knife. Mix in dried chili powder, paprika, and brown sugar. Alternatively, you can also brine roasts in a salt brine overnight, which many venison-enthusiasts swear by. Salt-brines can help soften the flavor of the meat and tenderize it. Either way, let the meat refrigerate overnight, or for several hours before baking.
The most-common vegetables for the job are onions, carrots, potatoes, and celery. After rinsing your vegetables, chop them into big pieces–doesn’t need to be pretty. You won’t need to season the vegetables, since the meat juices will season the vegetables as they cook. Because venison has such a tendency to dry out, it’s also good to add a little water or water and chicken stock to the bottom of the pan. This will help to keep the interior of the oven moist, creating a kind of hot climate that will keep the meat from drying out.
Remove the roast from the pan, but let the meat rest covered for about 10 or 15 minutes before cutting into slices to serve. You can strain the pan drippings to make a nice gravy to serve with the venison.
A good stew can be made with about a pound of good stew meat taken from the ham, neck, or rib section of the venison. It should be cut into bite-sized chunks. To help brown the meat and also thicken the stew you make, it can be good to dust the stew meat with a little bit of white flour, as when starting a roux. You won’t need to use much more than a teaspoon or two per pound of meat.
For a basic stew, start by adding two potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces, two medium-sized chopped carrots, and a whole small white onion. Turn the heat down to medium and stir until he onion starts to become translucent. Add three or four cloves of minced garlic and continue cooking for a minute or two. When the vegetables start to brown up, it’s time to legalize the pan.
After pouring in the liquid, it should bubble up vigorously and then calm down some. Stir the bottom of the up to get up the flavor from the bottom, then season the stew to taste. Dried thyme, salt and pepper would all combine nicely. Return the meat to the pot and turn the temperature back up until the liquid just reaches a boil. Stir periodically to keep the broth moving. When the broth gets to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and cover the pot, removing it to stir periodically. [5] X Research source
If you want to add more vegetables, like mushrooms, or any kind of fresh green vegetables, wait until 10 or 15 minutes before you’re ready to eat, or they’ll cook down into mush. A sprinkling of fresh-chopped parsley finished a bowl of venison stew nicely. Serve with crusty French bread, or cornbread for a perfect meal.
“Chili meat” refers to a specific coarseness of grind, usually somewhat finer than “ground” venison. If you want a finer grind, have your deer processor grind up some chili meat, or purchase your own meat grinder to grind up your own. If you like a more Texas-style chili, stew meat chunks would be more appropriate, and you’ll probably want to cook it at a lower temperature for a longer period of time, though the ingredients and the technique will be basically the same.
Use an 18 oz. can of crushed tomatoes, plus a tablespoon of tomato paste to provide the bass for the chili. If you want to use fresh tomatoes, start with about four ripe tomatoes, chopping them roughly and saving all the juices. Keep a close eye and add a little water if the chili needs more moisture added. If beans aren’t your thing, follow the chili recipe you like to make. Venison is perfectly amenable to most green chili recipes, or other types of regional chili you might prefer. Use the flavors and seasonings that you like and see if you like it better with venison.
To get at that distinctive chili taste, you’ll need at least a bit of chili powder. Add a teaspoon at a time. You can always add more later.
If you prefer, you can also transfer the chili to a slow cooker and let it sit all day, or overnight to really let the flavors blend. In general, the longer it cooks, the better it’ll be.
