I was thinking about a recent post re: venison heart, both fried and pickled. I need to get two sins off my chest. I have been harvesting deer for 40 years and have never saved a heart nor have I saved the meat from the front legs more than a handful of times. I ground rump roast area meat and front legs this season. I did nothing more than make breakfast steaks or hamburgers. Simple, fast and WOW!! Like the difference between lean quality meat and something you buy on sale somewhere and the fat congeals to the top of your mouth when you try and force it down. Post anything kitchen/venison related here guys. This is a big part of the satisfaction of hunting. I always look forward to my time in the kitchen, after the hunt, and it seems like as I have gotten older I take satisfaction in the cooking as much as the hunting.

BTW anything made in a cast iron skillet has my vote!

Lets open this up. Lots of things fall to trad hunters. Squirrels..grouse..all Gods creatures big and small that grace your table.

Lets open this up. Lots of things fall to trad hunters. Squirrels..grouse..all Gods creatures big and small that grace your table.

I took out a package of venison to go into making a soup tonight. I think winter finally came to my town last night so it should be good along with a fire.

BTW, I do save meat from the front legs but I have never saved a deer heart either.

HEHEEE. Squirrel jambalaya with grouse leftovers. I take these photos to try and entice my daughter to come up north (she is a FOODIE) and she likes my simple cooking. Since she was a kid, she has always asked for wild game, esp. pheasant and grouse.

Now that I think of it, when the kids were little, I started lots of stuff in a slow cooker mixed beef with venison, pheasant with chicken , and slowly moved their food choices to wild game. Their mother is a beautiful woman, but she could live on cheeseburgers and meatloaf :(

The best venison I have eaten, was prepared like a good beef steak, just a little salt and pepper....and aged for a few days. When you pile onions, and spices on it, it becomes something else. I know it's just personal taste of course, but to me...some basic fried deer meat, as it is, is damn good. My wife however grew up on it and couldn't care less for it now. When I kill one now, my son and his family get 99% of the meat and they love it.

Looks delicious and waaay better for you than Wallyworld meat. My wife and I bought a Kitchen Aid meat grinder attachment for our mixer, so I am planning on grinding some up for us soon

I just finished some of the liver from my deer, sautéed after rolling in flour and curry, garlic, pepper and Italian bread crumbs. But the heart I ate first, what was left of it (shot up). I have eaten every single heart from every animal I ever shot, and it is by far my favorite meat if done correctly (trim off all that fat BTW, on any venison actually, and you won't have to choke down the deer grease coagulating on your tongue. A good way to get rid of fat without having to meticulously trim it all off (like in neck meat): Put a couple pounds of meat, including foreleg meat, neck meat, lean flank or brisket, etc. into the crockpot for 8-10 hours on high. Add pepper, maybe some garlic powder. Turn it off and leave the cover on to keep the flavor in (do this whole process in the garage or outside to reduce the odors in the house). When it is cold, skim off the snow white hard fat globules with a fork or perforated spoon and throw it out. This is how to render fatty meat free of fat, and also the silverskin from the leg muscles dissolves and it , turned to gelatin. I believe this is good for you to ingest, good protein for your body to maintain and repair connective tissues in your joints. This is what I do with my leg and neck meat. I never throw it away. Too difficult to come by. Try it.

Venison steak only made one way at my place: 1" thick, in a cast iron skillet in butter, salt and pepper quick in and out, blood red center and gone. Thatts probably why I don't have a photo right now :)

cobra,,,, you got it down

25# smoked venison bacon, smoked, sliced. and vac packed for the freezer.

spine testing a gold tip. going into the smoker.

Left over bones. bleached, burned, and painted by my wife.

Sorry forgot the pic. here it is

This is a bottom round pounded out, rolled and stuffed with sausage and mushrooms.

Venison scallopini.

Brigiola.

Rabbit pie. My personal favorite.

Venison ossa bucco.

Venison chili.

Loin roast. My son's favorite "Deer n Biscuits"

Dang, Aaron, that some mighty fine cuisine. You live anywhere the CIOA?

Mighty fine

WOW!! that about covers it. WOW!!

I have just become a fan of deer heart, ribs and deer liver in the last few years.

Cooked properly ribs are incredibly good. I carefully trim all the fat, pressure cook them for 30 minutes, put a little olive oil on them, coat with my favorite rub and brown them over a hickory laced charcoal fire.

Trapperkayak: What is CIOA? I like to cook almost as much as I like to hunt. Particularly wild game meats. So many options and soooo much higher quality than mass processed slaughterhouse meat. Extra satisfying to take it from field to table, and introduce it to people who mostly "thought" they didn't like game meat.

Look up and try a "coffee rub" for Backstrap. Yum

You guys are jerks! I've drooled all over myself! No venison in the freezer since 2014!

This years buck. Tender loin medallions with a little Montreal Season, loaded baked potatoe, pickled beets out of the garden, home made garlic bread and a salad before Ranch dressing and blue cheese crumbles.

Medallions in the cast iron skillet. Best way to cook almost anything!

Seared t-loins w/sautéed garlic and portobello mushrooms and a side of roasted sweet potatoes! It was quite lovely. This weekend we will be making summer sausage and andouille.

The wife loves venison as much as I do. Preparing venison my favorite way.

Woodshavins, its the Culinary Institute of America down by Poughkeepsie, NY along the Hudson. Those dishes you prepared could rival some of their students' and graduates' cuisine I'm sure. Do you live near there? Stop in and apply for an instructor position, Bud!

Everything looks great here.

Bluesman, I'm interested in your dutch oven roast recipe. I sure do like me some dutch oven cookin'! I haven't done it in a while, but I need to get that going again.

Those ribs of Eric's got me thinking too.

I tried a recipe that Ranger talked about in his deer skinning and butchering video and it was the best way I ever enjoyed venison. Back straps cut into medalions. Seared them, wrapped them with a piece of bacon (I used turkey bacon) and then baked them, covered, at 350* for 30 minutes. Ranger grilled his. Some good eatin there. Didn't last long enough for pics.

Another tasty way I made venison is sear it, reduce heat to medium, roughly cut up some onions over it and cover with cream of mushroom soup, put on a lid and simmer for 20 minutes or so.

Man, writing this stuff is making me hungry. I just put a fat, young doe in the freezer. Now I'm gonna have to go home and get some out.

Oh well, worse things have happened. ;~)

My my I love rabbit pie.

MEAT PORN! Nothing like it!

Finished butchering the young 6 pt last night, and put two pounds of beautiful lean neck and backstrap trimmings in the crockpot on high overnight, about 8 hours. A few seasonings only - garlic powder, salt, pepper. Turned it off this morning. left the lid on to seal in the flavor, and the whole unit is outside cooling on the grill (lightly snowing out). Later, will skim off any fat globules, and drain the juices (to add to mushroom soup and some of the meat for an open face roasted venison Sammy), and the rest I'll put in the sauce pan, cover with Dinosaur BBQ Slathering sauce and sautéed shrooms, onions, peppers... and Voila!, the concoction I mentioned earlier will be born! Great with wild rice, sweet potato, and some other veggie, and a salad and your favorite bread. Cold beer, warm Cab/Franck, whatever turns your crank for a beverage...And a fire in the fireplace... funny Christmas movie (check out Surviving Christmas for a great laugh) and little family...wife and the two dogs. Nothing could be better. The dogs love butchering time....they get a lot of special treats from the grill too. Dogs and venison, what a combo.

It just ain't right. Yinz are torturing me over here.

Great looking and sounding recipes above, thanks.

I did some in the crock pot yesterday, too. Along with some potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, cellery, onions, garlic, salt and plenty of black pepper. I always cook enough meat when I do it in the CP to have the first meal as is and then I'll pull the leftover meat appart, add it to gravy made from the juice and have it either as hot sandwiches, or over egg noodles. If I get carried away with the amount of meat I put in to start with and still have some at that point, I chop it up and mix some mayo and a little fine chopped onion with it for cold sandwiches.

Another favorite around our house is venison pot pie. Chili, round steaks cut off the hind quarter and cooked on the grill. It's hard to beat venison, or any wild game meat in my opinion, no matter how you cook it.

When I'm butchering a deer I always end up slicing some backstrap into half inch pieces and frying it while I'm cutting. I just lightly salt and pepper it and I don't think I enjoy venison any more than I do then.

Would it surprise anybody if I told you I was headed for the crockpot full of venison in the refrigerator right now? Lol.

LOL...MEAT PORN

Backstraps

Forgot pic 8)

Neck Roast. This one was done in oven but 8 hours in crock pot is even better.

Lot's of skilled chefs here! Ya make my mouth water. One of my favorite recipes is very simple. Put a good amooount of salt and a little pepper in a cast iron skillet - no oil - heat until it begins to smoke and toss in some venison steaks or chops. Fry a couple minutes and turn over. Deglaze pan with cognac, red wine, brandy, or whiskey of your choice. Enough that when the alcohol burns off you're left with a rich, thick pan sauce. Serve while meat is still rare, drizzle pan sauce over the meat.

More game meat is ruined by over cooking that about anything else. If you've done your part in properly caring for the meat, there are no germs on it that are going to hurt you, and what there are only get on the outside. Once the outside is heated past about 180 degrees, anything there is killed - ground meat would be the only exception, where you could introduce contaminates throughout the meat if you're not handling it properly - dirty cutting table, knives, or grinder.

Mostly - enjoy the bounty God provides us!

Slayer, I forgot about the chops. It doesn't get much better than that, does it? And like you said, nice and pink inside for my taste.

In a cold cast iron dutch oven I pour 1/3 to 1/4 cup of olive oil. Don't heat the pot first or you may burn the oil! Any cut of meat will do but I try to keep the pieces slightly smaller than a walnut. Get the heat going, stir in the meat getting some oil on each piece. Add one diced onion and 1 teaspoon of garlic, minced or powdered. Now all that meat and onion is going to release liquid and the juices will begin to look foamy. Keep the heat up and stir the pot until the foam is gone and the meat has blackened on most sides. Turn down the heat and add enough beef broth to just cover the meat. Stir in 1/3 to 1/4 cup of soy sauce, cover and simmer for at least one hour to two hours depending on the volume of meat. I usually use a beef base for the broth named "Better Than Bouillon" and for soy sauce my favorite is Kikkoman(not the low sodium). While the meat is simmering you can peel and dice the potatoes and slice the carrots. I reduce the potatoes to six or four pieces each and slice the carrots no more that a 1/4" thick. After the meat has simmered for the required time, I add the potatoes and carrots and may add enough cold water to again cover everything. Turn up the heat and after ten minutes of cooking I add enough frozen peas to flavor and color up the stew. When the potatoes and carrots are slightly tender I thicken the stew with a flour and cold water mix. You have to thoroughly mix 1/2 cup of all purpose flour with enough cold water to make one full cup. If the water is not cold you will get lumpy gravy. Slowly stir in this thickener to the level you prefer and turn off the heat. If you were shy of potatoes you can substitute potato flakes for the thickener or a combination of both.

I sometimes use the stew as a filler for a pot pie where I line the dutch oven with a homemade crust and then when the filler is in I lay a top crust and seal along the sides.

For burrito filler I cook only the meat as above and then thicken the gravy partially with potato flakes and then add the flour and cold water. A couple of scoops of cooked venison heated in the microwave, on a burrito shell with a layer of red pepper humus with a sprinkling of fresh cilantro and some diced avocado ...mmmmmm!

The neck meat I cooked in the crockpot yesterday tastes great by itself, so today when I turn it into pulled bbq, it will turn out awesome... Can't wait! If I get one more deer, I will be set for the year. Got about 11 days left between both seasons. Late bow starts on the 11th, ends on 19th. And we are finally getting some snow and cold. Still have 4 tags to fill, or rather 4 chances at filling 1 more nice sized deer which is all I need - don't need to be greedy. But those recipes sure look good - maybe two more... :)

I always seem to come across this thread around a time to eat and it makes me hungry every time. Some great sounding and looking ideas here. ;~)

This thread is DEFINITELY going into my "favorites"!!!

Slayer: I WILL try that! I darn near had a "mouthgasm" when I read it!

Smoked backstrap stuffed with cream cheese and breadcrumbs

Great looking menue's. This year I shot a three point buck and he is just plain tough. Thinking about marinating it and then into the croc pot.

Yeah you guys are making it tough. I brought my buck to a processor and they have not called to say it was ready yet. They say they use your deer if you get venison sticks or sausage. I ordered both so I guess that is it. Anyhow, the wife and I are making room in the freezer so trying to eat whats in there.

She took out some frozen burgers. The kind that comes in a box. As I grilled them I noticed the factory pressing/dimples in the meat. Really struck me how "processed" the store bought burgers are. Right then I thought about my deer meat and how I wished I was grilling that instead.

I don't care for the idea of "processed" burgers. We just do not know what is really in there.... Store bought burgers are the real mystery meat.

When we eat the deer we harvest we know what it is at least.

Bill

Very basic meal, the first I've had from the young buck. Slow cooked neck meat in the crockpot, seasoned with garlic powder, pepper, and sea salt. Mixed half part broth from it with half part Progresso creamy mushroom soup, several oz. meat, and cream cheese, heated it in bowl, and dunked in buttered whole grain toast. The meat is exceptional flavor and tender, falls apart. Hung the deer skin on for one week in garage. Temps outside ranged from 28 to 50 on the last day. It cured perfectly. My tip of the day: If you get a buck or a doe with a very oily tarsal gland, the first thing I do is to cut that thing right off the deer and put them away from everything if saving them. Then clean the knife, your gloves or hands thoroughly. Don't touch any meat or knife with that smell or youll be smelling and tasting it until the last package. My experience is doing this will greatly reduce gaminess in a rutting buck. The deer had very little fat from all the,'exercise' he got. Try this simple meal. Tasty...

Cream cheese in soup?

I don't know man, that's too much like oatmeal for breakfast. With a spoon of sugar on top.

:-)

Uh huh... Cream cheese. Sounds yucky... but it's good. My oatmeal this morning had real maple syrup on it (and butter, cinnamon, and organic milled flaxseed for good health haha). Ya gotta improvise when you have to... :) Must be doing something right, I logged 13.4 miles yesterday between hunting and walking the dogs, lol! Saw some deer too.

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