As you can read in our previous post, using venison is something sort of new to me. This year, we were fortunate again to have some wonderful hunters give us some of their excess venison.
I have learned a few more things that I thought I would share:
The backstraps are the most tender part of the venison, and are quite easy to prepare. For ours we simply marinaded it. I used a simple beef marinade, and let them marinade in the refridgerator for 48 hours. Then, slice these long shaped pieces like a log, but in very thin pieces. Grill these lightly (just 3-4 minutes). They should be rare. These were amazingly tasty.
The other way I have learned to prepare it is to put a venison roast in the crock pot and add a can of cream of mushroom soup and milk or water. I let it cook on low, and quite a bit longer than I usually would beef. About an hour before I planned to serve it, I removed it from the crock pot and cut it into the size pieces I desired, then put it back into the sauce.
I have had another friend who uses venison suggest that I can just batter it and fry it similar to Country Fried Steak, but I have not tried it that way yet.
I grew up on venison (I’m sure there were years it saved us) and am always thankful when my dad and brothers will share with me. I love that it is exactly what you said–very lean and healthy. I have made meatloaf–sometimes mixed with another meat, as you suggested, but also alone this week. It does need extra moisture–there were absolutely no drippings in the pan at all.
For those who don’t care for it–it is considered gourmet and a delicacy by some. Remember all the times the poor were caught poaching the royal stags in the king’s forest?!
Thank you for your note. I have not used it alone to make meatloaf yet. Perhaps adding egg or milk for moisture would be helpful.
We have enjoyed venison for a long time; but, I must say that I have tasted venison that was truely terrible! A lot of what makes for good meat is what is shot (a big tophy buck is pretty on the wall but not so tastey from the freezer), how quickly it is gutted and hung after shooting (needs to get cooled immediately), and how it is processed. One of my favorite things to do with the ground meat is make meatloaf. My meatloaf recipes already calls for one egg and a little tomato juice ~ that must be enough to keep it from being dry, because it is never dry. I think it’s better than beef for meatloaf because you don’t have the grease. We make deer steaks all of the time as well. We never marinate it. We butterfly the meat when we process it and then we simply add some Worchestershire Sauce along with the seasoning just before grilling ~ yummy! I know that people have eaten tacos, spagehetti, meatloaf, chili, sloppy joes, etc. here when I have used venison and they never even knew it wasn’t beef. If they ask, I tell ~ if they don’t ~ hey, they must not mind when they are eating seconds and thirds!