Tips for cooking deer meat
Let's face it; going out for a deer, chasing it, shooting and finally field dress the body would be nothing if we don't enjoy a deer dinner later at home with family and friends; and surprisingly to achieve a good deer (or venison as chefs call it) plate might be the toughest part of all the process.
Deer meat is very different of farm animals meat, thus if you are not familiar with it, the final result could be a drye, hard to eat piece of meat; so in order to help you to obtain the best flavor of your "venison" we provide some valuable tips:
1. A great venison plate starts on the field.
Field dressing must be done promptly and fast; the sooner the meat is processed and removed from the carcass, better the result. So for tender, soft meat, field dressing
is critical.
2. Try thin cuts
Deer has an "herbal", "wild" taste which is not appreciated by all the people, son a good way to mask it is the marinade; however if the cut is too thick, the marinade won't penetrate easy, thus thinner cuts are better.
3. Age the meat
Fresh meat has a more intense wild flavor; so ageing it refrigerated up for 10 days will help to reduce its particular smell and taste.
4. Deer fat does not taste good
Different from beef, venison fat has not a good flavor; so take your time to remove all fat and connective tissue from cuts in order to avoid undesirable taste.
5. Substitute deer fat by another fatty source
Even when deer fat is not good for meat flavor, the complete absence of fat on the cut will lead to a dry, insipid venison plate. On this regard, using butter, bacon or any other fat source when cooking deer will help to enhance flavor and preserve meat moisture.
6. Marinate the meat
At least overnight; longer will be better. Try different marinades until find the one you like most.
7. Choose the proper way to cook each deer cut
Some cuts will be taste better if roasted while other are great for barbecue; find different recipes and try them to find out which is the one you like more.
Now it's time to try; so go out to catch a deer and let's enjoy its exotic, palatable, nutritive meat.
