J-Dewey_1980
Member
I am new to the wine game, but an old hat at venison. I've accumulated all the toys over the years and have made about everything there is to make, I imagine.
Can you share what you have at your disposal for equipment? I would be happy to share some recipes based on that. Grinder? Stuffer? Smoker? If not, no worries--it just opens up a lot more doors. If we are talking just how to manipulate whole muscle recipes, I can chime in there, too.
RANT WARNING ON MEAT TREATMENT: Bar none, and this is me being overly snooty, mind you--the best recipe can't cover for improper slaughter (and I am in NO WAY implying that is the case for anyone posting here!). I have changed a lot minds over the years for folks who claimed they don’t like venison. I am lucky enough to live and hunt in Northern Minnesota, and our primary season is in November, so getting and keeping the meat cold is easier here than it is for our friends down south as our temps fluctuate between 0 F and 30 F most of the season, but it’s no less important no matter where you live. Get the guts out ASAP, get the hide off ASAP, get the meat cooled down ASAP. If it’s too warm to hang, quarter it down and pack it in the fridge. Once completely cooled you can decide what to use right away and what to freeze. For quality later, I always wrap in cellophane, tightly, then in freezer paper. I find this approach preferable even to vacuum sealing. Freeze in as large of chunks as you can (that limits how much surface area is exposed to potential freezer burn/damage if you freeze things for more than a year). If you, for example, want to package two pounds of steak for a meal, instead of pre-cutting the steaks, keep the muscle whole, wrap, freeze, and then thaw/cut steaks before a planned meal.
The last, but arguably most important step, is draining. For sake of example, let’s say you are breaking down a muscle for steaks. Make your cuts (against the grain) into portion size pieces. Put those pieces in a colander/strainer, put that strainer over a bowl, cover the container with press n seal or foil (whatever you need to keep air out), then refrigerate overnight. The next day you will have dark, black blood in the bottom container that has drained off the meat. Now temper your stomachs, here, but I urge you at least once in your life to smell that blood. That nasty, foul, gamey run off was IN your meat. Now it’s not. That has made more of a difference to the flavor of venison for me than any salt, herb, or marinade ever could. Take the remaining steaks and blot them all with a paper towel to remove the rest. That seems trivial—I promise you it’s not!
I am sure some will preach the aging of venison for taste and tenderness, and I just won’t enter the ring for that fight anymore, and for a litany of reasons I won’t bother to extrapolate on--to each there own in that argument.
As for cooking/tenderness, it’s all a muscle game. For tender venison, you have two windows—medium rare, or braised until tender in a crock pot, roaster, etc. Both applications have merit, and I dictate the cooking method on the muscle I am using. I also love sausage making, and I marinade and grill a lot of kebobs and steaks, and think it’s such an awesome, versatile protein with nearly limitless applications. Ground meat alone could be it's own recipe thread.
Best of luck, and let’s keep the recipes flowing!
Can you share what you have at your disposal for equipment? I would be happy to share some recipes based on that. Grinder? Stuffer? Smoker? If not, no worries--it just opens up a lot more doors. If we are talking just how to manipulate whole muscle recipes, I can chime in there, too.
RANT WARNING ON MEAT TREATMENT: Bar none, and this is me being overly snooty, mind you--the best recipe can't cover for improper slaughter (and I am in NO WAY implying that is the case for anyone posting here!). I have changed a lot minds over the years for folks who claimed they don’t like venison. I am lucky enough to live and hunt in Northern Minnesota, and our primary season is in November, so getting and keeping the meat cold is easier here than it is for our friends down south as our temps fluctuate between 0 F and 30 F most of the season, but it’s no less important no matter where you live. Get the guts out ASAP, get the hide off ASAP, get the meat cooled down ASAP. If it’s too warm to hang, quarter it down and pack it in the fridge. Once completely cooled you can decide what to use right away and what to freeze. For quality later, I always wrap in cellophane, tightly, then in freezer paper. I find this approach preferable even to vacuum sealing. Freeze in as large of chunks as you can (that limits how much surface area is exposed to potential freezer burn/damage if you freeze things for more than a year). If you, for example, want to package two pounds of steak for a meal, instead of pre-cutting the steaks, keep the muscle whole, wrap, freeze, and then thaw/cut steaks before a planned meal.
The last, but arguably most important step, is draining. For sake of example, let’s say you are breaking down a muscle for steaks. Make your cuts (against the grain) into portion size pieces. Put those pieces in a colander/strainer, put that strainer over a bowl, cover the container with press n seal or foil (whatever you need to keep air out), then refrigerate overnight. The next day you will have dark, black blood in the bottom container that has drained off the meat. Now temper your stomachs, here, but I urge you at least once in your life to smell that blood. That nasty, foul, gamey run off was IN your meat. Now it’s not. That has made more of a difference to the flavor of venison for me than any salt, herb, or marinade ever could. Take the remaining steaks and blot them all with a paper towel to remove the rest. That seems trivial—I promise you it’s not!
I am sure some will preach the aging of venison for taste and tenderness, and I just won’t enter the ring for that fight anymore, and for a litany of reasons I won’t bother to extrapolate on--to each there own in that argument.
As for cooking/tenderness, it’s all a muscle game. For tender venison, you have two windows—medium rare, or braised until tender in a crock pot, roaster, etc. Both applications have merit, and I dictate the cooking method on the muscle I am using. I also love sausage making, and I marinade and grill a lot of kebobs and steaks, and think it’s such an awesome, versatile protein with nearly limitless applications. Ground meat alone could be it's own recipe thread.
Best of luck, and let’s keep the recipes flowing!
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