venison for non game eaters (eliminates Gamey ness)

[sheepdawg]

Okay, I am a die hard hunter. Mostly deer and elk. But so many people I know get squeamish about wild game. My wife will not touch it but my freezer is packed with game meat.

I have had 100% success with this recipe that I call "Deer Balls"

Take venison back straps and dice them up to small bits. Approximately 2" by 1" slices.
Marinade in Italian Dressing for approximately 4 to 5 hours.
Drain the marinade and wrap in bacon. Binding it all together with a toothpick.
Season the whole thing with some seasoning of your choice.
BBQ on a grill until the bacon is done. Usually only turning once.

Serve as is. Once everyone eats it and raves about how good it is, tell them it was deer testicles

I make this before a wheeling trip and put in plastic bags and serve over a grill once we get into camp. It is now the #1 request.

Enjoy.

 

[TXLX100]

Good idea! Although I personally think that's a lot of work to get rid of my perfectly good venison and bacon. I usually just tell people it always tastes better if they are there when it's harvested and cooked.

 

[skidplate]

I tell people it's not gamey it's... deer, which is not fish which is not chicken...you get the drift. I have great success with ground venison mixed with taco seasoning and seved as such.

 

[TXLX100]

I've had a lot of deer processed as chorizo... Chorizo & eggs is excellent.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I eat any wildgame blackstrap myself, it's way to gamey for delicate palettes.
I make chili or bolognaise with the ground stuff.
I really don't mind the taste of venison. It doesn't taste like chicken, or beef or pork, Duh, it's a different animal so it taste different. I really don't get why people have a problem with that. As long as you don't cook it past rare or medium rare it is moist and tender. I think most people overcook wild meats in fear of parasites or whatever. Truth is wild game is a lot less likely to have pathogens than meat raised on a production line in close quarters with hundreds of other animals. Plus there are no residual antibiotics or growth hormones. If the meat has been frozen the risk drops to zero for parasites, you are more likely to get worms from sushi than frozen deer meat.

 

[TXLX100]

If anyone ever gets the chance, Nilgai (the South Texas antelope) is at the top of my food list for game. As far as I know, you can only hunt them in south Texas (and India and Pakistan, but who wants to go there when you can go to Texas!). Can be incredible flavor for game meat.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I've had Antelope from Nevada and it's the best meat I've ever eaten, bar none.

 

[rusty_tlc]

If you want to get someone to like game meat have Spressomon cook it. He does magic.

 

[TXLX100]

Some people have the "cooking" gift. The two best cooks I know are women, my MIL and my buddy's mom. (Apologies to my wife coming in at third). Although, Dad absolutely murders the breakfast menu, which is my favorite.

 

[spressomon]

If anyone ever gets the chance, Nilgai (the South Texas antelope) is at the top of my food list for game. As far as I know, you can only hunt them in south Texas (and India and Pakistan, but who wants to go there when you can go to Texas!). Can be incredible flavor for game meat.

I've eaten Nilgai harvested from the King Ranch and it is, as you state, a spoiler for any meat tame or wild! Once I get back on my proverbial feet I'll be making reserves to harvest a bull and cow from that ranch for the meat. #2 would be Oryx from White Sands NM...have been fortunate to have eaten plenty of that from two buddies who drew NR tags a few years ago.

And as Rusty stated: Nevada pronghorn, especially taken from Northern Nevada, is in a tie with the above. My SO, having never tasted wild game in any form before we met, would hands down prefer to eat NN pronghorn harvested by me or one of my good hunting buddies than any other meat, domestic or wild. And burger or sausage is an insult...an excuse in most cases...I better stop now

As all hunters know, er should know, what ends up on the dinner table is highly influenced by what happens immediately after the animal dies. Many hunters focus all their resources and training on the front side of this equation without too much care or attention to detail once the animal's heart stops beating...and then they wonder why their game meat tastes so "wild".

 

[rusty_tlc]

Spressomon; Thanks for your tips on processing my deer, the meat is some of the best tasting deer I've ever had.

 

[TXLX100]

I've eaten Nilgai harvested from the King Ranch and it is, as you state, a spoiler for any meat tame or wild! Once I get back on my proverbial feet I'll be making reserves to harvest a bull and cow from that ranch for the meat. #2 would be Oryx from White Sands NM...have been fortunate to have eaten plenty of that from two buddies who drew NR tags a few years ago.

And as Rusty stated: Nevada pronghorn, especially taken from Northern Nevada, is in a tie with the above. My SO, having never tasted wild game in any form before we met, would hands down prefer to eat NN pronghorn harvested by me or one of my good hunting buddies than any other meat, domestic or wild. And burger or sausage is an insult...an excuse in most cases...I better stop now

As all hunters know, er should know, what ends up on the dinner table is highly influenced by what happens immediately after the animal dies. Many hunters focus all their resources and training on the front side of this equation without too much care or attention to detail once the animal's heart stops beating...and then they wonder why their game meat tastes so "wild".

We were lucky enough to put down a Nilgai bull this week, and brought some of the meat home. Looking for some good recipes. We have a hind roast and some other bits and a backstrap (3 feet long ) So far we had chicken fried tenderloin and I plan to make jerky out of one of the hind roasts.

My hunting words of wisdom, don't shoot a large animal far from where you can get a vehicle.

 

[spressomon]

^ congrats! Skewered some cow elk loin the other night and made it sing over mesquite lump. It just doesn't get better than wild meat in my book...anyway you cook it.

If you haven't tried hot oil fondue then I suggest you give it a go at least for a tasty appetizer. Seasoned AP flour...dust the meat cubes in the flour...fondue in hot neutral oil for just a minute or two/rare. Michael Chiarello's Tonnato sauce takes it over the mountain: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/vitello-tonatto-fondue-recipe.html

Be sure to have a good French or Italian loaf to mop up the sauce! I frequently use his herb/lemon/EVO rub from the same recipe...for skewers; posted elsewhere within.

I just saw a recipe for Bloody Mary Pattymelts...going to give it a go next week with some of the ground pure elk I have in the freezer. http://food52.com/recipes/13881-bloody-mary-patty-melts

 

[TXLX100]

^ congrats! Skewered some cow elk loin the other night and made it sing over mesquite lump. It just doesn't get better than wild meat in my book...anyway you cook it.

If you haven't tried hot oil fondue then I suggest you give it a go at least for a tasty appetizer. Seasoned AP flour...dust the meat cubes in the flour...fondue in hot neutral oil for just a minute or two/rare. Michael Chiarello's Tonnato sauce takes it over the mountain: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/vitello-tonatto-fondue-recipe.html

Be sure to have a good French or Italian loaf to mop up the sauce! I frequently use his herb/lemon/EVO rub from the same recipe...for skewers; posted elsewhere within.

I just saw a recipe for Bloody Mary Pattymelts...going to give it a go next week with some of the ground pure elk I have in the freezer. http://food52.com/recipes/13881-bloody-mary-patty-melts

Great suggestions thanks! I guess a fondue pot is in my future.

I feel like I have been cutting meat since Thursday, I need to cut down about 50 pounds for dinner portions and the rest will be coming from the processor. This is the first Nilgai I've dealt with butchering some of the meat and it is amazing how much meat these animals have and how tender it is with nearly no fat.

 

[spressomon]

^ just use any deep pot atop the stove...typical alcohol fed fondue pots don't get hot enough (for hot oil fondue).

Cooking Oryx and Nilgai to rare or medium-rare by touch can be tricky/deceiving because the meat is so crazy tender soft even when well done!

Q: Did you harvest the Nilgai from the King Ranch?

 

[IRIEOB1]

Helped my neighbor cube about 20lbs of venison. His freezer has about 300lbs. Of all cuts.
I made two loins on the flatiron.
Rubbed them down with just pepper sauce let sit over night & bam. Didn't even make it to a plate. Later this week a roast in the slow cooker.
Princess is out of town, all the flesh I can I will eat.

 

[TXLX100]

@spressomon Do you have a good solution for tenderizing? We made some small steaks out of part of the hind quarter of that Nilgai, medium rare they were still a bit tough, sliced to 3/4" maybe. Not bad, but I hate to pound them. I realize there is no fat and it's not going to be a ribeye.

 

[spressomon]

@TXLX100 Similar to Desert Big Horn meat (shoulder/hind): I cube the meat, marinate it in the lemon zest/olive oil rub mixture ala Michael Chiarello's recipe and then let it sit overnight/24-hours (or more...on some of our trips I've let it sit 48-hours without a textural problem). The secret I think is the lemon zest apart of the Michael Chiarello recipe. Generally I'm not a fan of citrus juice marinades...don't like the flavor impart nor the textural change that can happen to the meat.

I, probably like you, am super fastidious about getting every shred of tendon/silverskin, etc. removed. Now having said that I did take one of my animals to a professionally trained butcher and chef. He bragged about how, since he was a trained professional chef too, I wouldn't need to do any trimming of the meat but rather open the package, cut and cook. What a line of BS that was! I think this goes along way making marginal cuts a little less tough.

But for a simple mechanical tenderizer just take a fork and stab the cutlet enough times to break up the meat fibers. I seldom need to do this but every once in a while its useful especially for older animals/bucks.

Also I've drifted away from the high heat sear method of cooking/BBQ'n meat the past several years. If you think about how a piece of protein reacts to intense heat...it only makes sense to dial it down. And I've witnessed marked results/differences by going lower on the heat and longer cook session (yes even for steaks to rare or medium-rare!).

A variant on the lower/longer method I use is to reverse searing method too for any cut 1" and thicker...with just a 1 to 1-1/2 minute sear on each side over high heat.

And the all important resting of the meat, even smaller kabob pieces, post cook/BBQ is another step providing tenderness and internal juiciness. Factor carryover heat into the internal temp goal...I'm now typically letting all grilled meat sit under a loose foil tent (atop a preheated/warmed cutting board) for 15-minutes or longer!

 

[TXLX100]

Thanks for the response @spressomon! We'll try some of that this weekend. My wife has chicken fried nilgai nailed, but will be nice to have a couple more options.

I'm with you, I can only tolerate fruit/citrus on chicken and pork.

 

[rusty_tlc]

Just finishing a bowl of venison chili I canned a month or two ago. I love canning stuff and for venison it work great since I'm the only one that eats it. I can make a huge pot of chili, can it and have a quick lunch or dinner ready to go. I started using the 1.5 pint jars because 1 pint isn't enough and a quart is to much.