Help from cooks, need advice on using venison

[Rowdyboy]

Neither I nor my partner hunt, but his uncle gave us a 12 oz tenderloin, a pound of "minute steaks", ground beef (deer) and sausage. I cooked a pound of the sausage and thought it was pretty good but my guy hated it-too dry. Any thoughts on what I could do with the rest of the meat it to make it salvagable?

Any ideas/recipes are welcome-I have NO idea what I'm doing, but I hate to waste good meat and I've been served delicious venison before. I just don't know how to do it myself...

[fishnfla]

1. talk to me

is it fresh or frozen?

[Rowdyboy]

2. Frozen...wrapped in butcher paper, from early this year

You have my undivided attention

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. Could be the meat has freezer burn

If that's the case, then ragout or stew

[fishnfla]

25. Oh shit, looking down thread

look: keep it simple!

Defrost the tenderloin, cut it into medallions
saute an onion in some margerine, or butter
add the meat
salt and pepper
some canned mushrooms
simmer it down, maybe 10 -15 mins

serve it with fresh bread and cold beer

get back to me if thats not good enough

you can do the same thing with the minute steaks

[Rowdyboy]

29. Thanks...while I like complicated recipes, usually simple ones are best

The flavors come through more strongly and there's less chance of catastrophic failure (which I have been known to do)

[fishnfla]

38. you cant grill 12 oz of meat , no matter how you marinate it .

It will be dry

[MrSandman]

44. Bell peppers with that onion...nt

[CO Liberal]

3. Marinate the Steaks in Red Wine

And don't over cook them - they should be a little pink inside. Otherwise, they'll taste like shoe leather.

[Vanje]

7. Quite rightly!

CO Liberal is correct in all points.

Dont overcook.

Bit of garlic'd do no harm.

[NMDemDist2]

11. any marinade for venision but you definately need a wine or vingar

base to take out the gamey taste

let it rest for quite a while too (at least overnight) in the marinade

[Rowdyboy]

12. Grill or pan fry?

Its only a pound, so they're likely pretty thin...

[CO Liberal]

21. I'd Grill It

But stay by the grill so you can flip it - maybe a couple of minutes on each side.

[Rowdyboy]

28. Cool...That sounds easy enough...Thanks

:beer:

[cali]

33. Add a few crushed juniper

berries, some grinds of black pepper and a a couple of tbs. olive oil to the marinade. And old deer camp recipe.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. For the tenderloin:

Look up "vin de marchand sauce". Takes some work to make it, but goes really well with seared venison tenderloin medallions.

[Rowdyboy]

8. See if this recipe looks about right to you...

It sounds delicious to me

http://www.recipecottage.com/sauces/marchand-de-vin04.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

32. Yup.

Looks like it.

Throw some salt pork into the saute' pan and get the fat out, before you sear the tenderloins. Works right nice.

[Rowdyboy]

35. Cool...Thanks much...I love to learn new sauces and this one

looks both delicious and easy. :toast:

[EnfantTerrible]

5. Make a stew.

Can't go wrong and it is becoming the season for it... at least where I am.

[Rowdyboy]

15. Its definitely "soup season" here but I'm just scared the "wild" taste

of the ground venison and venison sausage would overpower the stew.

[phaseolus]

6. pet food???

A lot of people seem to like the stuff, but I've never enjoyed venison... though I'll admit it's palatable in sausage.

I've read that because it's rather lean and tough it helps to "lard" the meat with fat & cook it slow. My brother-in-law once made something like 'beef tips' or whatever it's called, chunks of meat in a brown sauce to be served over noodles, using venison & it turned out nice and tender. It took a LOT of red wine in the sauce to kill that peculiar venison flavor, though.

[rwheeler31]

16. this is not good meat

may be a chew toy for a dog you do not like.

[arwalden]

9. Throw It Away!

I agree with Michael... it's dry and "mealy". The texture reminds me of liver almost. And I'm NO FAN of liver.

Or... boil it and make dogfood from it.

-- Allen

[Rowdyboy]

24. You're just a "girly man"...,I need a "manly man" for deer meat recipes!

Like NSMA (spits tobacco, glares mindlessly and scratches ass)...And I wouldn't feed my dog liver! Its NAAAAAASSSSTTTTYYYYY

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. The tenderloin should be grilled medium rare

you can make a nice wine sauce for it...if you have more sausage left, make ragout with it...here's a recipe:

3 lbs. venison
3 large onions, chopped
½ lb. bacon, chopped
1 can tomato soup
2 tsp. bourbon
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. olive oil
5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp. curry powder
1½ quarts water
¼ cup beer
½ lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

Cut meat in cubes about 1½ inches square. Heat olive oil in electric skillet and add meat, onion, garlic and bacon.

Cook until all is richly browned, stirring frequently. Add all other ingredients except mushrooms, cover and simmer for 50 minutes.

Add mushrooms. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes


On the tenderloin...just use any red wine and reduce it (cook off all the alcohol) add some chopped shallots and mushrooms, then add a tablespoon of butter....spoon it over the steaks....

The steaks should be browned with a bit of oil on either side, then cooked about 4 minutes each side (Depending on thickness) to come out medium rare...you can also melt a bit of some creamy bleu cheese on them and spoon the sauce UNDERNEATH the steaks.

The minute steaks can just be fried in a pan with mushrooms and butter.

[Rowdyboy]

20. God/Godess bless you...This is exactly what I was hoping for

That ragout sounds magnificent! I have two pounds of sausage and he (Michael) will never know what he's eating, if I use this recipe! Thanks!

[indie]

14. DO NOT OVERCOOK. Marinade, Marinade, Marinade....

Ground Venison, sausage or otherwise is best when mixed with either ground beef or pork. There's just not enough fat in venison, and it drys out.

Likewise with the steaks and roasts. Not enough fat, so drying out is a problem.

[Z_I_Peevey]

17. Direct from my Cherokee grandma:

Cook the tenderloin in an iron Dutch oven. About an inch or water, red wine or stock in the bottom. Salt and pepper the meat well, smother it in sliced onions. Roast it low and slow. That's all it needs.

My family enjoys venison steaks grilled like any other steak.

[greatauntoftriplets]

18. LOL, once when I was a kid we had venison....

My mother marinated it according to instructions. Hauled her ass into the basement in the middle of the night to turn the damn thing. It was tough, dry and gamey. Even the dog refused to eat it.

Thankfully she had also cooked a beef roast, which we gratefully snarfed down.

I will never again eat venison.

[Rowdyboy]

23. Oh, I've cooked it before when I took it straight from the stove

to the garbage....But I know it can be done-if you just know how!

[sugarcookie]

19. We love this...

Have some bacon strips and seeded halved jalapenos handy (jalapenos are optional). Wrap a steakette around each jalapeno half. Then wrap a half strip of bacon around that. Skewer and cook over the grill.

edit: to add a word


p.s. Venison jerky is really good and easy to make.

[Rowdyboy]

22. DAMN! That sounds fine! Jalapeno wrapped in a steak strip,

wrapped in bacon and grilled! Man, that sounds REALLY good! Thanks

[sugarcookie]

27. Hubby was on a BBQ team and

we always served this.

[Aunt Anti-bush]

26. Extremely easy and very good recipe for venison:

Simply coat it in flour and use a fork to pierce it over and over again to tenderize it.

Brown it in just a small amount of cooking oil.

Once it's all browned, simply mix 1 can of mushroom soup and 3/4 can of milk (by that, I mean just pour plain old milk into the can of empty mushroom soup to about 3/4 full) together and pour that over the meat to cover it. (Depending on how much of the meat you want to cook all at once, you may need 2 or 3 cans and more milk.)

Bring that to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook that way for about 2 hours. You'll have meat and gravy from this, although sometimes I need to mix a little milk and flour and add it to the gravy after removing the meat so that it thickens.

This is excellent with mashed potatoes and biscuits.

[Rowdyboy]

30. When you say a can of milk, do you mean evaporated milk?

This sounds like a great recipe for a slow cooker.

[Aunt Anti-bush]

36. No.

Sorry, I meant just fill up your empty can of mushroom soup about 3/4 of the way full with regular milk.

[Rowdyboy]

37. Gotcha...thanks

[Aunt Anti-bush]

39. No problem.

I fixed it in the original post, too. Thank you for the great idea for using my crock pot for this. I never thought of that.

[Rowdyboy]

40. Thats what I love most about DU...I post a question on a subject

I know nothing about, and get enough excellent information to last me for years. The subject can be recipes, gardening, pop culture, movies, music, book, science...whatever...but there will almost always be several people here who can make really good suggestions on nearly any subject.

[Aunt Anti-bush]

42. Now you can publish your own recipe book

for venison! :)

[Wapsie B]

31. Do what any German like myself would do

stuff it in a sausage casing. But to make venison sausage you need pork to go with it. If not it's going to be as dry as anything.

[Rowdyboy]

34. I have no idea what recipe the butcher used....I had heard before that

its best to also use pork when making deer sausage, but I have no idea if this person did.

[Wapsie B]

41. I've had venison sausage made in bratwurst casing.

Unfortunately it was just deer meat and no pork added. Terrible stuff! It takes a real master to spice vension sausage just right. But when it's done right it's a slice of heaven.

[Rowdyboy]

43. Thanks to everyone who gave me venison recipes here

While I now have plenty, if anyone has some to add, it's always appreciated. You can never have too many recipes!

:kick:

[Andy_Stephenson]

45. Swiss steak...

mmmmm good

[The empressof all]

46. Use the Ground Venison in Taco's

Or brown it up and mix with refried beans, shredded Cheddar and Salsa as a topping for Nachos.

I've had Elk done this way and it was OK

[Zorra]

47. Backstrap with eggs and taters for breakfast.

Yum.