VENISON RECIPES

Here is where we will dive deep into all things venison recipes. Venison just may be the most popular wild game meat throughout the world. And I'm not just talking about whitetail deer meat, I'm also referring to elk, moose, antelope, mule deer, and sika deer. I think most people at one time or another have had a bad experience with eating venison, myself included.

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But that usually isn't the animal's fault, most of the time it's from the hands of the deer hunter, cook, or the processor if you don't process your own deer. Sometimes things can go wrong. A hunter can take longer than expected to recover the animal, a cook can either overcook or undercook the meat, and the processor could have a poor storage environment. All of these issues can lead to the "gamey taste" that everyone dreads.

GENERAL RULES FOR COOKING VENISON

FOR STEAKS ROASTS AND CHOPS

As a general rule, you want to cook your venison steaks and roasts between a rare internal temperature (120 to 125 degrees F) and medium rare internal temperature (130 to 135 degrees F). These cuts of meat are classified as backstraps (loins), tenderloins (inner loins), deer round steaks or (eye of round, top and bottom round), and the ball roast (football roast or rump roast).

You have two different ways for cooking these cuts of meat and that's either "hot and fast or "low and slow". With either method your main goal is to not overcook the meat and the best way to mitigate that is by using an instant-read meat thermometer. To obtain seared venison while using low-temperature cooking, you have two options. First, you will either need to sear the meat first and then cook it at a low temperature until you reach your desired doneness. Another great way is to perform a "reverse sear" which is to sear the meat after it has reached your optimal internal temperature or a few degrees below

FOR SHANKS, NECKS, SHOULDERS AND FLANKS

Each of these cuts of venison needs to be prepared in a moist cooking environment at some point during the cooking process. With venison being a lean meat, it doesn't have any help from fat to help break down all of the connective tissue and silver skin. So whether you want to make pulled smoked barbecue or mouth tender venison stew meat, you're going to need to introduce moisture into the mix at some point. The best way to do this is by either braising the meat in your oven or (the almost) perfect way to cook the cuts in a slow cooker or crock pot.

Below is a collection of some of my best venison recipes that range from my easy to make family's favorite meals to gourmet preparations for a special occasion.