Tenderized Deer steak - need recipes

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Replies

  • lizwizCYLS
    lizwizCYLS Posts: 39 Member
    beer....soak it in beer with lots of garlic & chopped onions for 2 - 3 days & that'll help tons....1st venison my x ever brought home was from an area where the darned critters ate CEDAR TREES....strong & gamey yuck....also 50% 50% with hot pork sausage will help compensate for the extremely low fat & fine grained texture which tends to make it dry & chewy
  • autovatic
    autovatic Posts: 99 Member
    What about jerky? It's actually easier to start with it slightly frozen, so you can slice it no thicker than 1/4". Against the grain, if you want it to be more tender (more brittle, also).

    Typical marinade has oil, salt, spices and an acid like vinegar:
    1/4 c soy sauce
    2tbsn brown sugar
    2tbsn Worcestershire sauce
    1tsp garlic powder
    1/2tsn onion powder
    1 tsp salt
    1/2 c oil
    Combine all ingredients, whisking in the oil last. Place the strips in the marinade and refrigerate over night. Remove meat from marinade and dry on paper towels. Place strips flat on baking sheets - not touching each other. Heat in oven at 180-200f. Dry until a piece cracks but doesn't break when bent (usually between 5-10 hours). Start checking on them around the 3 hr mark. Tedious, but tasty!

    Wow, this sounds really good.. Thanks

    Keep in mind your whole house will smell like meat. Not that I mind that smell, but you and the dogs will probably be drooling all day - I was! I tried it overnight once, as well, but it's a lot harder to monitor that way.
  • draya114
    draya114 Posts: 46 Member
    I am thawing out some Round Venison steak right now! We usually eat the back strap and ground venison I haven't cooked anything with this yet. My plan however was to sautee in a pan with some onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms then put on a Hoagie bun with swiss cheese. My husband is skeptical thinking it will taste too gamey. We shall see!
  • Archerychickge
    Archerychickge Posts: 606 Member
    Ok, so I'm a hunter and I teach outdoor cooking and have been cooking deer meat for as long as I can remember... I LOVE venison. People have a tendency to destroy the meat by abusing it. What I mean is, process it properly, store it properly, and cook it properly....

    Low and slow is the name of the game for roasts and the like. For thinner cuts, flash cook it and leave it a little rarer than you would leave your beef. TRUST ME ON THIS!!!

    DO NOT OVER COOK YOUR DEER MEAT!!!

    If you want a great recipe for tenderized deer steaks, do what I do and keep it simple. Dredge them in a little seasoned flour and fry them in a HOT skillet until they are crisp on the inside but still soft. You don't want to cook all the juices out of them or they will be dry and tough as shoe leather.

    Or put them in a baking dish with some onions, a little flour and water, a tablespoon or two of Worchestershire sauce, and a big can of diced tomatoes. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour and serve with mashed potatoes. Make yourself some easy Swiss steak with those tender little morsels...

    Oh and I have two deer roasts in the crockpot at home simmering away for dinner.... Can't wait!!!!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I have 6 packages of pretenderized deer steak left from last season. I have tried it in stew- nasty. In soup- nasty. Fried- nasty. Grilled-yep, nasty. A friend suggested I make "chicken fried steak" with it. I have never made that. Any suggestions that will not be... NASTY?

    Well, if you don't like venison then there is only so much you can do. Personally, I love it. Try marinating it first. There are many recipes on the internet. One of my favorite ways to eat venison is in stir fry.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Oh my god, I need to get into hunting.. I want deer.. SO badly.
    LOVE deer meat.
    Just in. For the deer.

    Sadly, no recipes, but one day... DEFINITELY.

    Find a local deer processor and ask them if they sell meat that is not picked up. There is almost always a few who kill a deer then don't have the money to pick it up from the processor and many processors will sell the meat to whoever is willing to pay for it.
  • Ysmir
    Ysmir Posts: 828 Member
    Brine the venison. It will restructure the meat and make it tender. Then you can cook it however you like.
  • mjbself
    mjbself Posts: 15 Member
    Maybe make jerky out of it. That is what my dad does with the cuts he doesn't prefer.
  • trackercasey76
    trackercasey76 Posts: 781 Member
    The biggest thing with venison is DO NOT OVER COOK IT!! Medium is the most venison should be cooked, I prefer medium rare. The more you cook it tougher it gets and the stronger the "gamey" taste gets. My family loves venison in a stroganoff, but any beef recipe can be substituted with venison.

    Edited for spelling.
  • dennik15
    dennik15 Posts: 97 Member
    Most people have trouble with it because it is so lean, therefore can be dry and tough if not cooked properly. Any cooking method where it cooks quickly and retains moisture will work. Since it's been tenderized, it should cook more easily than usual. Maybe lightly braise, then thin slice cross-grain? Some great suggestions above me.

    If you get more deer meat this season, the easiest way to package it is ground (except for back strap, which is heaven on a plate!). Ground venison can be used anywhere you'd use ground beef/poultry. but keep in mind its' need for some additional fat/moisture when cooking.

    Yep, yep, and yep! There is nothing better than venison back strap grilled to just rare with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Another easy packaging method is canning. You can used canned venison for all sorts of delicious meals...stroganoff, chili, stews, casseroles, etc...
  • str1ne
    str1ne Posts: 69 Member
    Make Chili, yum!
  • I have ready all these post about how deer meat is nasty. It all depends on how it is cleaned. It doesn't matter if the deer fell right where it stood when it was shot or if it ran 100 yard or (if it is cold outside) if it wasn't found til the next day. This is how we handle our deer meat. Once the deer is skinned and cleaned, we take the meat and put in a cooler with ice. We change the ice every day for 7 days, this draws out all the "wild game" flavor that is in the meat and it makes it tender. Once that is done we bone it out and package(vacuum seal) it into steaks to fry, stew meat, roast and tenderized steaks. We never have a wild game flavor with any of our wild game. We make hamburger and sausage out of it as well. We do not buy meat at all, we hunt all of our meat. I hope this little tidbit helps any of you guys with your deer meat or any other wild game as well.
  • larrodarro
    larrodarro Posts: 2,512 Member
    I have ready all these post about how deer meat is nasty. It all depends on how it is cleaned. It doesn't matter if the deer fell right where it stood when it was shot or if it ran 100 yard or (if it is cold outside) if it wasn't found til the next day. This is how we handle our deer meat. Once the deer is skinned and cleaned, we take the meat and put in a cooler with ice. We change the ice every day for 7 days, this draws out all the "wild game" flavor that is in the meat and it makes it tender. Once that is done we bone it out and package(vacuum seal) it into steaks to fry, stew meat, roast and tenderized steaks. We never have a wild game flavor with any of our wild game. We make hamburger and sausage out of it as well. We do not buy meat at all, we hunt all of our meat. I hope this little tidbit helps any of you guys with your deer meat or any other wild game as well.

    If you can pick up a used fridge on the cheap, that can be used to age the meat. I have a friend who cut holes in between the top/freezer part and the lower/fridge part so it would be colder. He waits 9-10 days before he cuts his up. Since he is a "big horns" hunter, he grinds almost of his meat. I like the younger deer myself.

    Larro
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    I have 6 packages of pretenderized deer steak left from last season. I have tried it in stew- nasty. In soup- nasty. Fried- nasty. Grilled-yep, nasty. A friend suggested I make "chicken fried steak" with it. I have never made that. Any suggestions that will not be... NASTY?

    Well, first of all, what did you find nasty about it? If you don't like venison, then nothing may help.

    If it has a wild taste, which I would not expect from pre-tenderized, then you can brine it first. This is a tenderizing method that also removes the wild taste, if there is one (not all venison tastes wild - depends on the deer).

    Do you know how it was tenderized? If they used a brine, it may have been something you don't like. You can left the meat soak in lightly salted water in the fridge overnight, then rinse well and this may help.

    A pressure cooker is a good way to cook vension. It makes it very tender. It even cans easily.

    Otherwise, I'd suggest something spicy with lots of other ingredients to mask the taste.
  • smarionette
    smarionette Posts: 260 Member
    If the problem is that these cuts are stringy/tough why not just grind it? Makes great bolognese. My husband dreams about venison bolognese. You can also make it into sausage, though if you go that route I would grind in some suet as well just to keep it moist.
  • Mygsds
    Mygsds Posts: 1,564 Member
    Cut in bite sized pieces and sauté in with bacon and onion and mushrooms .. Salt and pepper...can't get any better than that.
  • So_Much_Fab
    So_Much_Fab Posts: 1,146 Member
    It actually could have been the deer, but I will agree that butchering it is important. Older deer and what they eat really make a difference in the way they taste.

    This, a million times over. I'm surprised at the number of posters saying they don't like venison! My BF hunts and butchers his own (mostly doe) and every. single. cut. is delish!