Cooking it up!

[mbt2001]

I bought a book that is the absolute best for preparing and cooking game meats. It is called The Complete Guide to Game Care and Cookery by Sam Falada.

I agree with what he says in that book, Game doesn't HAVE to taste Gamey. If you use a pretty commonsense mix of marinades and sauces you can make it taste much more familiar.



Based on some of what he says, I made a recipe for Deer Chopped Steak using just about any cut.

Basically you take the deer meat, chop it and marinate it in beer with a little Soy Sauce about 15 - 25 min. On some wax paper crush some Saltine crackers and mix with flour (enough to cover the chopped meat and keep it about 50/50). Season the flour with salt, pepper, paprika and if you like to kick it up a notch use a little cayenne pepper. Mix it together evenly.

I cannot tell you exact measurements as I am an experienced cook and usually just throw it together.

Heat some oil in your skillet over Med high heat.

Roll the bites in the flour mixture.

Throw them in the hot skillet and cook them to desired temp. (well done, medium etc…)

Take a package of brown gravy (McCormick’s or Pioneer) and get make it in a separate sauce pan. Get it thick and when the bites are just done, turn off the heat and put the Gravy in with the bites. Stir around and let it sit 5 min. The serve with potatoes (baked or mashed) and creamed corn.

If I left something out, let me know. I am talkin' on the phone as I write this..... Sorry

 

[mbt2001]

POST YOUR FAVORITE RECIPE!

I forgot to add that!

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Coincidentally, this is one of my favorites every year at this time, i.e.. St. Patricks day. No Corned beef in the NRA4LIFE household, that just won't do.

Corned Elk (or any other critter for that matter)

This recipe is for a 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb Elk Roast

Marinade:

1/2 tsp Prague Powder (or insta-cure)
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Pickling Spice
About 1 quart of water

Mix all marinade ingredients with enough water to cover the roast completely and marinate in the refrigerator for 4 days. I save about 1 cup of the marinade for cooking the roast in with about another cup of water. I cook mine in a crockpot with about a 1/2 of a small head of cabbage chopped up. Cook until tender.

 

[Lupinus]

personally there are only two things that have been done to an animal that has ever made it taste "gamey" to me. A gut shot or improper handeling, which is a list that would take me more typing then I feel like doing so I'll leave that general.

As for recipies I'm more of a throw it in the pot and judge it by eye kind of cook.

 

[Subby]

Here's another fast easy one I throw together on occasion:

Cut tenderloin into steaks of desired thickness
Sear in skillet, then remove
Add some thinly sliced onion, cook for a minute
Deglaze with red wine, add a splash of soy
Put the tenderloins back in pan
Add some fresh baby spinach, wilt it down
Throw in a nice sized pat of butter, swish it around
Serve over rice or some mashed spuds

This is also good with mushrooms in place of/in addition to the spinach. It's a nice rich dish.

Sub

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Subby,

That sounds very simlar to a dish I make except you throw in a tablespoon of single malt scotch or Bourbon along with a little bit of currant jelly into the pan sauce. It is most yummy.

 

[Subby]

I'll hafta try your version out NRA. Sounds tasty. Another easy one:

Take some venison(chops are what i usually use), wrap/stuff with finely diced onion. Wrap stuffed venison with bacon, throw it in the oven, give it a while. The bacon should be meaty, but not exactly crisp. Heaven in a pan.

Sub

 

[oldhammy1]

Javelina

BBQ apricot Javelina-

2-4 lbs of Javelina meat
16 oz of apricot preserves
1 bottle BBQ sauce
1/2 purple onion diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Throw it all in a crock pot and let it cook for 8 hours. YUMMY!!

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I was making some venison strogonoff a while back that calls for dredging the thinly cut strips of meat in seasoned flour and browning them in buttter before tossing in all the othe stuff, and sampled a couple of them when they were browned, but still a little pink in the middle. They were unbelievable just like that. Now sometimes when I'm going to make strogonoff, I simply cut short the operation and we just eat the meat like that.

 

[MCgunner]

Take one Javelina ham
Soak in butter milk over night on a pine board
in the morning salt and pepper
throw out the Javelina and bake the pine board....

Okay, a serious one.

I like to Kabob my birds now days, duck, goose, dove, even quail. You get the kabob skewers. Cut the breast meat into bite size pieces (half a breast for doves), salt and pepper and add a little garlic powder. Wrap the meat in a chunk of bacon and skewer. Add alternate pieces of potato, jalapeno pepper, onion, squash, bell pepper to the meat and grill over mesquite coals.

You can leave out the Jalapenos if you're a yankee.

 

[MNgoldenbear]

I've found that if your soak it in teriyaki, people will eat just about anything. For our church's game feed, I've been marinating venison (either strips or whole steaks) that last several years, though last year we put in some chunked up goose and duck as well. I put the meat in a gallon ziploc, add a bottle of Kikkoman teriyaki sauce, several cloves of crushed garlic, couple knobs of sliced/crushed fresh ginger, thinly sliced onion, and a drizzle (a tablespoon or two) of toasted sesame seed oil (raw doesn't have same flavor). Personally, I think the fresh ginger and sesame oil make all the difference. Slosh it around in the bag, then burp out all the air possible. Let it marinate in the fridge two or three days, agitating occasionally. Charcoal grill it if possible; broililng will work fine too. It should get a bit charred on the edges. If using strips/chunks, we thread it on skewers with green peppers (bell), onions, mushrooms, and/or cherry tomatoes. Even the wife and step-daughter will eat these, and they don't like anything wild.

General observation on wild game cookery. Some seem to think that adding things that "hide" the flavor of the game is not desirable. That's fine if they like it that way. I figure that if I season my store-bought meats in interesting ways, why wouldn't I do that with game? The point isn't to do away with the wild flavor, but to make the tastiest meal with my materials. Just my $.02.

 

[mbt2001]

I think what a lot of people forget about today is why the old timers used to cook. There are a lot of recipes, Mashed potatoes for instance, that were designed to be used for over ripe potatoes. Chicken Fried steak, was a recipe designed to use the lackluster round steak. Fajitas were designed to use flak steaks. Tamales... well, we will just leave that alone.

My point is that people will use Sirloin or Rib eye or NY Strip cuts to chicken fry and talk about how much better they make it, but they are negating some of the point of the dish.

No to my point. Rabbit Stew, Chicken fried Rabbit, Squirrel stew, Roast duck with wild berry sauce, gumbos... If you ask me the old timers were telling us don't be an idiot and slam the game meet on the fire without dressing it up.... Under normal circumstances game meat isn't any good with the gamey flavor. I have had to lecture some of my friends about cooking because they were not going to take anymore deer. They didn't like the taste, but couldn't just shoot it and not eat it.

So dress up your game!

 

[PCGS65]

I just love the BBQ, not just for game but everything. Back in '93-'94 I entered the Kansas City BBQ Society contest and won 2nd place in chicken and ribs! I also BBQ all winter. You would be suprised how fast the snow melts when you lite the grill. I currently own 4 BBQ grills and 1 smoker.
Here's one of my favorites because of it's simplicity.

1. Cut venison strips 1/4" thick 1"to1-1/4" wide by 2-1/2" long. Season or marinate to taste.
2. Wrap the venison around a pepperoncini pepper.
3. Wrap 1/2 strip of bacon around the venison and use tooth picks or skewers to hold together.
4. BBQ untill venison is to your liking.
5. Enjoy with your favorite cold beer!

 

[rwc]

I've substituted venison into many different recipes.

If your family doesn't like the "gamey" taste stick to slow cooking recipes with any kind of merinade or sauce. I've had some luck "cheating" with the pre-made jars of simmer sauce Trader Joes sells. Brown the meat, add sauce, get it simmering on the stove and then stick it in the oven at 325 for 5 or 6 hours watching to make sure you don't lose all your liquid (supplement with stock as needed but don't forget to get the pot back up to a simmer on your stove-top if you take it out of the oven as just sticking it back in takes it a while to heat back up).

Venison masala anyone?

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I think MBT hit a very good point about the way certain cuts of meat, rather than the best part of the critter, were made into certain dishes. The mention of chicken fried rabbit hit home for me. Many moons ago, we'd hunt snowshoes in Northern Wisconsin. Anybody who's killed one knows they are a little tough. I got this brilliant idea one year to cut them up like a chicken and simmer them in some stock and spices for a while until they were tender. Then roll them in seasoned flour and cook them like fried chicken. They were outstanding. I miss that.

 

[Rock_Steady]

Thanks guys, you got my mouth watering.

You all got me to go down and see what was in the freezer. Back up with a couple of steaks from this year's doe, let those thaw out. Put 1/2 an onion and 2 cloves of garlic, minced, in a pan with 1/2 stick of butter - the real stuff. Sautee for 5 mins. Cut deer steak in strips thinly, roll in flour with some Meat Magic added, brown meat in same pan. Add a can of Cream of Mushroom soup and water to desired "thickness". My wife loved it, and she said it had no "gamey" taste. I was not going to argue, as I had my mouth full.

I gotta try some of that rabbit - if I can just find a couple.