With the 2019 whitetail season almost upon us (or in some cases, it's already here), I figured it was a good time to discuss the many aspects of the food we harvest. Slightly inappropriately, I'm actually eating a leftover elk burger from last nights dinner as I write this. Outsiders seem to enjoy grouping us into two categories, those of us who hunt for meat, and those who hunt for trophies. As with every controversial topic, hunting is not black and white.
In my experience, the "meat hunter" is the person who looks forward to the opportunity to fill the freezer with flavorful, all natural, wild protein each season. In general these folks, myself included, have not had so many successes that they can confidently believe that they will actually succeed in filling their freezers every year. This may be caused by a lack of time to hunt, or just a shortage of experience. Either way, these are generally the folks that would pull the trigger on the first legal animal that comes in range and can be ethically and humanely taken.
Contrary to the popular non-hunter view, the "trophy hunter" looks forward to the exact same thing. The difference is that generally these folks either have enough success under their belts, enough meat in the freezer, or are willing enough to go without, that they can afford to spend much more time in pursuit of that set of antlers or horns. They are still harvesting the meat and making use of much of the animal.
So as you can see, the only real difference between these two folks is what they are willing to settle for in the end. Picture it this way, two people love to eat corn flakes. One purchases the name brand corn flakes every week because they have the means to do so. One buys the generic brands because they do not have the means. Is one worse than the other? To further the example, the latter one gets an occasional coupon or sale price that allows them to achieve that name brand purchase. In the same manor, occasionally a 200 class buck walks in front of the weekend hunter. Do you think that hunter is going to let that buck walk just because their NOT a trophy hunter?
Now to get into the meat and potatoes of this topic... literally. Their are probably a million ways to prep any meat, venison included. Some folks will make all sorts of different cuts and others will grind the entire deer. I have to say, if you do the latter, I think you are doing yourself and those you serve it to, a great disservice. On the other hand, you might be the type of person who only buys ground chuck at the supermarket when it comes to red meat, so I'm definitely not going to tell you you're wrong for doing it. That being said, I'm going to go over my favorite things to do with the edible portions. In my next article, I will discuss things I like to do with the inedible parts.
Lets start with the stuff that usually gets left in the woods: organs. Up until this year, generally the only things that came home with me from the gut pile was the heart and liver, and the liver was generally a gift. I've actually spent the last year, much to my wife's chagrin, experimenting with chicken livers and different recipes to figure out some way I could enjoy this meat. I succeeded, and this organ now has a category in my cook book. This year, providing I have success, or can get my hands on them, I will be experimenting with the rest of the organs. The only exception will be the brain. I do not like the idea of eating the brain matter of any animal, and with all the outbreaks of contagious and possibly non contagious disorders transmitted through eating brains and spinal tissues, this organ, and spinal columns will still find no use in my kitchen.
Heart - In the course of my life, I have eaten hearts from many animals, and have never been disappointed. The hearts from larger animals, like deer, I like to strip out and fry or grill. I have always found that the flavor of the animal is always strongest in the heart muscle, and being as I enjoy the flavors of the animals I eat, I do not do much to it. I rub a little olive oil on the meat and season it with salt and course black pepper. For this reason, heart is generally the celebratory meal cooked on the night of the successful harvest.
Liver - I hate the taste of straight liver. Growing up in the 80's, when parents didn't make separate meals for their kids based on dislikes, on a chicken farm, I've eaten thousands of livers. The only reason I eat them now, is because of the ethical code I developed over the years of wanting to make use of every part of an animal I harvest. I start by soaking the liver whole for at least 12 hours in milk or light cream. I then remove the liver from the dairy, and marinate it in red hot for another 2-4 hours. I save the cream to use in making gravy. I then cut up thick cut bacon into one inch squares and fry them in a cast iron skillet. To that I add one sweet onion cut into eighths. Once the bacon begins to crisp up, I add the liver. I singe the liver on both sides, and then reduce the heat and pour in the red hot that the liver was marinating in. I will cook it until the marinade, mixed with the bacon grease, becomes thick. At this point, I can eat the liver, onions, and bacon as is, or mash the liver into a chunky paste and use as a cracker or tortilla dip.
The Rest - The remaining organs (again, NOT the brain) will get chopped up and sewn inside the stomach with herbs and spices to make a rendition of venison haggis. I have not even attempted this yet, but it is a work in progress for this year, and once it works, will be added to my recipe book. Someday, hopefully I'll publish this recipe book.
Head and Tongue - The tongue is great in my opinion. If I only get one, it becomes a sandwich. If I have a few, it's taco/burrito bound. Preparation for the tongue, however, is probably a blog on its own so I won't get into that. The head, minus the brain and the eyes, gets boiled in a big pot. I strip all of the meat off of it and shredded up. At this point it can be seasoned and served as a snack, mixed with BBQ sauce as pulled venison, or added to tacos or burritos. At this point, I've made myself hungry enough I might have to reheat that last elk burger...
The Neck - As stated before, this gets deboned. If I manage to debone it cleanly, this meat is great for whole roasts. This can be served as a pot roast style meal, or thin sliced for sandwiches. As a novice, I will, at times, make a mess of the roast. At that point, I reluctantly add it to the grind pile, or chunk it up for stew meat.
The Shoulder - This makes a great bone in roast to which I will add a gravy made from the aforementioned liver bath. The other shoulder gets tossed in a slow cooker with BBQ sauce to make pulled venison.
Forelegs and 4 Shanks - Although the forelegs can make decent roasts, since the discovery of osso buco… there is no other recipe I make with these cuts.
Backstrap - Grilled whole, or as medallions, lightly seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic. Some folks will use these as roasts, but to me that process dries out the meat and drains much of the flavor.
Ribs - This is about the only part of the deer that I will grind. I have nothing against ribs, in fact I love them, but I like fat on my ribs, so I generally prefer using other animals to make ribs. I also really love chili, and for that I use burger. I prefer venison burger and I don't cut in any fat. The only thing I use ground venison for is chili, so there's no need for adding fat. In fact, not having to strain the burger after you cook it is why I prefer this meat for chili!
Brisket - Slow slow slow slow cook for brisket sandwiches. Of course, I also like pastrami... either way it's yum from here!
Flanks - You can make flank steaks with these, but in my house we eat a lot of Mexican recipes. Usually this gets sliced into fajita cuts, but on occasion, when my kids are craving chili, I will add this to the grind pile.
Rump, Rear Leg, and Rounds - These cuts are generally left whole for boneless roasts, or sliced thick into steaks and steak tips. For either purposes, they're seasoned and then grilled, cast iron fried, or dry roasted.
So there's my break down on the cuts of a deer and how I make use of them. It's not the "right" way, and certainly not the only way, but it's my way. I'm pretty sure, if I wrote this article again in 10 years, it would be different, and if I wrote it 10 years ago, I KNOW it would be different. We all evolve, and I'm always looking at different recipes and things to try. I hope for some of you that this will also open some doors for you!
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