Originally Posted by: scotty I thought using beef fat with venison was a standard practice since fat carries the flavors.
Scotty, I've always used bacon, or pork fat, and last year a local butcher talked me into using beef fat for my chorizo and my italian sausage...and it sucks! I'm only glad i didnt make too much of it, I went back to pork. And besides, I ENJOY the flavor of the deer, it isnt gamey if dressed, prepared and cooked properly.
I bought a book on hunting whitetail written back in the 60's and the last chapter was written by the hunters wife and that chapter was about preparing the meat for the table. It talks of in ole England there was one animal if poached the penalty was death, and it was deer! It was soo prized by the Court.
She goes on to give the guidelines I try to follow for good venison cooking;
1. Never cook it past medium, it is so lean it will dry out.
2. Add something acidic to the recipe, be it lemon, sour cream, wine, etc.
3. Serve it warm, if it cools it loses its appeal.
4. Serve it with a starch, tators, rice, noodles, etc.
5. Use some type of fat to keep it from drying out, (I prefer pork:bacon)
6. Cut the meat across the grain and diagionally if possible.
7. Use a little more seasonings than with beef or domesticated critters
Those are to the best of my recall the main things she talked of, and that you could substitute deer for any beef recipe.
Farmin
P.S. I have some deer tenderloins in the fridge thawing as I type this.