Frugal Upstate

Use what you have, get creative and save!

  • Home
  • Cooking
  • DIY
  • Gardening
  • Repairs/Mending
  • Contact
  • About
    • Disclaimer
You are here: Home / General Frugality / Reader’s Question: Cooking Venison

Reader’s Question: Cooking Venison

January 13, 2010 By Jenn @ Frugal Upstate 7 Comments

This post may contain sponsored and/or affiliate links. Click here to read our full disclaimer and find out more about this.

Photo by Maryspics

Photo by Maryspics

Dear Jenn,

I have a Venison question.  Can you tell me how to cook it? My husband keeps getting it from his friend so we have an entire shelf of it in the freezer but I have no idea what to do with it.

Lara

Well Lara, one of the great things about venison is that you can use it in any recipe that calls for beef!   There are a couple of differences that you do need to keep in mind when choosing how to prepare venison.

#1-Venison has more of a “wild” or “gamey” flavor than beef.  I like the flavor myself, but some people are turned off by it.  The amount of “gaminess” you taste varies from deer to deer and depends on the age and eating habits of the animal as well as how quickly it was field dressed.  Until you try the meat you won’t have any way to tell how gamey it is.  If the stronger flavor is unpleasant to you, counteract it by cooking it in something equally as strong, such as a tomato based sauce.  I’ve also heard recommendations to soak the meat in milk overnight-but haven’t tried that method myself.

#2-Venison is extremely lean.  For any type of “dry” cooking method (grilling, roasting, sauteeing) you will need to avoid overcooking and drying it out.  Cook the venison until it is just done or add additional fat such as butter.  For wet methods of cooking (stews, chili’s, braising, etc) this isn’t an issue.

Now on to the cooking itself.  For a “newbie” with venison I’d suggest first getting your family used to the idea of eating it in a dish where the flavor won’t be as noticeable-such as chili.

Next try a very simple preparation that lets the natural flavor shine through-that way you’ll know if your family likes the taste.  Simply sauteeing thin cut steaks in butter and serving with sauteed onions, mushrooms and perhaps brown gravy (I used packaged!) is easy and tasty.

If everyone likes the taste you are golden. If not, then reserve the venison for use in strong sauces & marinades.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maryflickr/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Share on Facebook Share
Share on TwitterTweet
Share on Pinterest Share
Share on LinkedIn Share
Share on Digg Share

Related posts:

  1. Recipe: Venison Parmigiana You all know I am always looking for new and different ways to prepare venison-after all we have a couple...

Filed Under: General Frugality Tagged With: Cooking, Food, venison

Tweet
« A Call for Topics “Intro to Frugal Living”
Recipe: Overnight Crock Pot Oatmeal »

Comments

  1. Robyns Online World says

    January 13, 2010 at 10:16 am

    Lots of deer hunters in my family (not me though), so there is a variety of venison to be cooked. I would add that it depends on the cut of the venison you have too – just like as with beef or pork. The tenderloin of the venison is obviously very tender, while some of the other pieces can be much tougher. Use the same guidelines you would for beef to figure out which cuts are best cooked using which methods.

    Jenn – we use milk to soak it in overnight and really like the change of the flavor.

    Reply
  2. Emily says

    January 14, 2010 at 9:59 am

    I recently acquired some ground venison mixed with buffalo, with some Worcestershire, grated cheese, minced onions, and breadcrumbs, it made delicious burgers.

    Reply
  3. Rachel says

    January 15, 2010 at 8:56 am

    Sounds to me a lot like cooking with goat meat. If that is the case, perhaps a good starting point would be to use it in curries and other Indian/Pakistani/Ethiopian-inspired dishes.

    Reply
    • Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says

      January 15, 2010 at 9:05 am

      Rachel-I personally don’t think the flavor is anywhere near as strong as goat meat. . . Your suggestion is great though-especially for folks who are used to the very mild flavor of beef and find the flavor of wild game to be unpleasant, ethnic dishes such as curries etc would do a great job of masking or balancing out the flavor.

      Reply
  4. Holly says

    January 17, 2010 at 2:09 pm

    We always soaked venison in either buttermilk or salt water for at least an hour, best overnight. Both lower the gameyness, the buttermilk more so- at least to us.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Follow us

  • instagram
  • pinterest
  • twitter
  • facebook
  • rss

About Frugal Upstate

About Frugal Upstate

I’m Jenn –an Upstate NY wife, mom, blogger and veteran. I talk very fast, read constantly, take on too much and make plenty of mistakes. I’m a real person, not perfection. I love to talk about the frugal lifestyle, “Village Homesteading”, living a more sustainable lifestyle and being prepared for all the curves life throws at you.

Search

Free Email Updates:

FEATURED

Contributor at the Homestead Bloggers Network

The Motherboard
Blogger Outreach Made Easy Quantcast
Blog PR Wire Blog Network
Frugal Upstate is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

Copyright © 2025 · Designed by Design Junky · Hosted by New Blog Hosting

Copyright © 2025