Noticed a lot of the recipes here call for venison. I have a bad history with venison.
I grew up the son of a policeman in Idaho with four hungry kids. I grew up on venison cooked by a mom who didn't know how to prepare it and a dad who threw everything into a big pot, added lentils and beans, and then used Tabasco sauce to make it edible. We couldn't afford beef, except for hamburger. And that was quickly mixed into Hamburger Helper to maximize the expense.
I grew up not liking steak because all I had ever had was tough, gamey, horrible venison steaks. Had some elk, but it was still gamey and tough.
I met and married a beautiful redhead in Iowa in which our first official date was coming to her parent's house for charcoal grilled rib eye beef steak, homemade bread, and fresh corn on the cob. I had never had a rib eye steak before, and my date didn't understand my appreciation for the meal being served.
I asked for steak sauce and you'd think I had just molested their daughter on the kitchen table from the looks I got.
I tried a bit of that rib eye and thought I had just died and gone to heaven. It was unbelievably delicious!! It was like butter and the flavor was indescribably awesome!
I finished the rest of that steak a changed man. I was now a steak man. I loved steak. I now appreciated a good steak. I researched steak. I learned how to cook a good steak properly and learned that corn fed beef in Iowa produces some amazingly flavorful and tender steaks available from the nearest Fareway grocery store meat department.
I eventually moved back to Idaho but brought back my new knowledge of what steak should taste like.
I still hunted, however, and my dad and brothers hunted and we killed numerous elk and deer. They processed their deer and elk and bear and over the years have developed a deep love of summer sausage, jerky, breakfast sausage, burger, roasts, and various cuts of meat from their kills.
I have not...
I moved across the border to Washington state a couple of years ago. Due to ridiculous hunting laws, I have resigned to simply accompanying my dad and remaining brother on their big game hunts. My last buck shot in Idaho was in 2013. It was a big-bodied but tiny antlered buck coming out of a recently harvested garbanzo bean field. My dad and I skinned, quartered, and nearly entirely processed him on the spot. Dad finished sorting him into burger, steaks, and roasts back in his garage. That was the most delicious deer I have ever tasted!
The roasts from that deer were like beef. The steaks, though not beef level, were still quite palatable when cut into strips and used in fajitas. The hamburger was readily used in taco and enchilada recipes. It was my last official venison for many years and it was uncommonly edible.
Still... I find most venison simply awful. I can stomach elk in burger and roast form, but not steaks.
My dad shot a moose last year and that thing has produced some absolutely amazing hamburger and tough, but flavorful steaks.
Some of the elk summer and breakfast sausage I got from my brother has been reasonably good, but overall, I would much rather eat beef over any wild game. Which is too bad since last year we stored away over 900lbs of elk and moose in our freezers. I use a lot of moose burger, and used all of the roasts from my deer, but I just can't stomach venison in burger, steak, or even back strap form...
|
   
   
|
|
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by NSB
