"~patches~" > wrote in message
...
> DH called around dinner time last night. The guys got their first deer.
> DH did a fair amount of shooting himself - camera only! I can't wait
> to see the pics and experiment cooking venison. Here's a list of what I
> would like to make - bbq venison steaks, hunter's pie, hunter's stew,
> venison sausage, venison jerky, venison chili, and venison meatloaf.
> It's time to search for a few recipes, not so much for the actual recipe
> but for what herbs and spices go well with venison as well as methods.

Some observations, from my experience with Midwest and Wyoming deer.

Often hunters will improperly prepare the carcass by leaving it out to hang
warm for (and I kid you not) "a few weeks". The carcass needs to be handled
like domestic animals (bled head down, cleaned, cooled) to avoid a "bloody
taste" - or you will be doing a lot of cover-the-taste stewing with extra
bay leaves.

Venison takes on the taste of what the deer ate - mule deer from sagebrush
areas have a "piney" taste, whitetails from corn country are mild. Taste a
meal of the meat before spicing and THEN use your judgment - or you might
get juniper-on-pine flavor.

Venison has a high temperature fat that clings to the top of your mouth if
the meat is not served hot (warmed plate!)

The meat is kind of dry. Thus it benefits from a "wet fat" like butter or
pork fat.

The chops are fried thru (it is wild meat) kind of like pork but not
overcooked and served hot.(I prefer frying it in butter or butter/lard) The
restaurant trick of a bit of clear melted butter brushed on top just before
pulling it from the pan helps
Mint jelly is an excellent "garnish". .

The ground meat needs to have most of the fat removed before grinding, and
suet added in its place, or it ends up kind of oddly dry to the palate.

Dried venison is excellent. We used to have the processor put the carcass
into chops and a couple steaks, have the haunches dried, and the rest
ground. (He shaved the dried for us)

Anything other than chops: trim the fat to minimum and fry it in butter.

Sausages are quite dry - any palatable we had were those where the venison
was mixed with fatty pork. (I always wondered how venison sausage would turn
out with heavy cream/bacon added. Never tried it, though.).

hope it helps.......