Deer meat ideas

[Hedgelj]

So after you shoot a deer what do you do with all the meat?

Loins and belly straps = grilled as steaks
Roasts = if a young deer may make some additional steaks
Otherwise I break the hind quarters into major muscle groups and make jerky out of them. The rest of the deer gets chunked and ground up into burger that I mix with pork fat. I am beginning to experiment with that for venison sausage now that I have access to a smoker.

I know some people can the deer meat and would love to hear not only how you do it but what you do with the meat afterwards. My main complaint about cooking with venison is that it has such a low amount of fat and connective tissue in it that it is very easy to make touch and does not do well with some of the cooking methods I love for beef like braising.

I want to do more with my deer meat but want some suggestions and ideas.

 

[Mike R]

We can most of our deer meat, you have to pressure cook it for 90 minutes at 10 psi. Hot water bath won't work. We put an onion slice,two beef bullion cubes and a clove of garlic in the bottom of the jar. Fill to 3/4 inch head space with cubed meat, polar some beef broth in it and remove the air between the cubes of meat.
We use it for chili, stew, fajitas, BBQ,vegetable soup, I've even used it in hamburger helper. When you pour it out of the jar it falls apart just as tender as you would imagin. It tastes as good a year later,no freezer burn or such. Has a slight onion garlic flavor to it. The beef bullion just seems to add a little salt. When it's in the jar it does kind of look like dog food. Hope this helps.

 

[brock ratcliff]

If you like steak, and grilling steak in particular, cut any of the hind quarters into steaks. Marinade them in an olive oil mixture for a day or two before preparing and you can grill it as you would any beef steak without worry of it drying out. The first time I had venison like this I knew it came from a BIG old buck and assumed the meat would be tough and dry. I was wrong, it was some of the best venison I'd ever had!

 

[Carpn]

Canning is a awesome way to use deer . Follow the previous recommended method and uses . Canned meat makes the best vegetable or beef and barley soup you'll ever eat .

 

[Diane]

I just finished up canning my batches today. (Broke a jar, dammit)

I plan to use it in stew and BBQ's. I also have a lady that cans all of their deer meat and she is suppose to be getting me recipes for what she uses it in.

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

We typically cut ours up into tenderloins, steaks, stew meat, and ground. I have found myself using more ground than the other 2 cuts so probably will try to do more of that this year.

 

[Diane]

I have found myself using more ground than the other 2 cuts

If I had to choose only one thing, it would be grind. I use it in everything......meat loaf, spaghetti, taco's, yada, yada. It's been a long time since I've used hamburger.

Matter of fact, when my parents were in, we had a family gathering and I made sloppy joes with hamburger since my one daughter won't eat deer meat (though she does hunt, go figure) and I couldn't eat it. I thought it tasted nasty.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I get my bucks done loins left whole, the rest ground and mixed with pork fat. I kill my does late season and like to quarter them and leave them whole so I can do whatever I want with them later on. If I don't do that, I'll take them to the processor and get some sticks, sausage, etc made.

 

[Beentown]

Back straps (whole)
Catfish loins (whole)
Roasts (very few as I prefer it canned)
Chunked Roasts (for shi kabobs and bacon wraps, etc...)
Jerky
Grind
Canned

The grind I leave as is until needed. I buy pork fat trimmings and natural casings from Carfagnas and make sausages. The rest gets made into tacos, chili spaghetti, etc...(2 lbs is what I pack it with FS bags).

Above was spot on with my canning recipe. Some I add chili powder and green chilies too for enchiladas and chili.

Dang, I need to shoot a doe tomorrow.

 

[badger]

If I had to choose only one thing, it would be grind. I use it in everything......meat loaf, spaghetti, taco's, yada, yada. It's been a long time since I've used hamburger.

Matter of fact, when my parents were in, we had a family gathering and I made sloppy joes with hamburger since my one daughter won't eat deer meat (though she does hunt, go figure) and I couldn't eat it. I thought it tasted nasty.

Diane's venison sloppy joes are killer!

 

[Diane]

Diane's venison sloppy joes are killer!

Thank you!

 

[Big_Holla]

When I butcher deer I try to get as many steaks out of all the parts of meat I can, otherwise it goes into a grinding pile. The backstraps are always whole and cut in chunks about 8-10 inches long. Hind quarters any of the big meat parts that I can separate stay whole as well. Just makes for a great steak slab wrapped in bacon of course and thrown on the grill. The smaller steaks we often use for deer stew done in the crock pot with onion soup mix. Oh and some of those small steaks get cut up a bit for deer ballz....jalapeno filled w/ cream cheese and wrapped in bacon!! Thanks Curran...you created a monster with that one!!

 

[Buckmaster]

My butcher cuts:
Tenderloins- Whole
Back Straps- leave whole and cut down into 4-6 depending on size. Best grilled as whole, hot, and fast. Cook to medium; pink on the inside.
Front shoulders- Grind
Rear Quarters- separate meat muscles and keep the flat portions whole for roasts/steaks/jerky. Cube the balance for stew cubes. Any remaining gets ground.
Belly meat- Grind if its clean
Ribs- I usually discard.

 

[DJK Frank 16]

I usually try to put two deer in the freezer a year. First deer I take the tenderloins and back straps out for steaks or leave whole and the rest goes to a local butcher shop for summer sausage. That's enough sausage for us for the whole year (just ate last half stick a week ago).

If I am fortunate enough to take a second deer, same process for loins and straps, but I will take out a roast or two as well as some ground meat (don't use a whole lot of ground), and the rest goes back to the butcher shop for jerky and snack sticks.

 

[Redhunter1012]

Backstraps and loins left whole. Older deer I separate roasts and vacuum seal those, as they can be used for jerky, stew, ground up later if need be. Smaller deer I will steak out some of the hind leg roast's. Now that Dad gave me the big homemade smoker, I may try saving up a bunch of ribs and smoking them. The rest of the deer I will usually grind up. I do like to keep the neck roast's for the crockpot.

 

[dante322]

It depends on if it a young deer, a doe or an old buck

I always pull the backstraps, one I leave whole, the other I cut into butterflies'

The inner loins are always kept whole

The upper rear leg gets deboned. If its a youngun or a doe, I take the top round of as a roast, and slice the remainder of the ham into steaks. I dont seperate the muscles, just hold them all together and slice through them against the grain. looks kinda like a ribeye.
If its a buck, i seperate the sirloin and cut it into chops, and use the rest for jerkey.

The lower leg is for grind. I have seperated it into muscles and sliced it for jerkey, but it is a lot of work to get all the silver skin out.

The flanks, neck and rib meat are grind. just make sure to get the thick tendon at the base of the neck out. It will clog a grinder pretty quick.

The upper front leg is typically turned into jerkey, but also makes a nice roast.

the lower front leg is grind

The shoulder is usually deboned and made into jerkey, but it also makes a nice roast.

I usually package steaks 2 to a package, wrapped in plastic, then freezer paper.
jerkey meat and grind is normally packed into gallon size freezer bags and frozen till I get a chance to deal with it. Just be sure to push out as much air as you can before you seal the bag. I like to leave the bone in the roasts. dont cut into it though, the marrow is what most people think is "gamey" just seperate the bones at the joints.