It is deer season and my oldest son brought home an eight-point buck last week.  He is very proud to be able to provide some meat for our family.  A neighbor has already given us one of his deer.  Two to three deer can help feed our family year-round.  We do not eat venison daily, but we do enjoy it in many different ways.

My husband loves to make sausage.  His favorite is link sausage and mine is pan sausage so he makes both.  With pan sausage, you can make breakfast patties.  I love to use it instead of ground beef in lasagna, meatballs, and spaghetti with meat sauce.  Venison is so lean that Lane combines it with pork.

Because of the lack of fat, my husband injects the venison ham with melted butter and wraps it up tight with heavy duty foil before he smokes a venison ham on his pit.  Smoked venison ham is delicious.  It will last us a few days.

We also cut the shoulder or ham into thin slices.  I pound them out with the bottom of a glass.  We like to grill these slices with jalapenos and cream cheese wrapped in bacon.  They are simply delicious.  They make a good appetizer or dinner depending on how many you make.

We cut the backstrap and tenderloin into palm-sized slices.  We fry them as chicken-fried steak and serve it with mashed potatoes and cream gravy.  This is my family’s favorite dinner.  I included both the grilled venison popper, chicken-fried steak, and cream gravy recipes in my cookbook, Texas Homesteader Wheat-Free Cookbook.  I know that you will enjoy them.

At times we have smoked venison ribs, but that is my least favorite way to eat this healthy meat.  We grind up whatever is left and combine it with beef fat to make ground venison.  You use it just like any ground beef.  Make venison burgers, tacos, meatloaf, etc.  Venison is very versatile.

Some people wrinkle their noses when they hear the word venison.  They usually think two things.  One that venison is gamey and two that it is tough.  It can be, if you do not properly handle the meat and process it correctly.  Guests at our house are usually surprised that they are eating venison because it is neither of the two things.

You must gut the deer as soon as possible.  This is mandatory!  My husband and boys quarter the deer and put it on ice for at least one week.  This ensures that the meat will bleed out.  Every morning Lane drains the cooler and adds more ice.  Then we process the meat for consumption.  We weigh out the sausage and ground venison.  Then, we either use our food saver or wrap the meat in white butcher paper.

When I was a little girl, the show “Dallas” was really popular.  I remember one episode towards the end of the show when JR went deer hunting in Arkansas.  He tied the deer to the hood of his car and drove back to Dallas.  It is so ridiculous!  He could not have used the meat or the hide.  You would think that the show’s writers would have done just a little research.  Whatever you do, do not model JR’s treatment of the deer.

Since deer are wild animals, they are not given antibiotics, growth hormones, steroids, or any other additives.  They live in the wild with the occasional hunter feeding them some corn.  Consequently, venison is very lean and low in cholesterol.  Venison is an excellent source of iron, zinc, vitamin B3, B6, and B12 as well as riboflavin.  If you don’t believe me, click here for venison’s nutritional facts.

Take advantage of deer season to harvest your own meat.  Venison is very healthy to eat and versatile to prepare.  Venison is a great red meat.

Tags: deer season, healthy red meat, preparing venison, processing deer, Texas Homesteader Wheat-Free Cookbook, venison, venison recipes, wild game

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 5:58 am and is filed under Food Allergies, Homesteading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.