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Christmas Morning has arrived in Australia !

stovebolts said:
It’s only gamey if it’s not processed well. The gamey comes from the silver skin. If you take your time and remove the silver skin the gamey taste your talking about goes away. Depending on the cut of meat, removing the silver skin can be time consuming, so most processors don’t remove it.
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The processing is important from the moment it is taken in the field. I actually don't think silver skin has that much flavor at all but the fat certainly does. The silver skin is actually part of the muscle tendons and is very tough. It will make the meat chewy rather than tender even if it is ground with the meat. I actually like a little of it with my jerky because it leaves something to chew on like gum.

Here is my opinion or process if you will.
  1. Field dress it as soon as possible.
  2. Position it to drain as much as can be done. We actually set up a place in the woods near our hunting area to hang them. We hunt about 2 miles into the woods and are are only allowed to use our ATVs after dark or between 11:00am - 1:00pm. If it is warm (over about 40 degrees) we will bring it home during the noon hour to hang it inside a garage, where it stays cooler and out of the sun. If it's colder outside we'll leave it hang in the woods until dark.
  3. Once home, whether at noon or after dark, it's important to skin it right away. Leaving the skin on will impart a stonger gamey flavor and you want the body to cool as quickly as you can to reduce the growth of bad bacteria. Also it is much easier to skin when the carcass is still warm and a lot of the fat will come off with it.
  4. Leave it alone for at least 24 hours to allow rigor mortis to pass. If you process it while it it still stiff, the meat will be tougher. We do this even if it is warm outside. My brother's garage stays relatively cool and having removed the skin, the meat cools to room temperature quickly. If you are concerned about the outer surface drying out, cover it with a thin cloth like a cheese cloth.
  5. Cut it up as you prefer. If you have a walk-in cooler you can wait with this step until after step 7. I usually bone mine out taking as many large chunks of meat as I can for roasts, jerky, canning, etc. along with the trimmings and other meat set aside for grinding. I make chops out of the back straps and steaks from the other larger cuts of meat.
  6. Trim off as much of the fat as you can. Venison fat can have a strong gamey flavor. Processors don't take the time to remove the fat. I stopped at a processing plant once to see about having them grind my trimmed venison. The meat coming out of their grinder was literally white with fat. Thankfully, by the time I brought my meat there, they had already cleaned up but ran mine through quick anyway. Mine came out as red as can be. I bought a cast-iron grinder and grind my own now.
  7. Age the meat for seven to ten days before freezing or grinding. This is very important! Never age the meat by letting it hang in an uncontrolled environment like a garage or other building. Meat should be aged between 34 - 38 degrees Fahrenheit (refrigerator temp). This promotes the growth of desirable bacteria that begin to break down the muscle fibers, which makes the meat more tender. Above 40 degrees and undesirable bacteria will grow which spoils the meat. Below freezing and the aging process stops. If you have access to a walk-in cooler, you can age it before cutting it up. I have an old refrigerator that I use so I place my boned out meat into 5-quart ice cream pails and cover it. I drill holes in the bottom of the pail with the meat in it and place it into another one so the blood can drain into the bottom pail.
  8. There are people that claim aging doesn't do anything. I beg to differ. Even my sausage is more tender when I age the venison first.
  9. One final note about cooking venison. Wild meat is more lean both because it is leaner naturally and because we trim the fat as much as possible. As a result it cooks up fast so low and slow is the name of the game and do not overcook. Overcooked venison will be dry and tough. Venison is best served medium to medium well but never well done unless you slow cook it for hours. Properly aged venison back straps cut to about 1-1/4" thick and grilled medium well (slightly pink) over charcoal with a few wood chips of your liking are moist and tender and dare I say, "Awesome!"
 
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for_his_glory said:
I will eat it if it is not gamey tasting. I had a friend that could take a roast and you would think you were eating beef
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I have never prepared my venison stroganoff and had it rejected....yet. Even my mother-in-law, who will not eat wild meat loved it. My daughters and I just sat down to eat dinner and she came to the house. I invited her to join us. She took two helpings and commented about how good it was. Later, when my wife came home from work, she asked what we had for dinner. Her mother said that we had a stroganoff that was really good. My wife said, "You know, that was venison stroganoff, don't you?" Her mother replied, "I knew there was something wrong with it!" I laughed my butt off on that one.

Here's how I can my venison.
  1. Prepare the pint or quart jars for canning. This can be done by placing them into boiling water. It's most important to have clean jars. They will be pressure canned for 75-90 minutes so bacteria won't stand a chance.
  2. Preheat the lids in boiling water to sterilize them and soften the seals.
  3. I take the cleanest cuts of meat I can find. By cleanest I mean the least amount of fat and silver skin.
  4. Cube it into 3/4" - 1" cubes and pack into clean jars leaving about 1/2" from the top. No added moisture.
  5. Add a beef bouillon cube or about 1 tsp. of bouillon and place the lids on tightly. The amount is for quarts so you can use about half as much in pints.
  6. Place into a pressure canner with the water level about 1/2 way or higher up the side of the jars.
  7. I use a pressure canner with a weighed bobble for 10psi.
  8. Before placing the weighted bobble on the canner, allow steam to escape for a couple minutes to insure all air is exhausted.
  9. Once the weighted bobble is on the canner, wait for the pressure to increase until the weight starts to bobble slightly. This will indicate that the inside of the canner is at about 10psi.
  10. Maintain the heat to keep the weight bobbling gently - 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts.
  11. After the time period, turn off the heat and wait for the canner to cool before storing.
Here's my stroganoff recipe. I actually refer to it as a "Poor man's stroganoff."

Ingredients when using a quart of canned venison:
  • Medium chopped onion.
  • 2 - 3 stalks of chopped celery.
  • 1 - 2 tablespoons butter.
  • 1/2 - 1 cup sliced mushrooms.
  • 2 cans cream of mushroom soup.
  • Quart of canned venison.
  • Pepper to taste.
  • 1/2 - 3/4 cup sour cream.
  • Egg noodles.
  • I don't measure the ingredients. I just go on instinct so the amounts above are more of a starting point and may need some adjustment to suit your own tastes.
Directions.
  • In medium sauce pan sauté the onion and celery in butter until tender.
  • Add the mushrooms and heat through.
  • Add the canned venison including the juice in the jar and heat through.
  • Add the cream of mushroom soup, no added milk, and simmer to blend the flavors. Maybe 20 minutes or so.
  • Pepper to taste.
  • The soup and venison will likely have plenty of salt but you may add as desired.
  • While the stroganoff is simmering cook your egg noodles.
  • Just before serving, add the sour cream to the stroganoff.
Enjoy!

By the way, I have found the leftovers are excellent used for breakfast as a gravy for biscuits topped with eggs cooked over easy or over medium.
 
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WIP said:
I have never prepared my venison stroganoff and had it rejected....yet. Even my mother-in-law, who will not eat wild meat loved it. My daughters and I just sat down to eat dinner and she came to the house. I invited her to join us. She took two helpings and commented about how good it was. Later, when my wife came home from work, she asked what we had for dinner. Her mother said that we had a stroganoff that was really good. My wife said, "You know, that was venison stroganoff, don't you?" Her mother replied, "I knew there was something wrong with it!" I laughed my butt off on that one.

Here's how I can my venison.
  1. Prepare the pint or quart jars for canning. This can be done by placing them into boiling water. It's most important to have clean jars. They will be pressure canned for 75-90 minutes so bacteria won't stand a chance.
  2. Preheat the lids in boiling water to sterilize them and soften the seals.
  3. I take the cleanest cuts of meat I can find. By cleanest I mean the least amount of fat and silver skin.
  4. Cube it into 3/4" - 1" cubes and pack into clean jars leaving about 1/2" from the top. No added moisture.
  5. Add a beef bouillon cube or about 1 tsp. of bouillon and place the lids on tightly. The amount is for quarts so you can use about half as much in pints.
  6. Place into a pressure canner with the water level about 1/2 way or higher up the side of the jars.
  7. I use a pressure canner with a weighed bobble for 10psi.
  8. Before placing the weighted bobble on the canner, allow steam to escape for a couple minutes to insure all air is exhausted.
  9. Once the weighted bobble is on the canner, wait for the pressure to increase until the weight starts to bobble slightly. This will indicate that the inside of the canner is at about 10psi.
  10. Maintain the heat to keep the weight bobbling gently - 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts.
  11. After the time period, turn off the heat and wait for the canner to cool before storing.
Here's my stroganoff recipe. I actually refer to it as a "Poor man's stroganoff."

Ingredients when using a quart of canned venison:
  • Medium chopped onion.
  • 2 - 3 stalks of chopped celery.
  • 1 - 2 tablespoons butter.
  • 1/2 - 1 cup sliced mushrooms.
  • 2 cans cream of mushroom soup.
  • Quart of canned venison.
  • Pepper to taste.
  • 1/2 - 3/4 cup sour cream.
  • Egg noodles.
  • I don't measure the ingredients. I just go on instinct so the amounts above are more of a starting point and may need some adjustment to suit your own tastes.
Directions.
  • In medium sauce pan sauté the onion and celery in butter until tender.
  • Add the mushrooms and heat through.
  • Add the canned venison including the juice in the jar and heat through.
  • Add the cream of mushroom soup, no added milk, and simmer to blend the flavors. Maybe 20 minutes or so.
  • Pepper to taste.
  • The soup and venison will likely have plenty of salt but you may add as desired.
  • While the stroganoff is simmering cook your egg noodles.
  • Just before serving, add the sour cream to the stroganoff.
Enjoy!

By the way, I have found the leftovers are excellent used for breakfast as a gravy for biscuits topped with eggs cooked over easy or over medium.
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As long as it doesn't have a game taste to it I will eat it. Hamburger is good in spaghettis sauce. I do like squirrel and rabbit.
 
for_his_glory said:
As long as it doesn't have a game taste to it I will eat it. Hamburger is good in spaghettis sauce. I do like squirrel and rabbit.
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I've had squirrel stew....too many bones. Had rabbit stew....it was pretty good. Had venison almost every way possible.......my favorites were venison chili and especially venison chicken-fried steaks.
 
daninthelionsden said:
I've had squirrel stew....too many bones. Had rabbit stew....it was pretty good. Had venison almost every way possible.......my favorites were venison chili and especially venison chicken-fried steaks.
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It's rare for Aussies to say they eat venison. I don't think deer exist in Australia anyway.
 
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