Using Venison

Using Venison- The Basics

When we were first given Venison, I was not sure what to do with it, so we started out making Venison Jerky in the dehydrator, using ground venison, mashed flat, cut into strips. These were a HUGE hit. We added a small amount of the venison jerky to our "goodies gift baskets" at Christmas and folks loved it.

Since then we have received it and I was often sceptical or worried about trying it because I heard it was hard to prepare, dry, gamey, or whatever. Here is what I have learned about cooking with venison. It is very lean, so when you prepare it, you need to add liquid or fat. I usually just mix it half and half with beef. If you do this, you can use it in any beef recipe where the meat is just mixed in, like tacos, spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes (use it with a can of Manwich), hamburger helper or casserole types of dishes. You can also use it in patties or in meatloaf, but you will need additional ingredients to help it hold together well.

If you use venison steaks, you MUST marinade them, or they will be hard or stringy. You can marinade them for 48 hours in the fridge. Check my website, www.homemaking911.com for some meat marinades. An easy one is the beef marinade from the 30 Day Gourmet Cookbook. You can see this cookbook on our store page, http://store.homemaking911.com, but be sure you let them marinade for 48 hours.

If you use venison roasts, this will be super easy. Get a bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce. Put the roast in your crock pot. If is it a small one, you can even put it in there frozen. Cover it in your favorite barbecue sauce. Let it cook on low all day. At dinnertime, shred it apart with a fork, or cut it in small chunks to make a yummy barbecue. If you see any of the "Silver" in your meat, you may want to slice that off. It can be a little unpleasant.

Those are the only way I have prepared Venison. A friend of mine has a terrific stroganoff recipe that she absolutely loves, but it calls for some sherry or dry wine or some ingredient like that which I do not usually have here, so I never got around to trying it.

If you have a lot of ground venison you need to use quickly, make a huge batch of Chili and use half beef, half venison and freeze it for future meals. Be sure you freeze it in family sized portions. You can also just brown a whole big batch of ground venison, cool it, then put it in a freezer bag. Every time you use beef, add a scoop of the ground venison to it. That will stretch your beef further and you will not waste all that good healthy meat!

One more thing I should have added is this: If your husband is hunter, he is doing exactly what God designed our husbands to do. He is providing real, valuable meat for your family's table. Make sure your children (and you) honor and respect him for it. Teach them to be truly appreciative of Dad's efforts in this area. Healthy, grass fed, hormone free, antibiotic free, processing free meat costs TONS these days at the grocery, and learning to use this cut of meat creatively will truly bless your family. GO ahead and use sauces and things if necessary to make it useful and palatable to your family, and work on every one's hearts in the meantime to be sure you are showing your husband the utmost respect for his contributions to your freezer. Happy Homemaking from homemaking911.com

Malia Russell is the owner and director of http://www.homemaking911.com The number one word homemakers use to describe themselves is overwhelmed. Women have a yearning to create a home, a place of beauty, order, comfort and peace. However the compulsion to do it right often collides with feelings of guilt, inadequacy and frustration.

http://www.homemaking911.com is meant to encourage you. There you will find resources to help in many aspects of home management and home education, being a godly wife and mother, and becoming the type of woman God is calling you to be.

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