a venison/beef pot pie

[Tradslinger]

My family has gotten tired of the taste of venison so I have resorted to some other tactics to make it more tasteful to them. First I soak the venison in cold water in the fridge for about 5 days, changing the bloody water everyday. this is a major thing for them and they love it. For my father, I take it a step further. I save the fat and drippings from any beef that I have smoked. I have begun smoking a tri tip or a brisket, even a roast and then slow cooking them in a big crockpot or slow cooker. I save all of the juices etc from this and then cook the venison in this in a slow cooker. It comes out tasting like beef and my dad puts it away. He also has stomach issues with real beef but can handle this no problem. So today I have a big pot pie with venison prepared this way cooking for my dad. I have even marinated the venison in beef broth for several days to give it a beefier taste for them. I have a few friends that refuse to eat venison but eat this just fine. Still have regular venison on the side but it is about making a meal that they will eat.

[Digital Caveman]

Starting from the field, what is the best way to get venison that tastes good to most people?  I need to know that before I start shooting at deer, or my first will be my last .   

I'm sure Indiana corn feed deer taste different than the acorn munchers here. 

I understand the adrenaline in the blood tastes bad?

Thanks,

[Tradslinger]

to me, it is how much blood is still in the meat. deer that die instantly usually don't bleed out if at all. That is why I prefer bow killed venison because it normally is death by blood loss. some people like the blood in their meat but I don't. of course I am not a liver fan either.

[Hawkdancer]

Trad,
Get the meat bled out, skinned, and cooled as quickly as possible!  Let it hang in a cooler at least 14 days, preferably 21.  Some of the guys have a big enough fridge to cool the meat and allow air circulation.  Add some spirits, such as whiskey or rum to your marinade to help tenderize the meat and bring out (or hide) the flavor! 
Hawkdancer

[Pat B]

Dry aging is what tenderizes and improves the flavor of venison. I've never bled out a deer but after skinning cut it up into major parts, shoulders, hams, spine with meat attached, neck, etc. I have an old refrigerator that I place the meat on the frig racks so they don't touch each other and all pieces have good, all around air circulation and leave it in the e for 10 to 14 days. After that period of time the meat has skinned over and this has to be remover(basically jerky) and the meat under is tender with no gamey taste.
 My favorite venison recipe is with the back strap. I remove this from the spine and make 4 pieces from it. I rub one piece with olive oil, salt and pepper it and sear it on all 4 sides in a cast iron skillet. When that's done it goes in a 350 deg over for 15 minutes. After that I take the meat out of the skillet to rest while I prepare a pan sauce. I first deglaze the pan with beef broth, add a shot of bourbon and a shot of heavy cream and reduce. Then I cut the back strap into medallions, pour any juices in the sauce, stir and serve with oven roasted potatoes a veg and a green salad. This stuff is so good it will make you slap your grandma. 

[JW_Halverson]

Dry aging is what tenderizes and improves the flavor of venison. I've never bled out a deer but after skinning cut it up into major parts, shoulders, hams, spine with meat attached, neck, etc. I have an old refrigerator that I place the meat on the frig racks so they don't touch each other and all pieces have good, all around air circulation and leave it in the e for 10 to 14 days. After that period of time the meat has skinned over and this has to be remover(basically jerky) and the meat under is tender with no gamey taste.
 My favorite venison recipe is with the back strap. I remove this from the spine and make 4 pieces from it. I rub one piece with olive oil, salt and pepper it and sear it on all 4 sides in a cast iron skillet. When that's done it goes in a 350 deg over for 15 minutes. After that I take the meat out of the skillet to rest while I prepare a pan sauce. I first deglaze the pan with beef broth, add a shot of bourbon and a shot of heavy cream and reduce. Then I cut the back strap into medallions, pour any juices in the sauce, stir and serve with oven roasted potatoes a veg and a green salad. This stuff is so good it will make you slap your grandma. 

What Pat just described is classic high French cuisine called Steak Chateaubriand and typically is supposed to weigh a pound and a quarter to a pound and a half, sufficient to feed two healthy appetites. Early chefs found that this size allowed a good balance between a nicely browned exterior that remains moist with a perfect interior of medium rare. Any larger and the outside is dried out before the center reachees proper temp and any smaller and it overcooks quickly.

ALWAYS rest that cut under tented foil for 10-15 minutes or it will end up running all the juices out onto the cutting board when you slice at the table. I have always wanted to do this for the folks in my Primitive Archer Turkey Camp, but I never have any venison tenderloin left by that time of year!

[Tradslinger]

well, don't have cooler to hang anything in. and it is usually pretty warm here when I hunt. the old fridge idea sounds pretty good if I had one and that sounded really good on those straps. Have only been able to hang a deer once or twice and had to get it high enough so that the coyotes couldn't get to it. Also have to deal with the bears a lot around here, shot one off my porch years ago with my bow.

[JW_Halverson]

well, don't have cooler to hang anything in. and it is usually pretty warm here when I hunt. the old fridge idea sounds pretty good if I had one and that sounded really good on those straps. Have only been able to hang a deer once or twice and had to get it high enough so that the coyotes couldn't get to it. Also have to deal with the bears a lot around here, shot one off my porch years ago with my bow.

I am pretty lucky here. By the time deer season arrives, the garage stays just above freezing and I can hang them in there for 10 days or longer if the mood strikes. Except that one particularly miserably cold winter where the last doe froze solid the night she was hung and I had to bring her in to stand in the shower for 3 days until she thawed enough to cut up. Three days at 62 degrees to get her thawed....that fur coat she wore really insulated well!

[Tradslinger]

my grandfather had told me several times of hanging a doe high up in a tree after it had been skinned. There was no refrigeration back then but the cold wind up higher chilled the meat very well. He said that the outside turned almost black but they would lower it down and cut off some meat and then raise it back up high again. He claimed that it lasted almost a month back then. this was around 1910 or so. back then and even into the early 50s, any meat was a big thing around here.

[Digital Caveman]

Neither of those last two scenarios would fly well around my house.

[Hawkdancer]

JW,
I wondered what happened to the fine dining set-up!    The main fare was par excellence, though!  Hope to make another hunt camp someday!
Hawkdancer