Life’s good

[baboon]

Venison & bacon stew with cornbread. On my second big gulp Bloody Mary IMG_4301.jpg IMG_4302.jpg

[Johnny]

I'm jealous! You're quite the cook. Today I grilled some simple pork steaks (my specialty). I burn hard wood. Burn it down to coals. Throw on 4 pork steaks for about 15 minutes, flipping every 5 minutes. Then I uncover the grill and let the temperature creep up. I brush on the BBQ sauce and flip. The sauce needs to be slightly burned on. Once this is accomplished, it's done.

[baboon]

Where I live the very best place to eat is 30 minutes away at the cattle sales barn. Anything really different it an hour away in Waco. Before making the stew I smoked the latest batch of buckboard bacon.

[4thIDvet]

Looks great boon. Your lucky the local tourist restaurants around here suck and that is putting it lightly. I would rather eat WWII K rations and I ain't kidden..

[Johnny]

By coincidence, my wife just took a hunk of venison out of the freezer. In the next few days I'll be trying some new recipe. Half the fun is picking one out.

Last time, I tried a trick that worked. I soaked venison chunks in sparkling water. It made it a lot more tender. Any body else try this?

[4thIDvet]

I am not really a fan of venison. But Elk we had a freezer full in Colorado when I worked in the mountains. Guys I worked with all hunted and they had a ton of elk meat they brought to work. Elk and buffalo is about the best meat I ever ate.
Mornings going up the ski lift the elk were all down below us eating the grass. One elk moved in with a nearby ranchers cows and just stayed for the winter. Dang thing became one of the cows had its own stall the whole 9 yards. Became his odd cow and he would shuffle it into the barn just like one of the cows.

[baboon]

Elk is venison. So much of the taste has to do with how it was processed. Throwing a deer on ice should be avoided. Hanging venison at the right temp is hows its done. I doubt you would even know my stew was anything but very tasty. Spices are key to flavoring venison also.

[Johnny]

When I shot my last deer (Opening Day 2025), the weather was warm and coyotes were everywhere. I rushed to process it as fast as I could out in the woods hanging from a tree. In the end, it turned out OK. The cuts weren't perfect; far from it. Didn't really matter.

I experimented with the meat. Simply grilling chunks wasn't that great. The meat would turn out tough and dry. Roasts were about the same. Ground meat was no problem: just like ground beef. Slow cooking in a crock pot for 8 hours worked great. Super tender. No gamy flavor.

I see three levels of venison:

1. Back straps. Every bit as good as the highest quality beef.
2. Chunks. Cook in a crock pot for 8 hours minimum. Any recipe will do. You won't be disappointed.
3. Ground. Use it just like hamburger. No difference. Enjoy.

[mrkalashnikov]

That grub looks great!