Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Cook & Prepare Deer Meat

Substitute deer meat in ground beef recipes. Deer meat is a healthy alternative to beef. Venison is a lean cut of meat. Because of its leanness, the meat must be marinated to decrease its toughness and add flavor. It is essential not to overcook deer meat because it dries out easily. Grilling is the preferred cooking method, but not the only one.


Instructions


Prepare and Grill Deer Steaks


1. Remove any fat from the steaks. Cut the deer steaks across the grain. Trim the visible fat on the steaks with a sharp knife, and discard the fat.


2. Prepare the marinade for the deer steaks. Marinating the deer steaks helps tenderize the meat. Combine the oil, soy sauce, ketchup, lemon juice, vinegar, pepper and garlic powder in a mixing bowl. Add the deer steaks. Marinate the venison steaks overnight, or for at least eight hours in the refrigerator.


3. Place the steaks on a preheated grill. Cook the steaks under direct heat on the grill.


4. Create grill marks on the deer steaks. Once the steaks cook for two minutes, rotate the steaks 90 degrees. Cook the steaks for an additional two minutes before flipping them. Turn the deer steaks only once while they are cooking on the grill.


5. Continue to cook each side for four minutes. Grill the deer meat until the steak is medium to medium rare to prevent drying the meat out, or grill the steaks until they no longer appear limp when picked up with tongs.


Prepare and Cook Ground Deer Meat


6. Marinate the ground deer meat. Add 1 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of milk for every lb. of deer meat. This mixture will help remove the "gamey" taste. It also helps tenderize the meat. Refrigerate the meat for six hours while it is marinating.


7. Combine ground pork to the ground deer meat. Use a 2 to 1 ratio when adding the ground pork. Using ground pork adds fat content to the venison. Since venison is a lean meat, the ground pork helps bind the meat together to add texture and stability.








8. Cook the ground venison. Use the same cooking methods as you would for ground beef. Substitute the venison for ground beef in any recipe. The venison mixture will be healthier.


9. Season the ground venison with the same seasonings as ground beef. Try not to add too much salt to the venison because the salt will dry the venison out faster while it is cooking.


10. Freeze any leftover ground deer meat. Deer meet tends to spoil faster than beef. Refrigerate the venison for no longer than two days, and then discard the meat or place it in an airtight freezer container.

Tags: deer steaks, ground beef, ground pork, Cook steaks, deer meat