Deer hunter cooking

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PhuBai68
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Deer hunter cooking

Post by PhuBai68 » Tue Nov 10, 2020 4:07 pm

Ah!
Cooking!
If you're a deer hunter I have a couple ground beef/venison - ground pork/venison recipes.
1st'ly I do my own butchering and grinding.
The only time I ever had any of my deer processed was taking 13½ lbs of pure de-silvered meat to a German butcher who would turn it into 30 lbs of "deer dogs" which just shows "how much" fat and filler are in hot dogs.

When I'd grind my meat I would try to mix about 50/50 on beef and venison, with the pork maybe 60/40 or so since the pork has a higher fat content.
As I'd bag my meat in vacuum sealed bags for freezer storage I'd try to get about 1¼± lbs of meat per package for making tacos, meatballs or meatloaf - I used to also use in Hamburger Helper but my wife complained, "too much sodium in that crap" so even though I like some of those offerings, no more.

For the meatballs (either beef/venison or the pork mix) and for the meatloaf a package of each.
It's basic - seasoned bread crumbs, grated parmesan/Romano, egg(s), some minced onion/garlic, green bell & red peppers for the meatballs with the "kicker" after making your nice big round meatballs poke your finger about halfway through each one, then insert a piece of mozzarella cheese and reform back to round.
Brown in olive oil around evenly then finish cooking by slowly simmering in your favorite pasta sauce.

Meatloaf is the same (minus mozzarella) EXCEPT I use a package of each mixture, mix in about a half cup (more or less, eyeballing) of shredded taco cheese, add a half can of Hunt's Tomato Sauce, form loaf, make a crease down the loaf filling with more taco cheese and pouring the remaining Hunt's sauce over top of loaf and into the oven.
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Grimork
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Re: Turkey Meatloaf Burgers

Post by Grimork » Tue Nov 10, 2020 7:30 pm

Lol wow! Sounds pretty good Phubai. I don't like most vegetables, but all that cheese and meat sure sounds tasty.

Deer dogs caught my interest. Wish my husband would take up hunting; I love venison AND hotdogs. Fresh hotdogs sounds even better.

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PhuBai68
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Re: Turkey Meatloaf Burgers

Post by PhuBai68 » Wed Nov 11, 2020 2:01 pm

I perused through my photos and found a few to post here as a follow up.
One of the grinding process.
The other of the finished meatballs.
I'll do another post on other "the looked down upon" parts of the deer that are delicious.
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grinding.jpg
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It's not diversity, it's displacement.

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PhuBai68
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Re: Turkey Meatloaf Burgers

Post by PhuBai68 » Wed Nov 11, 2020 2:19 pm

The "Looked Down Upon" parts of the deer that are super delicious "IF" prepared correctly.

That would be the neck, the shanks (especially the rear ones) and the shoulders (which is "why" I always try to avoid shooting for the front shoulders, always right behind) which are excellent roasts and stews.
I find with these tough cuts that a day in the crockpot (Progresso French Onion soup, beef broth, Knorr's Sauerbraten mix all work well) all day after being seared in bacon fat (or olive oil), let rest overnight then turned back on next morning with root vegetables added and last hour or so add the peas or string beans or whatever.
Can be thickened with either Pillsbury Wondra or corn starch slurry.

Everyone raves about the backstraps and somewhat the hindquarters but cooked long and slow the less desirable cuts actually we prefer.

Below are a shank stew and a shoulder roast.

My wife doesn't want me to try for a deer (haven't harvested one since 2017) saying it's too much work field dressing, dragging, skinning, quartering, butchering and grind for my old destroyed back - I'm thinking, "What the hell, the aches will go away."
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shank stew.jpg
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shoulder.jpg
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bwhelan91
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Re: Deer hunter cooking

Post by bwhelan91 » Sun Feb 14, 2021 12:45 am

I had deer meat for the first time in November. A neighbor killed a deer & offered us some! 2 roasts and a back strap. I hadn't made the roast yet, im unsure what to really do.. But the backstraps were amazing!! We beat it w/ a hammer & it was to die for! :o

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White Man 1
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Re: Deer hunter cooking

Post by White Man 1 » Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:51 am

That's pretty generous of your neighbor. The backstraps are coveted meat. Take that roast and trim any silver skin, then braise in the oven at about 285 for 8 hours or so. Use a good mix of vegetables, savory spices and some stock. By the time it's done you should have some super tender and flavorful meat. Boil up some potatoes, bake a nice loaf of bread, you got supper!

bwhelan91
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Re: Deer hunter cooking

Post by bwhelan91 » Wed Feb 17, 2021 12:41 pm

That sounds phenomenal! Thanks for the tip.
What about in a crock pot??

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PhuBai68
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Re: Deer hunter cooking

Post by PhuBai68 » Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:24 pm

bwhelan91 wrote:
Wed Feb 17, 2021 12:41 pm
What about in a crock pot??
A crock pot is excellent.
I find either a shoulder roast, the leg shanks or neck meat cut into stew size pieces seared (saved bacon or breakfast sausage fat works great) then put in the crock on low for hours with either beef broth & chopped onion, Knorr's Sauerbraten mix (if you can find it) or a can of Progresso French onion soup then let rest overnight.
Turn the crock back on and add your root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, turnip, whatever) and maybe an hour or so before dinner add the other veggies like peas, string beans, corn niblets.
Take some broth out to cool when doing this so later you mix in either Wondra flour or corn starch making a slurry to mix into your crock to thicken the liquid.
Good luck!

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bwhelan91
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Re: Deer hunter cooking

Post by bwhelan91 » Thu Feb 18, 2021 2:29 pm

Thank you! I'll be useing this recipe soon and will surely let you know how it turned out!!!!

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PhuBai68
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Re: Deer hunter cooking

Post by PhuBai68 » Sat Nov 27, 2021 4:24 pm

The last deer I took was the 2017 fall season, a decent sized buck.
I vacuum seal (Food Saver) my cuts and we had the last of in sometime in 2020 - the ground venison/pork mixture I believe.

I decided I'd try for a deer this season.
Nothing special - a nice doe, a yearling buck or if a decent racked buck showed for sure!
Now the trouble is I gave my deer rifle to my son so now I'm limited to my "when TSHTF" rifles OR my NJ rifled barrel shotgun which I decided on.
I did an online search for sabot slugs and "Nope!", no one has them.
Luckily I had three boxes (15 rounds total) of them from my NJ hunting days (maybe 18-19 years ago at least) but I've I've had the scoped cantilever barrel off with the smoothbore barrel on for turkey seasons (while living in a rifle deer hunting state "why" bother with a shotgun?) so had no idea "where" my slug would hit?
I fired one slug at approximately 27 yards that hit about an inch low and ½" to the right.
Went up two clicks and left one and not wasting any more irreplaceable slugs.
Now here's the rub - I had shoulder surgery and can NOT hold the shotgun up, just can't!
I have to rest it on something - which I did.

Long story short is I took a nice sized mature doe on the late afternoon of the 23rd.
I skinned her and quartered and into my big cooler with plenty frozen jugs on 24th.
Butchered all but the hindquarters on Thanksgiving and found out no quart Food Saver bags.
No way in hell I'm going shopping on black Friday for Food Saver bags so went this morning plus bought six pounds of ground beef, three of pork and two chubs of breakfast sausage for making my various mixtures.
Today got the meat off the quarters and made a bunch of "steakums" - really good for making "bucky cheese steaks".
Tomorrow I grind.
I've been rotating the frozen jugs and "WOW!" is that meat ever cold, fantastic cooler.

You know you're getting old when it takes this many days to process a deer, I used to do it all in one day.
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deer 1.jpg
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It's not diversity, it's displacement.

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