Gamey taste

[Ben Connors]

My wife hates the gamey taste in venison. Sad I know. My brother in law gave me a good tip. Just soak the meat in water. Plain old water for an hour or so. It takes the gameyness right out. I love venison anyway you cook it but I tell you soaking the meat works. My wife even asks for venison now.

[NYBuckhunter]

The main reason why some venison tastes gamey is from the way it was processed. There are many processors out there that will saw through the bones before they remove the meat from them, this causes the bone marrow blood to get into the meat, which gives it a stronger gamey taste. The processor I have always used gets all of the meat off of the bones before he cuts any of them, and when I get my venison, it never tastes gamey at all. I am going to start cutting up my own deer this year, and will not cut any bones until all of the meat is off.

[Brow Tine]

I have also soaked venison in buttermilk before to get rid of the gamey taste..it also seems like it tenderizes it more.

[Bowhunters]

I've heard people say that part of it is what the deer are eating, that a deer that has crops to eat, corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa won't taste nearly as gamey as deer that have to live just on grass and weeds, tree bark in the winter, etc.

Deer meat is very lean as i'm sure we all know but the deer's fat has a very unpleasant taste also compaired to beef fat, so when cooking deer steaks, roasts, its important to trim all the fat off the meat that is possible.

Also ask your processor to trim as much fat off the deer as possible and on deerburger meat you may need to add some fat so it will stick together to make patties. Have them use beef fat instead of using deer fat that they have trimmed off your deer.

[ironhead]

In my experience there is a cumulation of things that can make deer meat taste gamey.

Food,,,acorns make it taste terrible,,,grain fed deer are much better
Bullet placement,,,gut shots can be terrible,,wash it out immediatly
scent glands,,remove tarsal glands immediatly after kill
Hair,,get as much off as possible
Fat,,,trim as lean as you can
Bones,NEVER CUT BONE in areas you intend to eat
glands,,trim as many out as you can find, particularly hind quarters
I like to mix atleast 10% beef fat in my burger while processing.
I marinate all my loins and roasts over night in smokey mesquite, garlic, season salt.
NEVER OVERCOOK I slow cook the tenderloins and roasts,,,it will melt apart.

[BuckeyBuckhunter]

Deer is not cow.
SISSYS

[cbriarrabbit]

I respectively dissagree with Ironhead. After a deer heart stops there is no more movement from their secent glands.

You should always use pork fat to mix with your burger. Beef Fat does not absorb any seasonings you put on.

A good thing to add to burger is pork shoulder.

[ironhead]

Briar,,,i dont take offense to a disagreement at all, but there is still fluid movement in the body after the heart stops. Thats one reason why we hang them up, to drain as much of the fluids out as possible. If you see a carcass that is laid flat on the ground the blood will pool to the down side.

[cbriarrabbit]

Had a friend that waited 5 1/2 hours to feild dress it. Then it layed on it's side another l8 hours before he brought it to us to butcher. Needless to say it spoiled the whole deer.

[osprey572]

I have often considered processing my own deer. We used to bone all the meat and take it all to the butcher and have it all made into sausage. We were unaware of how good the rest of the cuts could be at that time. Now we take the whole deer to the meat locker and have them make as many steaks, chops as they can and add some sausage and jerky to our order. The problem is that you have to trust that you are getting your same deer back, and that they give you back everything you deserve. So i was wondering if there are any good publications regarding how to butcher a deer so that i can get the right cuts out of the animal w/o making a mess out of the meat and ruining it?

[markfromLI]

Youtube has an amaing video 4 parts long 45 minutes or so of how to process whitetail.. the video taught me a lot and I learned from a butcher how to butcher.

Whitetail processing is a bit different due to the meat being a lot tougher then beef, pork or lamb. Check it out and let me know what you think.

[backwoodsman]

We process our own deer, 50+ between 3 families a year. I cut the tarsal glands off but alot of our hunting partners dont. Im traditional and was taught that way. most make a mess out of it and get tarsal all over the deer trying to field dress it afterwards, most should leave them alone. I NEVER mix any meat with deer unless its lean pork steak etc ground up for brats then its 20% pork to 80% deer. this may not be the right way but its how weve done it after 30 years of trial and error and way more deer then most do. Aging does work but it has to be a CONTROLLED enviroment, 40 deg. You put one 2 weeks out by grandpas shed in 30night-60day deg weather and youve got coyote bait. Ive seen it all when it comes to mishandling deer/deer meat. Forget cutting throats etc and field dress it as soon as the beast is down. One or two pics before dressing is ok but dont drag it all around town to show off. Get the meat cool, treat it with respect and shoot straight its protein of the gods as someone says.