This post will tell you how to cook venison to perfection and so much more. I’ve gathered my best tips to help you successfully process and cook deer meat.
Venison is one of the healthiest sustainable foods in the world. Free of antibiotics and hormones, deer meat is low in fat and cholesterol and high in vitamins B6 and B12 as well as heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.
Moreover, properly prepared, deer meat is delicious! I have a lot of recipes to share for cooking venison steaks, venison roasts, ground venison, and venison sausage.
But before we get to the recipes, I’ll share some essential steps to take deer meat from field to table.
How to Process, Age, and Cook Venison
1. Preparation Begins in the Field: Dressing the Deer
Even before you go hunting, have a plan for quickly getting the deer dressed: removing the intestines and other inedible internal tissue. Time is of the essence to keep the meat fresh and untainted.
If you’re using a wild game processor, get the deer to their facility as quickly as possible. Most processors will have a walk-in cooler at the perfect temperature (34-37 degrees with 88 percent humidity) to age your deer meat. If you are going to be more than a few hours before processing the meat or getting it to a processor, quarter the deer and get it on ice as soon as you are able.
If processing the venison yourself, always remember to remove the sinew, gristle, silver skin, and anything else that is not muscle. This helps ensure your meat will be as tender as possible.
2. Aging Venison for Tender Meat
Many people forget what may be the most important step in creating succulent, tender deer meat: aging. Aging the meat helps develop the final tender texture of venison.
A processor will take care of this step for you. If you are processing your own deer, you can complete this step before or after freezing your meat. There are two methods of aging meat: dry aging and wet aging.
How to Dry Age Deer Meat
I prefer dry aging my venison before freezing it. In dry aging, the venison needs a constant air temperature of 34-37 degrees to denatures, or break down, the meat.
You can easily make your own aging apparatus with these steps.
- Purchase a plastic bin and poke holes in the sides and top of the bin.
- Place butchered venison on a cooling rack inside the bin.
- Every few days, empty the blood from the bin.
- Continue aging the meat for seven to ten days.
Many people age their venison for up to fourteen days, but I feel that ten days is sufficient to break down the connective tissue and muscle fiber for tasty meals.
How to Wet Age Deer Meat
Wet aging often gets done after thawing the meat. This is the common way that grocery stores age meat. No air must touch the meat after vacuum sealing. Once meat is thawed, allow it to age by leaving it vacuum packed for up to fourteen days.
If you have not adequately aged your venison and need to use it fairly quickly, here is another option. Place unpackaged venison on a cooling rack on the counter and point a fan directly at the venison for about thirty minutes. You will be amazed at how much better your meat will brown and how much more tender your venison will be.
3. Don’t Mask the Flavor of Venison; Enhance It!
Many people forego eating venison because they think of it as a tough, chewy meat with a wild, gamey flavor. Actually, they are not wrong-if they prepare the meat as if it were beef they had purchased from the supermarket.
But properly cooked, venison is not gamey; it simply has its own unique flavor. Deer forage for their food. They eat grass, fresh herbs, acorns, berries, and nuts. Corn-fed cows are really tasteless compared to animals that forage a variety of foods in the wild.
Sometimes the simpler the seasonings, the better, especially with venison tenderloin and backstrap of the deer. The venison backstrap can be cut into steaks, seasoned liberally with salt and black pepper, and cooked over high heat with a little olive oil. Trust me, a simple, perfect venison steak is the best eating you could ever want!
For extra flavor, other seasonings that complement venison are garlic cloves and herbs like rosemary and thyme. Of course, you can also make wonderful gourmet dishes like Venison Medallions with Wild Mushroom Cabernet Sauce.
4. Cook Venison Like Venison instead of Corn-Fed Beef
The most important tip for cooking venison is not to overcook it. There are many methods of cooking venison where the meat must be eaten rare or medium-rare. If you overcook venison, it is like eating rubber. However, if you do a perfect sear and then let it rest for about ten minutes before slicing, it is like eating butter!
A meat thermometer is essential if you want tender, juicy venison steaks. Venison cooks faster than beef, and the rare meat needs to reach an internal temperature of only 130 degrees. If venison reaches 150 degrees, it begins to toughen.
By the time a hunter harvests a deer, the animal usually has an abundance of muscle fiber and connective tissue. These lean, foraging animals do not have the marbling in their meat that corn-fed beef has, so cooking venison like beef will not work.
However, venison is easy to prepare well with just a little knowledge. The unique flavor of deer far outweighs the effort to create tender, succulent meat. There is so much flavor when the collagen transforms into lovely succulent gelatin. There is nothing like it in the world!
When making venison burgers for the grill, I often will use a mixture of venison, pork or lamb, and ground beef.
5. Braise Meat at a Low Enough Temperature
Braising is a cooking technique in which you dry-sear the main ingredient and then sear it in liquid on low heat in a pot. This method is usually best for the tougher cuts of meat. The tough fibers and connective tissue break down into collagen, which then dissolves into gelatin. Over time, these fibers expel moisture, leaving the meat dry.
Once the meat is dry, upon continued cooking, the fibers will relax and begin to absorb the fat and gelatin, creating tender, flavorful meat.
Is Deer Meat Best in a Slow Cooker or Dutch Oven?
Slow-cookers are not your best option for braising venison. The optimal temperature when cooking low and slow should be between 131 and 149 degrees, and most slow cookers do not go that low.
Instead, I recommend using a Dutch oven on top of the stove on a very low simmer. Or if you have an oven that maintains temperatures between 131 and 149 degrees, you can cook your meal for several hours in a Dutch oven inside it.
If cooking low and slow, I find that if I allow the mixture to cool and then place it in the refrigerator overnight, the meat continues to relax. Thus my meal will be even better the next day.
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6. Match the Cut of Deer Meat to the Cooking Method
You will want to match the cut of meat to the cooking method that will bring out the most flavor and result in the tenderest dish. Venison loin and tenderloin are naturally tender, but other cuts will be extremely tough and stringy.
Below are a few methods of cooking the various cuts of venison.
- Tenderloin and loins: serve rare.
- Shoulders, shanks and neck: braise (low and slow for stews and soups).
- Hindquarter: this cut is incredibly versatile. It can be cut into steaks, tenderized, and cooked just like the loin; cut into cubes for low and slow method; used in sauces; cut into strips across the grain and used in salads, fajitas, burritos, or on sandwiches.
- Other deer meat cuts such as flanks and rib meat: grind and use in hamburgers, sausage, spaghetti sauces, bolognese sauce, and other recipes calling for ground meat. I use a 3/4 horsepower grinder, but if you only are going to be grinding a few deer, 1/2 horsepower is fine. They are a bit expensive, but you will make up that cost very quickly by processing your own deer.
7. Tenderizing Meat Allows for More Flexibility with Tough Cuts
A dry rub, marinade, or brine will tenderize your venison, allowing you to prepare the tough cuts in much the same way you would cook tender cuts of meat. All three of these tenderizing methods infuse flavor and break down the meat, causing a tender juicy result in the finished product.
Venison Dry Rubs – Homemade and Storebought
A dry rub consists of endless combinations of dry herbs and spices: cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, etc. To use this method, combine spices and vigorously massage into the meat. Place meat into a glass container, cover, and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.
You also can find pre-prepared enzymatic tenderizers in most grocery stores. They use papaya, figs, or pineapple to break down the amino acids in the meat. Personally, I prefer homemade dry rubs because enzymatic tenderizers take away from the flavor of deer meat. Also, if left on too long, they will cause meat to become mushy.
Starting from an all-purpose recipe, I usually add salt, coffee, or ginger to my venison dry rubs. Kosher salt improves the texture of the venison. First, it breaks down the protein and draws out the hydrogen, leaving oxygen in the muscles. This forms lactic acid, which breaks down the fibers in the muscles and connective tissue. Coffee and ginger are both acidic and will break down the enzymes in the meat. In this way, they tenderize meat just like marinades.
Brines and Marinades for Venison
Brines and marinades are fantastic for tenderizing meat. I usually reserve brining for my fowl recipes, such as wild turkey or pheasant, but many people brine venison, too.
Brines are a mixture of water, salt, and sometimes sugar. This method may reduce the “gaminess” or strong flavor of deer meat. Just combine ingredients, submerge venison in the mixture, and refrigerate overnight or for 24 hours.
Marinades are one of my favorite ways to tenderize venison. For an excellent simple marinade, you will need:
- an acid — wine, vinegar, lemon juice, or lime
- an oil — I prefer olive oil, but avocado oil is good, too
- herbs and spices of your choice
Not only do marinades add flavor, but the acid will also effectively denature your meat, which will result in tender, tasty venison. To use this method, combine ingredients in a non-reactive bowl, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. You can also place the ingredients in a zip top bag for easy clean-up.
8. Use the Best Kitchen Tools to Prepare Venison
The right kitchen tools can make preparing deer meat easy and enjoyable.
Kitchen Essentials for Cooking Venison
A cast iron skillet and a Dutch oven are the most essential tools for cooking venison at its best, and you can find them at very reasonable prices. The cast iron will evenly heat the venison, causing a beautiful caramelization when browning your meat. A Dutch oven also will hold heat well.
Both the skillet and the Dutch oven can be used over direct heat. Their ability to stand up to high oven temperatures make these two kitchen essentials incredibly versatile.
Knives and Other Small Tools
You will need a very sharp knife that holds its edge and will not rust, as well as a honing steel. An eight-inch chef’s knife will allow you to cut venison and chop vegetables as well as perform just about any task needing a knife.
An accurate meat thermometer, either digital or old school, is also essential. A few more helpful items for preparing venison are a meat mallet, mortar and pestle, and twine.
When pounding out venison, no matter the cut, a meat mallet will tear the fibers and connective tissue. This immediately produces tender meat. At this point, you can fry, stuff, or truss the meat. You can make it a complete meal by chopping herbs and vegetables and placing them on the pounded venison. Truss and brown the loin in a cast iron skillet and then finish it off in the oven.
There are many more helpful kitchen utensils, but these are the ones that I use on a regular basis!
9. Don’t Be Afraid to Be Creative
Cooking should be fun. I believe people eat out more often than not because they don’t believe homecooked food can be as good. With just a little understanding of the ingredients you are using, the sky is the limit. Use your instincts and take a few risks.
10. Try These Venison Recipes
You also can start from some of my tried-and-true, family-tested venison recipes!
