Beef or venison , wild boar or pork ?

[Olaf]

Dear members of the SD, the above thread title is something I’ve been mulling over for a few months.
For the past 15 years or so the only meat I’ve eaten has been Fallow or muntjac venison. A venison burger has been my standard staple brunch for over a decade now, I love it.
However, my work clients have changed and I’m between the uk and Germany on an almost monthly basis at present, and will be for a few years to come, God willing
Ive got wild boar and red deer here in the freezer in Germany, fallow in the freezer in the uk. But, recently I’ve just not had the time to get out as much as I should or or would like to here in Germany. In the uk, I’ve always got time to hunt but can’t bring the meat from the uk to Germany with me for various and probably obvious reasons. It will be the same case up until the autumn , that I won’t have enough time to hunt as I should and would like to owing to work etc. My game meat will slowly run out in the next month or so, so I’ve taken a different approach for the next few months. On Thursday , I helped a friend and neighbour out with his home slaughter of a rare small breed bullock, I’m taking half of it, he the other half, I paid £6 per kg for my side. It was a very nice beast, 300kg on the hoof , totally free range and always on meadow grass on the edge of the 75 square kilometre forrest that our village sits next to. in lean winter times where the meadows were snow covered or not acceptable it got rye . I ate one of its cheeks the other day, red wine sauce etc, melt in the mouth etc, very delicious. The rest of the carcass side will hang yet for another couple of weeks before I butcher and pack it all up into the freezer.
So, an effectively ‚ wild ‚ reared beast vs a totally wild deer or pig …. ? What would you rather eat my friends?
Kindest regards, Olaf

 

[VSS]

Venison or mutton for me. Nothing else comes close to either.

 

[Olaf]

 

[opticron1]

Where do you start?
The important thing is to enjoy what you eat, make sure the animal has been looked after well and been treated with respect. I love roe deer and a red deer - especially younger animals, but I am also very partial to a nice piece of well aged and "free range" belted galloway" or other grass fed slow growing beastie. I am lucky to be able to get lamb/mutton from a local farm and can choose my cuts/animal before they go off to slaughter. In an ideal world I would have venison, lamb, beef and (good quality) pork as well as a few cuts of boar in the freezer. I don't eat a huge amount of meat, but I would rather have well cared for and sourced meat than the usual stuff from a supermarket any day.

 

[Olaf]

Venison or mutton for me. Nothing else comes close to either.

I agree, mutton is where it’s at. I was given a decent purchase price for some very healthy and free range hoggets several years ago, home slaughter in the field, absolutely delicious. Very tasty, I had one, my parents had one , and a mate took the other.
This time round it’s the bullock, it’s use for breeding had come to an end and my friend was going to sell it off to a butcher, as it was too much meat and work for his family to deal with, so I convinced him otherwise by taking half and dealing with the logistics etc. Hired in a professional ( he was absolutely fantastic) butcher with a home slaughter license, one .22 lr a knife, my front loader and a trailer and the job was done extremely well, no suffering and zero stress all round.
Kindest regards, Olaf

 

[Heym SR20]

I must admit to be very partial to beef, and it is my favourite meat. Best is a free range grass reared old fashioned breed. And I love the fat. I am not overly keen on very well hung beef, it has a sweet and slightly rancid smell about it that I don’t like. Shoot it and hang it for a few days to let meat firm up, get rid of rigour and loose some moisture. Then butcher and cook accordingly.

Venison is mostly good, but not a fan of highly rutty red deer, or red that has been well hung. Sika, Roe and all good.

Wild boar is superb. Lamb - again free range old fashioned breed are superb. Jacobs, Shetland etc are ideal. Big fat Texel not so much, but a Texel cross Jacob is superb. Not a great fan of old mutton but a yearling is superb. Again not overhung is ideal.

Similar comments with goat.

Pork - well in my mind there are teo types. Factory reared cheep rubbish. Won’t have anything to do with it and complete waste of money.

Or good free range - in which case again wonderful.

Chicken - same comments as pork.

Phaesant and red leg partridge - best made into curry but remove meat first. Most are tough and inedible. Probably because they are full of adrenaline and then put in a game bag.

Wild duck, geese, woodcock, snipe are the food of the Gods.

 

[shakey jake]

slow cooked squirrel with loads of fat in the body cavity. three or four.
venison over beef any day. slow grown fatty pork.
not had much wild boar so cant comment.
i need to get a whole mutton to have a proper try at this year

 

[Olaf]

I must admit to be very partial to beef, and it is my favourite meat. Best is a free range grass reared old fashioned breed. And I love the fat. I am not overly keen on very well hung beef, it has a sweet and slightly rancid smell about it that I don’t like. Shoot it and hang it for a few days to let meat firm up, get rid of rigour and loose some moisture. Then butcher and cook accordingly.

Venison is mostly good, but not a fan of highly rutty red deer, or red that has been well hung. Sika, Roe and all good.

Wild boar is superb. Lamb - again free range old fashioned breed are superb. Jacobs, Shetland etc are ideal. Big fat Texel not so much, but a Texel cross Jacob is superb. Not a great fan of old mutton but a yearling is superb. Again not overhung is ideal.

Similar comments with goat.

Pork - well in my mind there are teo types. Factory reared cheep rubbish. Won’t have anything to do with it and complete waste of money.

Or good free range - in which case again wonderful.

Chicken - same comments as pork.

Phaesant and red leg partridge - best made into curry but remove meat first. Most are tough and inedible. Probably because they are full of adrenaline and then put in a game bag.

Wild duck, geese, woodcock, snipe are the food of the Gods.

Hi, thanks for your really interesting reply, I trust you are well and happy.
I very much like your mentioning of the various breed’s, the breed makes a huge difference to the end product… just as feed does. The wild forrest based fallow I have here in Germany, is not comparable to the wild arable feeding fallow I have in Essex and Hertfordshire. End of the day, they are what they eat . The taste difference between a grass finished and grain fed beast is huge. Deer are no different from what I’ve experienced.
Kindest regards, Olaf

 

[DevonRifle]

The trouble is that mass produced meat is mainly produced for people that eat bland meats. Chickens are killed at between 6 and 9 weeks with little flavour. If you grow them to full size they are incredibly tasty. We hunters eat fully grown animals and so have a taste for proper meat like mutton, most people have been told that it’s tough and needs cooking for hours which is rubbish unless very old.
Having said that I’d choose venison and wild boar over beef and pork any day of the week!

 

[Bo Diddley]

Beef such as you have in your larder will I'm sure be very nice indeed, and worth eating, it reminds me of a quarter that I bought some time ago, I can still remember the taste. Fingers crossed I have a half coming our way in 6 months time , I am looking forward to it. I enjoy venison and we eat it four times a week on average.

I always think it is important to remember that something has died to have meat on our plates, and to cook it well and not to waste any.