Best way to tenderise/ cook tough venison

[SD198]

Hi all, I recently shot my first deer and it seems I have made a mistake in the processing of the carcass in that I only hung it for about 30 hours (skin on) before butchering - it was in the freezer about 36 hours after being shot. I now understand that apparently that means I have effectively butchered and frozen it during rigor Mortis so it will be v tough (it was an old buck in the first place) . Lesson learnt for next time (although my options are limited as I have no cooler as such) BUT I am determined not to let the meat go to waste (I only shot it for the meat), so I am considering what I can do to salvage the situation, including the following:

1. Leaving the defrosted meat in fridge for a few days before cooking
2. Bashing with tenderising mallet
3. Cooking slow on low heat
4. Using tenderising powder
5. Marinating in sauces containing ginger, pineapple or papaya
6. Worst case cubing or mincing the meat

I should be grateful for any views as to how effective these steps are likely to be - or any other suggestions!!

Thanks

 

[levigsp]

My first comment will seam strange to people who know how long I hang my meat, but just cook it in anyway you see fit.
You see it will still be more tender than beef from a supermarket.

 

[Nickg]

When I first started bringing venison home the other half tried cooking venison all ways... the initial attempts produced very good squash balls.... even the dog gave up chewing them.... we found that to suit our taste its best slow cooked. Everyone will have a different recipe/choice. Experiment with the meat. Some people with hang the meat longer than others. Our tastes all vary so as said experiment to suit your taste... Red wine always helps!!

 

[Essex stalker]

I've not tried it with Venison but the other day I cooked some pheasant breast using a hot water in the warming oven of the AGA at 65 degrees for 3 hours and it was unbelievably tender. Think most chefs call it sous vide.

The meat must go above 65 degrees to ensure its safe but it doesn't want to go much above that, luckily enough the warming oven in our AGA is spot on 65 degrees.
I vac packed the breasts in a bag and then laid them in a casserole dish full of warm water and put it in the oven for 3 hours. (Can be more than 3 hours if you want as the low temp means it doesn't over cook).
When I took them out of the oven and just before serving, I tossed them in hot foaming butter in a frying pan for 30 seconds just for colour.
The result was incredible, never had pheasant breast so tender!
Sure it would work with venison

 

[Monkey Spanker]

1 & 3 should do it, but you should try some mince anyway as it is awesome and makes great burgers too!
Try and avoid strong marinades and red wine as it can mask the taste of fine venison to the extent that you may as well be eating flavoured dog food!
MS

 

[mereside]

either slow cooking over a long period of time works really well, or you could try cutting into steak size pieces and adding kiwi fruit to a zip lock bag along with your steaks, we did this with a really old cow and the meat was amazingly tender after this and then frying on a skillet, atb wayne

 

[Monkey Spanker]

Marinades don't work apparently!
https://www.thespruce.com/does-marinating-tenderize-meat-995443
MS

 

[nicowilson]

Invest in a slow cooker and leave on "low" all day.

I prefer to roll the meat in flour and then brown the meat and vegetables early in the morning in a big saute pan, then add stock, seasoning, herbs, wine/beer and boil it all up. Add to slow cooker. Put lid on, leave on low. Go out and enjoy the day. Come back, crack open a good bottle of wine and enjoy the stew.

 

[nun_hunter]

I only really prepare it two ways, either as fillet and backstop steaks cooked rare or mince it. This is then burgers or mince for Bolognese or chilli. Don't serve enough people to really do joints or big stews.

 

[Chasey]

As other thread.

Hang it for at least 3 weeks if a big fella hang it for 4

I have also had success tenderising in citrus like Orange never tried pineapple?

Cant stand slow cooked anything myself. All my venison stakes are cooked rare 90% of them are tender.

Some scrappy cuts from the legs I cut thin, marinade in orange juice or red wine, then stir fry

I do haunches by wrapping in bacon and tinfoil cook for 45mins on 180 leave to stand for an hour cook for 20-30mins stand 20mins then serve.

Soft and juice 90% of the time

Rest gets chucked in the mincer


But at the core of this is time to mature. Don't hang your venison for a week then expect it to be tender as its just not going to happen without cooking it to death

 

[ileso]

you missed an option..

7 cut the meat correctly.

 

[Jagare]

A trick i do if i have moose meat from an old beast. I use a vacuum pack bag as the plastic is thicker. Cut a good size slice of your chosen venison, salt and pepper it and place in vacuum bag. Now take a rolling pin and brutally beat the piece of meat till its is at least double its size. Now fry said meat. Simple

 

[Tikka 260]

One of the key points to tender eating venison, is the initial stalk and taking the shot on a beast which is not alert, and is relaxed and acting normally, therefore very little adrenalin in the system which will toughen the end product, no matter how long it hangs in the cold store. This certainly applies to CWD, Munties, Roe and Fallow, but I don't have a lot of experience in culling Reds. For info, I never hang any of the species longer than 7 days, and more usually just long enough for rigor mortis to relax and the beast to go 'floppy' again. Then skin and butcher it.

Casseroling in either a light lager beer or (wait for it) 7Up also works well. The heavy beers, stout and as mentioned above red wine tend to mask the venison flavour in my experience, Others may say differently.

Just my 2p worth.

 

[Selous]

Slow cook..... lovely!!

 

[sauer]

Slow n low
Casseroles , stews slow cooker
Whole cuts , diced cubed cuts

Hot n fast
Steaks , saddle / back strap

Then mince.... folk think boring... to me mince = mince & tatties
Burgers
Sausages
Meatballs
Lasgane
Chilli
Bolognese
Meat loaf

If your on Facebook look for groups
Game for the table
& the other is countrywide smoke

 

[shakey jake]

Check out an american site called something like hunter angler gardener cook. He really know his stuff. I just shot my first two reds last week, a hind and calf neither shot perfect but plenty of meat, im going to slow cook alot of tougher joints mince a fair portion of bits and steaks out of the rest, venison burgers are firm favourite one third bacon some herbs and fried or bbq
Dont panic every body makes mistakes with a beast or two the trick is to learn from it, young fallow take some beating
Jake

 

[jb1]

As someone has said, cutting has some involvement in the eating and tenderness. But I think the hanging has more to do with overall tenderness. I had a Sika sometime back that was over hung and I ended up losing a fair amount of meat. But what was good was unbelievably tender.
The reason why you hang the meat to tenderise it, to put it simply is controlled rotting of the carcass. Keeping it cool and moving air (the fans help keep the moisture level low) round reduces the growth of harmful bacteria. And let the good bacteria start to break down the muscles, or start the rotting.

I would have a set of Fore ribs in the fridge at work for a month before taking it home on the 23rd December so in all they would be around 7 weeks old.

 

[Freeforester]

When choosing an animal for its meat, choose wisely, and thoughtfully: a young to mature doe makes far better eating than a post-rut aged and run fallow buck - just because you find an animal when carrying one's piece, it doesn't follow that it is going to be suitable for eating, but you will have the 'pleasure' of 'repenting at leisure' once your labours are complete!

 

[SD198]

Hi all - thanks for all the helpful tips on how to make best use of my old buck meat - by way of final update, both I and my family and the farmer on whose land I shot it have now cooked various joints etc and all has turned out surprisingly well so far. Have tried mincing it but also simple fried steaks from various cuts and various joints from haunch and neck, as have others - and the reports are all v favourable; no one saying it is tough and all comparing it it to lean beef (my parents did a "blind test" comparing it to "fresh best local venison" from the supermarket and said the buck was much more flavoursome and tender). My kids love it too. The only special steps I have been taking to try to make it more tender have been to leave it in the fridge for 2-3days before cooking it, adding some fat (eg bacon/ lardons) if I am not slow cooking it in fluid and giving the steaks a sprinkling of tenderising power and a quick bash before pan frying. V relieved that none of it will now be going to waste. Thanks again

 

[johnnyha]

This is a challenge that I've faced many times due to not having a chiller, or having to travel. The approach I've used, in addition to cutting, is, on removing the meat from the freezer, to open the bag and leave it in a combination of olive oil and lemon juice for a few days, in the fridge. I've found this to be very effective at tenderising the meat and readying it for the pan. Might be worth a try.