Joseph Ciringione at Dinner
Joseph Ciringione at the Awards Dinner of the National Football Foundation Pt. 2
Venison, my dear: It’s what’s for dinner
When one hears the word venison, it conjures up imagery of the dishes gracing the halls of a feudal lord from medieval times. And there is an ounce of truth in this. Historically, venison refers to meat taken from wild game, usually those found in the forests owned by said lords. Although it used to refer to anything from wild hare to antelope, today it mostly refers to the most common kind of game meat available: deer.
Deer meat is common in the hunter’s table, and Sheryl and I have eaten our fair share of venison stews in the past. It’s only been recently that Sheryl and I started actually looking at the possibility of cooking it ourselves. There are a lot of ways to prepare venison that’s got us very excited.
Image source: Wikimedia.org
The venison’s flavor is reminiscent of beef, but richer and with a slightly gamey note at the end, and typically has a deep flavor owing to the deer’s diet. Much of the gamey note can be reduced by carefully removing the silver skin, a web-like membrane that covers much of the meat, and the connective tissue.
Depending on the age of the animal, you can cook them as extremely flavorful chops and steaks, have them preserved as jerky, or go by the traditional route of cooking them in a stew or chili. When ground, they make great burger sliders, and they can be used as a substitute for lamb in Middle Eastern dishes.
Image source: JamieOliver.com
Point to ponder about venison: if you’re going to hunt for it, you’re going to have to choose the animal you get it from very, very carefully. It is possible that an unhealthy animal may harbor parasites and chronic wasting disease, an illness akin to a mad cow in cattle, that make it unsafe to eat. Selection also matters in preparation. Old bucks have very tough meat and have to either be ground or marinated, whereas younger does have delectably tender meat that offers a broader variety of cooking options.
Howdy! Hunting enthusiast and amateur foodie Joe Ciringione here. Catch up to what Sheryl and I are cooking on Twitter.
Joseph Ciringione 
You must be logged in to post a comment.