Question about odd tasting venison!

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First let me say I LOVE VENISON!!!! Yup . . . I'm sure a lot of other folks here do as well but I have a question.

I have always enjoyed every piece of venison be it roast, hamburger, steaks, canned, jerky or whatever was made from the deer meat but this year we have a deer (a doe) that was given to us. Hubby had to butcher it himself and while we did not have the tools to do a professional job it was "perfectly adequate" as it turns out.

Now. . . . so far we have eaten roasts (or large portions of the meat) twice now. The first time the meat had such a gamey or "off" taste that it made me gag . . . and I couldn't finish the meal. This time (today) it even smelled "off" while cooking in a roasting bag and once it was done I could not face eating it. Hubby agreed it tasted "gamey" but not BAD. I, on the other hand, ate some potatoes that were cooked with it and now have this "horrible" taste in my mouth that I cannot get rid of no matter what I have tried.

So did we do something wrong? I mean, I've had deer from Texas and from New York and now this one in Kansas. Is it the geographic area that makes the meat taste so different to me or is it just me?!?!?!

Any ideas that I might not have heard of for getting rid of this taste/smell problem?? (I have heard to soak it in milk . . . but have never had to resort to that before.)

Hope someone can give me some ideas as generally I LOVE VENISON and would hate to swear off it from now on because I can't stomach the meat anymore or something!!!!

-- wolfie (wolfiequinn@hotmail.com), January 01, 2002

Answers

The taste depends on what the deer has been eating. You can soak the meat over night in vinegar...poke it all over real good and let soak in frig.

-- Judy (inhishand65@yahoo.com), January 01, 2002.

if its a gamey flavor,, you can marrinade it to help that,, freezer burn? buttermilk works great. was it aged too long? if worse comes to worse,,you can turn it into burger,,for chillis and such, or make jerky out of it

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 01, 2002.

Was it field dressed soon after it was killed? Not field dressing ASAP is bad for the meat. The other suggestions are good, soak in vinegar, milk or buttermilk and give that a try. Good luck!

-- cowgirlone (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), January 01, 2002.

Thanks for the answers. Yes. . . it was field dressed right after it was killed.

The "what it was eating" answered one of my questions. I thought maybe it had something to do with the "area" we are in as nowhere else have I had this problem.

As for soaking it in vinegar . . . I HATE a vinegar taste . . . will soaking it like that leave an after taste of the vinegar at all??

Thanks again for the help!!

-- wolfie (wolfiequinn@hotmail.com), January 01, 2002.


Wolfie, Maybe you could try soaking a piece of venison in each and let us know if any of them worked. I haven't had a problem with a vinegar taste after soaking, but maybe the taste doesn't bother me as much as it does you. Another method is soaking the meat in salt water. I have had venison from Kansas and it was great. The deer are larger in Kansas than in my area because they are grain fed. Lots of grain fields and winter wheat to eat. Hope you find the right combination to get rid of the taste. Let us know. Good luck!

-- cowgirlone (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), January 01, 2002.


Field care can play a very important role in how the venison will taste. I've been processing deer for people this fall and sometimes I will get a deer that rode in back of the truck for several days before it was brought to me. Or, maybe the deer was running for a while in front of dogs before it was shot. Sometimes the person that harvested the deer punctured the intestines or bladder while either shooting the deer or field dressing it. That odor or taste may not go away totally no matter what you do. But sometimes you can soak it in cold water all night and it will remove the majority of it.

Also one time I harvested a deer that had a big pussy infection on the lower part of its throat. I trimmed as much of it away that I thought would be safe, but it seemed anytime I cooked meat that was from the shoulder or neck section I could still taste what that infection smelled like.

If you are sure it is not spoiled, it would be better to do what someone else has already mentioned. Make jerky, sausage, or chili meat out of it.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), January 01, 2002.


wolfie,

I go back to Kansas for deer every year, I got a lifetime license before I moved away. I always get tags for whitetail deer because I eat meat, not antlers. Is your doe a whitetail or mule deer? Whitetails eat alfalfa, grain, all the good stuff. Mulies live up in the pastures and eat the rougher feed, and sometimes taste a bit stronger. All three deer my wife and I got in KS this year taste great.

-- eric in ID (umm@nope.com), January 01, 2002.


I don't care for venison because of the gamey taste but after following the advise of someone that cooks it all the time I've had no problem eating it. He suggested slow cooking it with onions and stewed tomatoes and the hubby raves about how good it tastes. It does taste alot better then some I've tried.

-- Terri Bennett (mrs_swift_26547@yahoo.com), January 02, 2002.

Wolfie, I love venison too and have eaten plenty of Kansas venison. I say there is something wrong with the meat. Maybe the doe was real old or sick or tramatized severely before it died. I would not eat the meat. I would feed it to the dogs or just trash it and try again. Kansas deer is quite good but like any meat it has to be healthy and done right. Don't take a chance with your health. karen

-- Karen in Kansas (kansasgoats@iwon.com), January 02, 2002.

My husband loves venison, although I can leave it. If you soak the meat in vinegar it will have a tangy taste. I've soaked it in salt water with good results. But the deer in our neck of the woods don't need any thing done to them, just like corn fed beef! Also we got a buck 2 years ago that had a huge infection on his thigh and we lost the whole carcass due to that. No smell, but we weren't taking a chance!

-- T. Howard (never-enough-pets@excite.com), January 02, 2002.


My sisters family eats venison, and she says some years it IS gamey! Her solution is to make sausage out of the lot of it, with added fat to make it juicy. Of course it looses the venison flavor that way, but she would rather enjoy the sausage than tolerate gamey meat.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), January 02, 2002.

Try soaking how ever you like and then do it in a crock pot, cut in one inch cubes with tomato soup and some onions for flavor, never a bad flavor that way.

-- Mary (marwel@microserve.net), January 02, 2002.

I know this will probably sound pretty basic, but was the meat trimmed well of all {that's possible} fat and such? I know that my husband is really insitent that it makes a difference in whether or not the meat will taste gamey. And I have come to learn that what they do eat makes a difference. Good luck!

-- Nancy (heartsathome45@hotmail.com), January 04, 2002.

I agree that it must be deer-specific. We ate a lot of deer growing up and always prepared the same way with regard to field dressing, etc. But one time, we got one that smelled so bad just cooking that we couldn't stand to eat it. We ended up throwing the whole deer away, what a waste, but it would run you out of the house, it smelled so bad. We always thought it must have had some disease.

-- Laura (lucky1s@mcmsys.com), January 06, 2002.

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