First Venison

12.04.18

So, I got my first 2 deer this year and decided to take them to be processed instead of attempting to process them myself. It was a learning experience for sure. The first deer, a young and small doe, I took to a butcher recommended to me because the person I hunt with takes his deer there. The butcher charges $89 for a basic butcher. Seems reasonable I thought. I get to the butcher to find its $89 for a basic butcher and is more to skin it. Total bill was $110. If there deer were a bigger deer with more meat, it wouldn’t be so bad, but considering it was a small deer, I question if it was worth that expense. 

The second deer, a 5 point buck, was taken to a second butcher that charged $80 and nothing extra to skin it. To me, this already seems like a better deal. I was asked more questions about the cuts of meat I wanted back and how I wanted it processed. I was more impressed by this. One thing I was asked was whether I wanted beef, pork or tallow added to my ground. I chose beef assuming it was beef fat as deer is a lean meat and some added fat would help cooking burgers. Come to find out, they add beef or pork meat, not just fat in the grind and was an added expense. Depending on how the ground tastes, I may have them add beef again. This second butcher is a definite go to again. We got more and bigger steaks, ribs and chops, in addition to a lot more ground and a better variety of cuts. I am sure some of it was because the buck was bigger and had more meat, but so far, I am pleased with the amount of meat and variety of cuts we got back from the second butcher. 

1 week after I take the doe in to be processed, I get the call it is ready to be picked up. I told them I will pick it up that Thursday. No big deal. On Thursday, I get ready to leave and pick up my doe and the other butcher calls and lets me know the buck is ready to be picked up. My thoughts are WOW!! Both deer are already butchered and ready for me to be picked up? That was real quick, a lot quicker than I had expected as I was told about 10 days and it was 8 days for the doe and 5 for the buck. My other thoughts were about finding room in already full freezers and what to fix first with the deer meat.

We decided to make a bacon wrapped tenderloin with a mushroom cream sauce. It turned out well and my girlfriend and I both enjoyed it. I may tweak it up slightly but it was still delish. The recipe is: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/231345/bacon-wrapped-venison-tenderloin-with-garlic-cream-sauce/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=Search&clickId=cardslot%201.

The next day we decided to try a Venison Gyro. It was not as good as we had hoped. I think the Rosemary was too overpowering in this recipe. If we try it again, we will either cut the Rosemary way back or do away with it all together. The recipe is: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/153436/venison-gyros/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=Search.

Tomorrow, I plan on making spaghetti with some ground venison. I will use the ground from the buck that has some ground beef added and just add it to a jar of Ragu for the first time out to see how it is.