Tonight we are making lasagna. We are making it with lasagna, Ragu spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese and of course, ground venison. So far it looks and smells wonderful. I can”t wait to try it.

Friday we made cheesy potatoes made with 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, 8 oz package of sharp cheddar cheese, some milk, 2 bags of frozen diced potatoes and a pound of ground venison. The venison was from Butcher Johns, the place I took my buck. It tasted really good. I am pleased with meat that was butchered. So far, none of it has tasted gamey. I am interested to see how the steaks, chops and ribs cook up when we get to making them. I am hoping they cook well and don’t taste gamey.

I last posted about my first 2 deer and had planned on making spaghetti on Wednesday night for dinner. Plans had changed and I ended up meeting up with my lovely girlfriend and her best friend for dinner. It was an enjoyable evening with good friends and company.

Anyways… on Tuesday evening I made chili, or to some, chili mac using some ground venison from my first deer, the doe. Now, before I go too far,  chili to me is making chili (recipe to follow), cook macaroni and once the chili and macaroni is cooked, serve and eat. I do not mix the macaroni into the pot the chili is cooked in. I will scoop it into my bowl, scoop the chili on top of the macaroni and top it with cheddar cheese and sour cream. This is how it has always been served in my family as far back as I can remember. I found a recipe that is now my go to and I enjoy it a lot. Tuesday I decided to make it with venison instead of ground beef. The recipe calls for 3 pounds of meat, which I used and also calls for a green bell pepper and diced tomatoes. I failed to remember that last time I was at the store, but had Rotel with green chilies on hand. Using the venison and the Rotel made a very good substitution choice. Keeping with the Texas Chili, I chose not to add beans as Texas Chili doesn’t have beans. I will definitely use the Rotel again, whether I use ground beef or venison. I have enjoyed it Tuesday night for dinner as well as the last 2 days for lunch. I did eat too much today and am now stuffed. I hope to have the recipe loaded within the next couple of days, so please stay tuned. 

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. 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton