Deer Me

As deer hunting season draws to a close, I received a portion of venison from one of the hunters from Hunters For Deer as thanks for allowing access into my property. Every time they say “thank you,” I want to go “NO WHY ARE YOU THANKING ME THANK YOU” because they’re taking care of a huge (and very expensive) problem for me, yet they want to thank me? It blows my mind. AND THEN THEY GO AND BRING ME MEAT. WHAT EVEN IS THIS.

While they didn’t manage to take down any in my area, just the fact that they stood vigilance for me is more than enough, especially if their presence was why the deer were kept away from gnawing the hell out of my plants during the Fall into deep winter. I am a huge proponent of sustainable, responsible, local food, free of antibiotics and medication that are required to keep the meat industry going because they pack the animals in less than ideal conditions. Small farms were my first choice, but now responsible hunting and deer management is vying for the top position in my heart.

The meat I received was from the hindquarters, and to be honest, I had no idea what that meant. What… do I do with it? They told me to treat it like beef, and after a little bit of Googling, it said the hindquarter is the most versatile of the cuts, being able to be used as steak, for stews, for ground meat.

I love my steaks as rare as possible, so know that I have a deep freezer to kill any potential parasites (48 hours, deep freeze) and I have absolutely no issue taking this risk.

Now, onto the meat. Know that deer is gamier than beef, like if I had to describe it, I’d say it was MORE beef-y than the beefy-ist beef you’ll have ever had. It’s also mostly fat free, lean, but still very tender and flavorful. In my personal opinion, it would be an absolute abomination to cook this more than rare–I accidentally left a piece on the stove too long and even at medium, it turned tough.

Ingredients:

• Venison steaks, 1-2 inch thick
• 1 teaspoon cooking oil
• Garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Rosemary, optional

1. Sprinkle a few pinches of salt and pepper on your steaks and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes.
2. Heat a pan on medium high heat and wipe down with cooking oil. Sear the venison steaks on all sides quickly.
2. Throw in the butter, garlic, herbs into the pan until the butter froths and using a spoon, baste the steaks in the butter until to desired done-ness. Reserve juices to make gravy.