I'm a lot better at killing it than I am about cooking it.
That is my standard response to those who ask me how to cook venison. But I have collected some recipes that are tasty and simple and that I often use when I cook venison. I truly want those who have a supply of this tasty, healthful meat to enjoy it. So here are a few of my favorites.
My hunting buddy Bob Beck of Duncansville gave me this recipe that is so easy and so good I make it for myself. It is also quite good in the crock-pot.
EASY VENISON STEAK
2 medium - sized venison steaks
1 package onion soup mix
1 medium onion
2 green peppers, sliced
1 large can stewed tomatoes
12-15 mushrooms, sliced
Brown the steaks then add all the other ingredients. Add I cup water, cover and simmer slowly until meat is tender.
Venison is not some exotic fare that needs flouring, marinating and soaking to disguise some "wild taste." That venison has a wild taste is mainly a figment of the imagination. However, if a deer was not properly cared for after being harvested, it may indeed have a strange taste
I repeat: do not overcook venison. When I'm frying a steak, for instance, or a hamburger and I get to the place in the cooking process where I think it needs just another minute or two, I remove it from the heat then. The additional minute you would give to beef will simply dry out the venison. Most of the time if a venison steak is tough, it has simply been cooked a little too long.
A friend once gave me this recipe for barbecued venison steak. You won't be sorry you tried it.
BARBEQUE VENISON?STEAK
1 cup catsup, cup water, cup chopped onion, cup chopped sweet pepper, 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce3, 2 tbs. brown sugar, tsp. salt, 4 pounds venison steak.
Combine all ingredients except steak and bring to a boil, then simmer 3 minutes. Pour over the steak, cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 2 hours, depending on thickness of steak.
For a savory roast or also with steak, mix 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and I can water, package dry onion soup mix, then pour over meat and cook until done.
Here's a great way to cook venison hamburger that everyone will like. If you don't tell anyone it's venison, they won't know. It's called
CHEESEBURGER PIE
1 pound ground meat, 1 cup chopped onion, 1 cups milk, cup Bisquick, 2 sliced tomatoes, 3 eggs, tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1 cup shredded cheese.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a baking dish. Cook hamburger with onion, then drain and spread in dish. Beat milk, Bisquick, eggs, salt and pepper. Pour into the dish. Top with tomatoes and cheese. Bake about 3o minutes or until casserole is browned and cheese is melted.
Ground venison is excellent for use in any recipe. Ground venison makes wonderful meatballs for spaghetti or meatloaf. If you cut out the recipe for bear stew that was in my column a few weeks ago, just substitue venison for the bear meat. Ground venison is great in chili, and in pigs-in-a-blanket. For something more exotic, use ground venison to make mincemeat. That's how our forefathers did it.
Just because we don't purchase venison wrapped in plastic at the local supermarket does not that venison requires special recipes or techniques to make it palatable.
