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I'd also like to add to my SE buddies that I've been off-line because I dumped a Stoli martini into my BRAND NEW LAPTOP! It died. Back to my snail laptop. Still hanging in there health-wise.

My uncle, who hunts, always swears that soaking it in milk overnight helps with the gamy flavor.

@josdean I know how you feel I won't and will not touch venision w/a 10 foot pole, When I was married my husband used bag a deer, or elk yearly. Th only way that I liked it and this was by accident,I didn't realize I was eating venision was jerky or those pepperoni sticks that you get at the stores but it was with venison, could not tell the difference, and they are great to serve for the holidays.

Wow, I love venison...it's so tasty to me. I use it anyway that I would beef. Any recipe applies in my book.

You might also try soaking the meat in baking soda and water to take away the gamey flavor.

Mixing the vension in with beef in spaghetti would probably work and mini meatloaves with lots and lots of binder can work. Make turnovers (piecrust+meat+veggies) and freeze them for your husband's lunches. That way, you don't have to eat it.

Strong recommendations for the juniper berries in any marinade. Although when I was an impoverished student, I used gin instead, and that worked well. I fed a department chairman venison in the red wine marinade from the Four Seasons (the NY restaurant) Cb, over polenta and it went right down.

josdean,

Where do you live? I'll come buy it from you that way, you don't have to be subjected to it. I miss being able to get fresh venison, most of the friends that I have that are hunters are several states away.

As far as preparation, I would use any good lamb recipe, as it is also a strong flavor. One of my favorite marinades for venison is red wine, balsamic vinegar, and soy sauce. You can tweak it with garlic, and other aromatics. I would also suggest either barding or larding it as venison is very lean.

Alan

Count me in as another fan of venison. The meat I get is also from deer that have been eating corn and apples and the taste is excellent. I grew up eating venison I didn't care for, but that diet changes the flavour. The biggest difference between venison and beef is that the venison is very lean, so cook it as if it were a very lean beef - you might need to add some fat. Otherwise, prepare it any way you'd use beef and lamb. As mentioned above by @thepictsie, if you don't care for the taste, try soaking it in milk or buttermilk. I use that method to tone down strong, oily fish.

Nice to have you back Josdean! I can't believe you dumped a perfectly excellent martini. Hope you replaced it. Stay healthy, friend!!! ;-D
p.s. I have family named Dean in the Buffalo area.

Wow, lucky one! I'm still trying to talk my brother out of at least one roast from his buck this year. I'm with PerkyMac - a buttermilk soak will tone down any intense gamey flavor, although a corn & apple fed deer should not have as strong a flavor. The best venison roast I ever made was larded with bacon for a little extra fat & cooked in red wine. Since the sausage is mixed with pork, the flavor should be pretty mild (and delicious).

Josdean, I forgot to mention that the recipe I mentioned came from, believe it or not, Field & Stream magazine. Try their website - they probably have some good ideas for using up all that venison in a fashion you might enjoy.

@hungry - that roast sounds fanatastic...with the ragout....did you cook that down before stuffing it, or just chop & mix everything together & stuff the venison w/the raw veggies?

@hungry...thanks! I think that's my Christmas venison roast recipe!

If you don't like the taste of venison, make it into jerky! It's the only way I've had it that I like enough not only to recommend, but to seek out on my own. You could use any beef jerky recipe that strikes your fancy, either in a dehydrator or low oven. mmm.

You might also consider doing a test batch of venison meatballs. Grind about a pound of it in your food processor with 1 clove garlic, 1tsp cumin, 1 1/2 tsp coriander, 1 tsp rosemary, salt and pepper, and 2 Tbs breadcrumbs. Form small balls, brown, and add to soup or stew. I did this with some gamey lamb and added it to lentil stew, and it was so good, I had it for breakfast the next day as well!

As others have mentioned here, I have never found venison to be gamey in an undesirable way. Compared to other game (moose and elk) vension is quite mild and neutral. My belief is that most bad experiences with venison, steaks in particular, comes from people cooking it incorrectly. Specifically, this means cooking venison steaks, which contain almost no fat, like commercial beef. If you cook venison like a similar amount of beef it will be awful. It's like cooking shrimp like pork.

Venison is simply not as forgiving as beef, and as a result can easily be over cooked. For venison steaks, I use a technique detailed in Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking."

Essentially, you place the steaks in plastic zip top bags (remove as much air as possible) and submerge them in warm water (a good technique is to place the steaks in a bowl of warm water and then place another zip bag filled warm water on top).

The idea is to get the meat up significantly in temperature prior to cooking it (McGee says 90-100 degrees after 30-60 minutes). The effect of this is that you do not need to sear and hence dry out the outer layers so drastically to warm the inside of the meat. Also, when cooking, turn the steaks frequently (every minute or so) for the same reason.

I cook mine to no more than 125-130 and let them rest for 5 minutes or so. No tough steaks and all that is needed is nothing more than some salt and pepper.