I wasn’t raised among hunters. My mother grew up on a farm, but her father died very young so the farms were planted in timber and she was encouraged to be an academic. Her idea of cooking a holiday meal was purchasing a Heavenly Ham, picking up a shrimp tray from Red Lobster, and preparing a box of Stove Top stuffing. If I had not requested broccoli, there would have been no vegetable at all. It’s a miracle I learned to cook at all, thanks to my friend’s mom who once told me if you can read, you can learn to cook.

My husband wasn’t raised among hunters, either. His father was a stereotypical insurance salesman, who imparted absolutely no practical life skills on his children. When we married 23 years ago, my husband didn’t even know how to change a flapper valve on a toilet. He took up hunting about three years ago and now hunts one of those family farms planted in timber. The first two years were a bust, but last year he was very successful, bringing home three does and a young buck. After we received the meat back from the processor, we realized the hard part was actually cooking it.

How do you cook venison?

I had heard that preparation was important with wild game, and remembering the sage advice, took to the internet to read up on how best to prepare it. Here’s what I learned from that: people on the internet don’t always know what they are talking about! After several epic failures, I applied my biochemistry background to food science and figured it out. I’m going to debunk two popular myths to spare you from ruining the better part of your first deer.

Myth #1 – venison is tough, so you need to marinate it for a long time. To be honest, I’ve never tried to cook a trophy buck, and it’s entirely possible those are tough as nails and something needs to be done. For a doe or relatively young buck, marinades can be a complete disaster. When protein comes into contact with acid (e.g., fruit juice, wine, or vinegar-based marinades), the bonds break. The denatured proteins will bond with other denatured proteins to form a mesh, squeezing out all moisture as the new bonds form, making the meat tough. Enzymatic marinades (e.g., papaya, pineapple, and commercial meat tenderizers) have the opposite but equally unappetizing effect. These marinades actually break down the connective tissue, turning meat muscle into mush without passing through any intermediate stage of tenderness. Marinades can add wonderful flavor and a nice brown crust – just don’t soak your meat in them for very long. Instead of fretting over-night marinades, you now have scientific evidence that brushing on at the last minute is actually better.

Myth #2 – Crock Pots are the solution to everything. Unless I’m feeding a small army and need food to stay warm for several hours, I am not a fan of slow cookers. That especially goes for venison. Venison is naturally very lean, and slow cookers are best for meats with higher fat content. Since venison is a dense, low-fat protein, people typically eat smaller portions than they would pulled pork or rump roast. Cooking small portions in a large Crock Pot leads to over-cooking and drying out, even when cooked in gravy, due to the effects described above.

So how do you keep it tender? Adding water can help retain moisture, but the best way is to mind the temperature and cooking time. Once you take any meat off the heat, it continues to cook. This is not unique to venison, but since venison is so lean, you can dry it out pretty quick even if it looks perfect coming off the heat. If you like it well-done, cook it rare then place it in a sauce to finish cooking. Future blogs will contain recipes that have been adapted for venison.

Bon appétit!