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Saturday, December 29, 2012

One Of Our Favorite Wild Edible Food Recipes

Venison.  It's low in saturated fat, an excellent source of protein, and deer are plentiful here.  In fact, while driving home recently, we barely hit one.  We continued down the road about a mile, and we almost hit another.  Thankfully no damage was done.  
Jordan was blessed with this one just before Thanksgiving. The timing was really nice as the younger ones thought it quite authentic to have venison as a part of our holiday meal, and I thought it wonderful to have so much meat!  Of course, we had to include a bit of popcorn, too!
Some people marinade in a vinegar bath because of a sometimes strong or gamey flavor, but the recipe we used for the tenderloin in the picture was not marinated in vinegar, and the flavor was incredible.  A ratio of 2 tablespoons of vinegar per quart of water can be used, if desired, and left to soak for at least one hour. 
A 100 pound deer will yield approximately 50 pounds of meat, and a family with whom we recently had dinner told me that they can the unused parts to be used as food for their dogs.
Johnathon, no doubt, will find some use for the pretty hide.  He's become quite interested in such things.:)
And here is one of our FAVORITE recipes using the tenderloin:  Mix together 2 cups of brown sugar and 2 cups of soy sauce.  Cover 2 to 4 pounds of tenderloin in the mixture and let it marinade overnight.  Place the meat on a drip pan and the marinade , and wrap the tenderloin with pieces of bacon.  Cook at 350 for approximately 45 minutes and baste often.  If you like, you can place on broil and crisp the bacon a bit, but watch carefully.  This recipe we adapted from one found on recipeZaar, and it is absolutely wonderful.  The marinade juices can be spooned over rice or mashed potatoes, and leftover meat and drippings make an excellent base for soup.  Succanat, natural sugar, maple syrup, or honey can be used in place of the brown sugar, and soy sauce could be replaced with Bragg's Liquid Aminos.  Blessings from the Lee family!
 





8 comments:

  1. Oh, that does look so good! We live in Ohio and get a few deer each season. I really don't like it plain. This may be a good recipe to try since I don't like the "gaminess" flavor. Thanks for the post.
    By Grace Alone,
    Kim

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  2. Kim,

    Thank you for leaving a comment. The recipe posted on recipeZaar calls for a good bit more brown sugar and less meat, but the changes we made were plenty sweet for us. Also, I sometimes cook it in my roaster oven and place a metal rack in there to keep it from being totally immersed in the marinade-basting often. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

    Blessings,

    Sherry

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  3. This looks and sounds delicious! We've been blessed with several deer this year, and I'm keeping my eyes out for good venison recipes. I have no trouble happily using up the ground venison, but I don't have much experience with the tenderloin. I'm eager to try this - thanks! :)

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    Replies
    1. Davene Grace,

      Thank you for leaving a comment. I do hope this is a recipe you'll enjoy and be able to use. We just recently got a meat grinder, so we too hope to begin using some ground.

      Blessings,

      Sherry

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  4. Sherry ~

    What a lovely deer...and in return a lovely meal! Seeing your oldest son dress it out, made my heart smile. We live in city limits, so hunting is not possible, but I have a young man that longs for it! I grew up eating venison {LOVE it} and never minded the gamie flavor. We typically floured it and FRIED it...yum! Sometimes the meat was used in a stew, equally yummy. And even still, sausage was made from the meat. I had the blessing from my daddy to have some this past year and I made a Cheesy "Venison" and Rice casserole...delish!

    Thank you for sharing a bit of your lives here. It is a blessing and encouragement, more than you know.

    In Him,

    Jarnette

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  5. Jarnette,

    Your venison recipes sound yummy! We also love it battered and fried like cube steak, but we've never had it in a cheesy casserole. I'd love to have your recipe.

    My children hunted some where we lived before but it wasn't easy or convenient. They longed to be able to walk out the back door and hunt and they are so very grateful to be able to do that here.

    Thank you for your comment. Your words are always so sweet and encouraging.

    Blessings,

    Sherry

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  6. We have a little secret here in Texas..I guess it's a secret, we seem to be the only ones that do it...
    As soon as we can get down to gather the deer, my husband cuts off any glands on the inside of the back legs and throws that away. It smells terribly awful, but, that keeps the meat from needing to be soaked. I have NEVER had a game tasting cut of any deer meat when he's done it...Our friends that don't take those off, do have to soak their meat and it does still taste different...

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