So Amanda's dad is an avid fisherman and hunter. I have always thought about hunting, but I never had the opportunity until I met Amanda and her dad. Sam was an excellent teacher and let me borrow Amanda's grandfather's rifle on the first day of deer season.
I have to say that I was more than a bit spoiled by this experience. It was the first day of the season, about 50 degrees, and this amazing animal presented himself to me as though he was sacrificing himself for us. I sat in a tree stand for just four hours and he came out from behind a stand of pine trees, walked calmly in front of me at about 60 yards and then stopped broadside. He died quickly (not taking a single step after the shot) and I am so thankful to him for feeding my family this year. Sam asked me to smile in the pictures and eventually I did, but I felt it was also a solemn occasion. He died so that we could live.
Sam and Linda (Amanda's parents), Amanda, and I sat around a table in the kitchen and butchered him together. All the meat is very lean and there are a great deal of tendons. We packaged the best as steaks and loins and cut much of the rest for stew meat or for grinding. It was a long process but supplied red meat for the entire year. It is now March and we still have plenty of meat left.
For the steaks, I have used the following marinade that I got from The Great Morel website (http://thegreatmorel.com/recipes.html):
4 TBS A-l or any bottled steak sauce
4 TBS Worcestershire4 TBS Soy
1 large garlic clove crushed or diced
A few shakes of McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning (in the spice department)
a few dashes of Tabasco if desired
Mix all ingredients in ziplock bag, add steaks and marinate in refrigerator for at least an hour. Cook over hot grill to desired doneness. Remove and cover with foil for a few minutes, this insures a juicy steak! Plate up and serve with morel mushroom and cream sauce. Heaven!
We also modified a pork loin recipe to make a decadent bacon wrapped loin:
Ingredients:
- 1 venison loin
- 3 slices of bacon
- 1 tablespoon of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon of Lawry's Seasoned Salt
- 1 teaspoon dried crumbled leaf basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried crumbled leaf oregano
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- olive oil
Preparation:
Combine garlic powder, seasoned salt, basil, oregano, and black pepper; rub seasoning all over the pork tenderloin. Wrap pork with bacon and secure with toothpicks.Take your olive oil and coat well. Place in a 9x13 pan and bake uncovered in a 375 to 400 oven for 45 to 60 minutes, or until venison reaches about 155°. Make sure the bacon is really done. I then put it on the grill to get a bit of charred flavor. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing. This recipe serves 2 to 4.
We also made burgers by grinding the meat and mixing it with cooked bacon and red peppers that was put in a food processor. The bacon adds fat that the venison burger needs to stay together and not get too dry. After making a big batch, I spread it on a cookie sheet, cut lines like a brownie tray, and froze it. Afterward, I could break the burgers apart and put them in baggies.
