Cooking VENISON to perfection
Butchers can go a long way in boosting sales of venison by providing customers with knowledge about this meat as well as sharing cooking tips.
South African venison is generally meat from impala, kudu, eland, gemsbok, springbok, blesbok and wildhog. Springbok contains 54% of the calories found in beef, has five times less saturated fat and 80% of the cholesterol.
Venison or game may be eaten as steaks, roasts, sausages, minced meat and biltong. Rich and flavourful, it is much leaner, lower in calories, cholesterol and fat than most cuts of beef, pork and lamb.
The main difference between game and meat from domestic animals is body fat, as wild animals do not enjoy the generous diet most farm animals do, and being free of hormones and growth stimulants.
Low-fat meat such as venison can become quite tough when cooked. To prevent this, slow cooking, stewing, and drizzling the meat with fat from another source are recommended as is marinading it before cooking, but make your choice carefully.
Many of the marinades that are peddled to help ‘remove the wild taste’ actually just serve as a disguise to try and mimic beef or lamb. Game is game after all!
Venison is more watery than beef, and the key to cooking juicy venison is to keep the water inside.
The “gamey” taste of many wild meats can simply be attributed to its different taste as compared to what most palates are accustomed to. Venison will taste unlike beef; pheasant will taste unlike chicken.
As venison has very little fat, it is necessary to make some simple adjustments to the way the meats from various types of domestic meats are cooked. When broiling or grilling a choice cut of tender venison, the meat must be cooked rapidly, using a higher heat than used for beef.
The goal is to sear the outside of the venison while keeping the inside rare or medium rare. The surface must be based regularly while cooking, and the meat must rest for about five minutes after removed from the heat. The cooked meat must be sliced against the grain.
Cooking less tender cuts of venison should be done in moisture, either by stewing or braising.
If the venison is frozen, it must be thawed in red wine or buttermilk, whichever one works best with the recipe you will be using. These liquids help take some of the “wild taste” out of meat.
When cooking a ground venison patty, it must be browned quickly in a frying pan over high heat before the heat must is reduced to low. A little red wine or beef stock must be added to the pan, and the patty must be cooked, covered, until it is rare to medium.
Cooked venison must not be exposed to the air for long periods of time. If it will not be served straight away, cooked venison must be wrapped up in foil until just before serving, then sliced right before serving.