A lot of the recipes so far have been venison. In part it’s because it’s winter when I started the blog, and in part it’s because I cook it a lot. Each year I buy two or three whole carcasses and butcher then freeze the meat for the year.
I don’t buy venison because I’m a food snob, I do it to save money. That may seem bonkers when you see it priced in a supermarket, but it really depends on where you live. Before I moved here I’d only had venison in restaurants, often posh restaurants. And beef was my red meat of choice. But that’s changed. It helps that it’s local, and it helps that the deer need to be culled to protect the environment, so they are not bred for meat but free-range. I know it would be better to be veggie, but I like meat and bluntly I’m not going to waste what’s there.
Types of Deer
You can read all this elsewhere so I’ll keep it brief. There are several (six) types of deer in the UK, when you buy a beast round here it’s a Sika by default, you can get Red, and Red-Sika cross but the gamekeepers normally expect you’ll want Sika. Why? well it’s more tender and just as tasty. If you have Red it normally needs a couple of extra days hanging to be as tender, and most of the time you can’t tell between well prepared meat. It is noticeable in a side-by-side comparison. So I tend to have Sika.
The one thing I would recommend though is knowing the season. If you buy at the very beginning of the season you’ll get a male. That’s fine, but if they are in musk the meat will taste different – not to my taste, sorry. So I tend to buy when hinds are in season (21 Oct to 15 Feb around here). Keeps it simple, and I like simple.
Dealing with a beast
I buy whole animals, some come with the skin on, some skinned. All have their head and hooves removed, and are cleaned and inspected before sale. If you want the offal you can get it, the hearts are seen as a delicacy, the rest is less used. I like the tongue, but it’s all personal taste. If you want the offal you may be disappointed. Often older animals can have liver flukes and the inspection will throw them out. Often the heart is damaged by the shot – so again thrown out. A good gamekeeper with a licence to sell the meat won’t apologise for that, they will keep you right and only give you good quality produce.
Again there are great videos on butchering deer, so I’ll not labour the point. The value in butchering the beast yourself is that you control the cuts and the portions. You know what is going in the mincer, and if you would rather have chops or a saddle or the fillet.
The first time I butchered a beast it took me five hours. It still takes me two to three to get it all squared away, but that’s usually about 70-80 packs for the freezer, so it’s not so bad when you look at it like that.
Cuts and what to do with them
This is the easy part – treat it like beef. The fillet, sirloin and rump are best cooked as little as you can stand. The blade is tender too, but the rest of the shoulder does better roasted or in a pie/stew. The hock love a long slow cook. The belly and brisket I typically mince. The ribs as racks or dried and spiced as jerky. The neck stewed. You get the idea.
Keep the bones too for stock – I bought a stainless steel pull saw to deal with the bones – worth it. And you can batch make the stock and freeze it it you like.
if you’re not sure what a cut will be good for cut it with a sharp knife – that will tell you everything. The easier it cuts the less you cook. If it’s got tendons and white connective tissues then it needs longer cooking or mincing. If it’s on the bone you need to cook and rest to get the flavour out. Another rule of thumb – the darker the meat the more tender and the less cooking.
