Wife not into "game" meat

[howl]

Many people will never like venison because of prejudice. I wouldn't do it to a backstrap steak for myself, but for someone with issues try overnight marinade in italian dressing and grill to medium rare. For me, it gets the same treatment as sirloin.

As for the ground, if it is processed correctly it won't have any gamey flavor. Typical ground beef is a little gamey, but venison shouldn't be. I don't add beef fat because it can make the ground gamey. You'll just have to cook and drain the fat back out anyway. Pointless.

Worcestershire + Pickapeppa + Sriracha will cover gamey. My wife bought some grass fed beef. Yuck. The mix made it edible at least. If you don't like spicy heat, cook it until the red pepper oil degrades.

 

[Nick87]

Best marinade I've found for people like my wife is. 2 parts A1, 1 part worcestershire sauce, minced garlic and a pinch of brown sugar.

 

[Addicting]

Getting a new wife sounds like the best option.

 

[DouglasR]

Take her to a feed lot then tell her to choose between that and a free range animal. Lol

 

[DouglasR]

Take her to a feed lot then tell her to choose between that and a free range animal. Lol

Not to say that I won’t destroy some gluten fed ribeyes, but if i was given the choice I’d take venison.

 

[270.Rose]

Speaking from experience here...
Step 1: Invest in a smoker and a good grill.
Step 2: Stuff backstraps with cream cheese, wrap in bacon, sear and then smoke.
Step 3: Add plenty of fruit jam to any cut of venison except ground (and backstraps which one does not crock-pot) and cook low and slow in the crock-pot. Serve over mashed potatoes.
Step 4: Take her hunting and let her harvest the meat herself and let her cut it up The Way She Wants It so she can cook it herself, without offering contrary opinions on how it should be done.
Step 5: Be the cheerleader/snack carrier as she plans her own hunts because she's as keen on wild game as you are now.
I guess we'll find out the next step next week, elk hunt coming up

 

[Khunter]

First off, I'm no expert at game meat preparation but I consider myself a very good cook. I've made venison stew once, let it slow cook all day. Daughter had three helpings. Wife had one, was not a fan. I've had elk burgers, did not turn out well because of low fat content. Recently, friend got a bison and I ground it all with added pork belly fat. Daughter and I loved them. Wife did not dislike but claimed she could tell difference. On archery opener (9/2/23), got my first buck. Except backstraps, the rest I had ground with beef fat added by local butcher. Questions:

1. suggested seasonings for the back straps as I intend to do them in cast iron, pull and cover with foil to rest for 10 mins, then slice and eat. Other than garlic salt, pepper and maybe onion powder, anything else?

2. for the ground, I plan on doing the usual: meat sauce for spaghetti, chili, tacos and maybe even some shepherd's pie. Anyone have wife/family with sensitive palette and use anything special to help with flavor? Thanks in advance. I love eating game meat, but trying to get creative so wife can enjoy it with me.

If by venison you mean mule deer, then by all means kill elk or antelope instead. Generally much better and less gamey meat compared side by side by a wide margin based on a ton of animals that have come through our kitchen. If the above you mention is your approach and repertoire, your cooking skills will benefit from more practice so work on that and do not over complicate this. Practice and practice some more. Made venison stew once in your life? Why only once? A million great variations of ‘stews’ to be enjoyed.

It was the technique not the lack of added fat in those elk burgers most likely. I add zero fat to all my grind for every species of critter and folks love the burgers and everything else I make with it. I minimize grind as the steaks and roasts are the best. For binder if younwant it for burgers/meatloaf/meatballs etc an egg and panko or bread crumbs per pound or so works. Often I add nothing but basic spices and some olive oil then carefully cook so does not become a brick. Ends up juicy and tender.

The last thing I would stretch by adding fat in the grind is mule deer. I want that meat gone as fast as possible as it usually is the gamiest flavored meat in the freezer. I would not multiply the poundage of mule deer to eat with added fat. Just means I have to eat more mule deer.

@Dsnow9 is spot on with his advice. Keep the seasonings simple—complicated overbearimg seasonings not needed. Make lots steaks and less ground meals and mind the pan/griil and the internal meat temps. Game meat is generally not “gamey” so nothing to hide. Exception to me would be some mule deer.

I serve minimally seasoned Elk, lope, bear, moose, sheep, Mt. Goat regularly to all mn wr of folks with little experience eatimg game meat and the compliments flow and the meat gets chowed down.

Just keep working at it and expend less effort trying to “hide” naturally good flavor nd results will improve.

Some folks just have it in their head some irrational bias against game meat and convinced many of them are just thinking they taste a bad taste that is not actually there. Probbly never overcome that bias so just keep cooking for the two in family who eat the wild game amd the wife can have whatever else she prefers.

Lastly start cooking Hank Shaw recipes. He has all the creativity you could ever want to try all lined up for you.

 

[Khunter]

I was wondering about brining, which I do every year with our turkey for Thanksgiving. I thought about doing it for the back straps, but then read the idea about seasoning the day before, which is similar. Brining I'm assuming would just add more moisture, plus the flavor of the salt/sugar or whatever else is in the brine.

Holy hell do not brine a backstrap. Somebody does not want a simply cooked backstrap it is 100% there loss. Do not wreck the best of the best to appease anyone. wife included.

 

[Boarmaster]

First off, I'm no expert at game meat preparation but I consider myself a very good cook. I've made venison stew once, let it slow cook all day. Daughter had three helpings. Wife had one, was not a fan. I've had elk burgers, did not turn out well because of low fat content. Recently, friend got a bison and I ground it all with added pork belly fat. Daughter and I loved them. Wife did not dislike but claimed she could tell difference. On archery opener (9/2/23), got my first buck. Except backstraps, the rest I had ground with beef fat added by local butcher. Questions:

1. suggested seasonings for the back straps as I intend to do them in cast iron, pull and cover with foil to rest for 10 mins, then slice and eat. Other than garlic salt, pepper and maybe onion powder, anything else?

2. for the ground, I plan on doing the usual: meat sauce for spaghetti, chili, tacos and maybe even some shepherd's pie. Anyone have wife/family with sensitive palette and use anything special to help with flavor? Thanks in advance. I love eating game meat, but trying to get creative so wife can enjoy it with me.

Not much you can do if someone doesn't like venison. Same as if they don't like fish or
beef or pork. They just eat something else that meal. Sausage is the one thing you can get by most people that don't like venison.

I use the same seasoning on my venison loins and steaks I cook in my cast iron as I would use on my ribeyes or new york strip beef steak. Mostly sea or kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Most recently I found a carne asada seasoning on amazon I been using on venison steaks. Normally I sear the whole steaks in the cast to rare in the middle and sliced but with this seasoning I been thinly slicing the steak against the grain and lightly sauteed it in the cast iron in olive oil and add the seasoning to coat the slices. It makes great tacos or just plain with some sliced avocado, beans and lettuce sides.

 

[Islander]

Simple backstrap:

Start sliced onions in butter, low temp. After mostly done, add more butter and 1/4" thick sliced tenderloin. Salt, pepper, garlic to taste. Pull as soon as blood turns brown.

Makes it's own gravy. Tender. Excellent on tortillas or with rice.

 

[rjthehunter]

My wife is not a fan of venison but does like elk, bison and moose to the point she rarely orders beef and I don’t think has purchased store beef in several years. This sounds great but can be a little extra annoying at 3 am her pushing me out of bed to go hunting. Sounds great but I like to watch football and eat turkey on thanksgiving.

If anyone has a sure fire method to get my wife to eat fish, I would pay reward.

Fry some walleye and perch up... Start her w/ the perch, graduate to the walleye. Shore lunch original. If she doesn't like that, she's a nut! Let me know when you need my venmo

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

One method worth noting, if you have texture issues with wild game the instant pot will break it down and make it tender in a hurry.

Sometimes people struggle because wild game isn't as tender as chicken breast

 

[sclancy27]

Seasoning/cooking after the fact pales to taking care of the meat before you cut it up, IMO. I take a lot of care in the field and then when aging. I try to age all my game for at least 5 days, 7-9 is better. We just had mule deer steaks last night and they were awesome.

 

[howl]

I'm not saying anyone is wrong. You do you because that's best for you.

That said, some of y'all are grossing me out.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I disagree on the mental, while I eat elk and deer often and have for the past 2 or 3 years with very little beef, it don’t taste near as good as beef. I’ve tried it enough ways to where I can say it can’t be the cook. While it’s good, ain’t quite like beef.

Well of course it doesn't taste like beef. They eat completely different things. The beef you buy at the store tastes much different than one raised at home on grass feed.

 

[kevine001]

Getting a new wife sounds like the best option.

My wife may have issues with venison, but she's smoking hot 51 yo and an awesome lady otherwise. But I understand the comment... ha ha

 

[Addicting]

My wife may have issues with venison, but she's smoking hot 51 yo and an awesome lady otherwise. But I understand the comment... ha ha

Doesn’t look like you will be hunting with @DouglasR. He has a think for hot older women.

 

[Northwoods]

My wife may have issues with venison, but she's smoking hot 51 yo and an awesome lady otherwise. But I understand the comment... ha ha

Definitely keep your bride. When I got married 21 years ago my wife didn’t care for wild game. I never pushed the issue. I just cooked it and ate it. Things slowly changed. Now she really enjoys venison, elk, grouse, turkey, walleye, pike, trout, etc. she even started fishing about 5 years ago and loves it. Last fall I shot some coots. My wife took one bite and knew it definitely wasn’t mallard. My daughter who is a super picky eater ate the coot .

 

[Nick87]

⅝

My wife may have issues with venison, but she's smoking hot 51 yo and an awesome lady otherwise. But I understand the comment... ha ha

Aged well. Just sayin.

 

[Pucky Freak]

When I’m cooking my wife will sometimes walk by and “OMG…that smells amazing. I’m hungry.” Then I tell her it’s duck/goose/rabbit/squirrel/dove and “Eww. That’s disgusting!”

She does really like elk and deer. If I have an unpunched tag and take a day off to do upland game or waterfowl I get an earful. She also wants all my NR trips to be for elk only.

Personally, I like the dish to highlight the natural taste of the animal, but most other people seem a little turned off to that.

I bet if you substituted bison for beef secretly and didn’t tell her she wouldn’t notice at all if it’s hid in tacos, spaghetti, etc.