Tc Cyr

Shanks are another commonly discarded piece that taste amazing if you cook them low and slow.

I cut circles about an inch to  inch and half around the leg, then cut them off the bone. Since white tail legs are comparatively small to elk, I usually use two or all four legs for each meal. I just put them and all the connective tissue except the tendons in the crock pot.

Fill to almost cover meat with water or beef stock. Add a can of cream of mushroom soup, tbsp minced garlic, a few good shakes of Worcestershire, a pack of beefy onion soup mix, and cook 8-10 hrs on low.

If you like thicker gravy can use flour or cornstarch.

Personally I like this over a pile of basmati rice.

Oops! Is that bad? Every recipe I’ve tried from them has turned out well, if that helps!

I’ve made squirrel noodle soup that turned out amazing -not trying to brag, all I did was follow instructions. Venison supreme nachos, spicy smoked meatballs, brined and smoked a whole ham, baked spaghetti pie, those are just off the top of my head.

For less tender cuts of whole muscle I use an empty beer bottle to tenderize. I cut the steaks about 1/2” thick, then use the mouth of the bottle to pound both sides with overlapping circles almost through the meat. Lay the cuts in a dish and sprinkle the indentations with Worcestershire sauce and stick them in the fridge.

Mix one egg in a cup of milk

Mix one cup of flour with tbsp each salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Shake off each piece, run it through egg mixture, dredge in flour mixture, then cook in about 1/4 - 1/2” hot oil in a cast iron pan. If I’m feeling happy I’ll batter them twice before frying.

I do my oil med high and cook each side until brown. Set them on a rack or paper towel to cool.

Don’t skip tenderizing with the bottle. And just between you and me a plastic bottle works too

https://www.themeateater.com/watch/6175574210001/meateater-s-venison-ribs-recipe

Congratulations for trying one of the more difficult cuts! Most people either leave them on the carcass (I shamefully admit to doing this in ignorance in the past), or  trim them off for the grind pile. I just recently found the above recipe and have not tried it yet.

If you do try it please let me know how it turns out. This one is on my list for this year 😎

New to this forum, heard about it from a friend who has a RMH and was intrigued by the concept and started looking around.

Anyway I am what is known as an “Adult Onset Hunter”. I had an opportunity to shoot a deer one year and knew there just had to be a better way to cook the meat.

Since then I’ve become an active member of the hunting community. White tails are delicious. They don’t, and won’t ever taste like beef. They are not cows. No one ever eats turkey expecting it to taste like chicken.

My greatest resource is Meateater.com. I am not affiliated with the show, I just learned so much from it I try to tell everyone about it. They really changed how I approach cooking wild game. They post a free recipe about once a week and have a cook book that I purchased.

The meateater cook book has a recipe to bribe and smoke a whole venison ham. I tried it last year with a button buck for xmas. It was literally wiped out while we had plenty of turkey left over.

A couple of rules of thumb for cooking ultra lean meat:

Field care matters. Field dress your deer ASAP.

Temp accelerates aging process. Keep it cold as you can w/out freezing and process after rigor.

Cuts with a lot of connective tissue work best in a crock pot or Dutch Oven. Cooklow, slow, and moist. Believe it or not, these cuts often have the best flavor. See “Osso Buco”

Steaks, aged properly, are best seared and rare. The more well done the grayer and tougher and tasteless.  Take comfort in the fact that most of the 160° considerations don’t apply to well handled deer meat.

Roasts in the crock pot are amazing.

If anyone really wants a recipe respond and I’ll post a few of my personal favorites