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Venison vs. Beef

Faster horses

Well-known member
I got this from a friend in Alaska. I thought it worth posting :D


This test applies to moose and caribou as well.





Venison vs. Beef: The controversy ends From the U.S. Venison Council

Controversy
has long raged about the relative quality and taste of venison and beef as
gourmet foods. Some people say venison is tough, with a strong "wild" taste.

Others insist venison's flavor is delicate. An independent food research
group
was retained by the Venison Council to conduct a taste test to determine the

truth of these conflicting assertions once and for all.

First, a Grade A
Choice Holstein steer was chased into a swamp a mile and a half from a road
and
shot several times. After some of the entrails were removed, the carcass was

dragged back over rocks and logs, and through mud and dust to the road. It
was
then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and driven through rain and snow
for
100 miles before being hung out in the sun for a day.

It was then lugged
into a garage where it was skinned and rolled around on the floor for a
while.
Strict sanitary precautions were observed throughout the test, within the
limitations of the butchering environment. For instance, dogs and cats were
allowed to sniff and lick the steer carcass, but most of the time were
chased
away when they attempted to bite chunks out of it.

Next, a sheet of
plywood left from last year's butchering was set up in the basement on two
saw
horses. The pieces of dried blood, hair and fat left from last year were
scraped
off with a wire brush last used to clean out the grass stuck under the lawn
mower.

The skinned carcass was then dragged down the steps into the
basement where a half dozen inexperienced but enthusiastic and intoxicated
men
worked on it with meat saws, cleavers, hammers and dull knives. The result
was
375 pounds of soup bones, four bushel baskets of meat scraps, and a couple
of
steaks that were an eighth of an inch thick on one edge and an inch and a
half
thick on the other edge.

The steaks were seared on a glowing red hot cast
iron skillet to lock in the flavor. When the smoke cleared, rancid bacon
grease
was added, along with three pounds of onions, and the whole conglomeration
was
fried for two hours.

The meat was gently teased from the frying pan and
served to three intoxicated and blindfolded taste panel volunteers. Every
member
of the panel thought it was venison. One volunteer even said it tasted
exactly
like the venison he has eaten in hunting camps for the past 27 years.

The
results of this scientific test conclusively show that there is no
difference
between the taste of beef and venison...
 

loomixguy

Well-known member
When I was in college, one of my roommates shot an antelope and had it processed. I did all the cooking for the 3 of us, so when he showed up with the meat, I thought "great...we won't have to buy meat at the store for a while!"

Little did I know that the antelope my little nimrod shot was the biggest damn antelope in the state of Nebraska! Bigger than a D9 Cat, even! We ate on that SOB what seemed like years! I can still smell and taste that damn glorified goat as I type this. Last wild game I ever ate, or will eat.
 

Justin

Well-known member
loomixguy said:
When I was in college, one of my roommates shot an antelope and had it processed. I did all the cooking for the 3 of us, so when he showed up with the meat, I thought "great...we won't have to buy meat at the store for a while!"

Little did I know that the antelope my little nimrod shot was the biggest damn antelope in the state of Nebraska! Bigger than a D9 Cat, even! We ate on that SOB what seemed like years! I can still smell and taste that damn glorified goat as I type this. Last wild game I ever ate, or will eat.

u just have to hunt those that have been corn fed :wink:
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
It's all in the preparation from the bush to the plate for the most part. My dad bless his thrifty heart always believed in butchering something that probably wouldn't sell well usually a Shorthorn cow with a bad voting record there were some long winters getting those old girls knawed into swallowing size. I think the key with wild meat is take out all the bone and trim all the fat. Most of us are lucky to be able to enjoy both in copius amounts.
 

VB RANCH

Well-known member
when i was in 6th grade they closed the country school i was going to and shipped us to town, came home from town school and told ma them hamburgers tasted funny, was the 1st time i ate beef. i know lots of people that live on WILD game, but they take care of it
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
This is the first year we never bought every tag we could but there were years we'd go through 12-15 deer and a moose plus a beef. Four kids plus all their friends can go through a pile of meat. Not sure about the moose this year but were only going to get 6 deer this year if Emily and I tag out-we didn't get to make our annual mulie pilgrimage.
 

Silver

Well-known member
Most of the elk I've shot around here have lived like a beef all their lives, better I guess because they were grazing on the oat crops while the cows were toughing it out on native grass. I would say that there is very little difference between an elk fattened this way and a young fat dry cow.
I have drug the odd elk out of the mountains that could not make this claim to flavour though.
We shot a buffalo a couple years back that had summered on the neighbours pea crop before making his way to our place. Dang good eating for sure.
But I still haven't had a piece of venison that I could just pan fry with salt and pepper and choke down. I figure if you have to dress it up with Gamma's secret family recipe of spices and marinades it's just not worth it.
But deer do make fine sausage, jerky, and such.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
We always peel the backstraps and tenderloins and fry them fresh-pretty healthy tasty hunk of meat. I shot a buffalo bulls that was creating havoc in my cows a few years ago but I never took any of the meat-any I've had reminds me of an older beef cow.
 

burnt

Well-known member
Venison can vary a lot from bad to superb depending if you're going for a trophy buck or something that will make a gourmet meal. Does are usually pretty good to great eating.

And I have honest to goodness never had ANY meat that was more tender and tasty than the two older fawns that made the mistake, one closing day, of walking past my stand and me with my tags not filled . . .

Moose is usually really good eating but when the boys go after bear and bring one home, I don't want to see it unless it's all made into sausage.
 

jodywy

Well-known member
lived out of Laramie on a ranch when I went to college, one fall I shot a 4 point mule deer, my new bride had the game processing class at college and too it there. She made lLinguica sausage out of most of it and brought a roast and some steaks home. It was the best venison I had probably ever eaten.
Well shot a little spike a week later we hung it for about 10 days then cut it up in the little trailer house we lived in….. when marinate it in milk all night cook it in Italian salad dressing then throw it out side and the dog would run away. But really drought making it into Linguica would of helped either
 

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