I got this from a friend in Alaska. I thought it worth posting
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...