Noel Stacey - My Wild Kitchen: Venison Steaks, Backstraps, and Tenders; 50 Ways to Prepare Venison Steaks, Backstraps, and Tenders besides Chicken Fried...And How to Chicken Fry, Too

My Wild Kitchen: Venison Steaks, Backstraps, and Tenders 50 Ways to Prepare Venison Steaks, Backstraps, andTenders besides Chicken Fried... ...And How to Chicken Fry, Too. Published by Noel M. Stacey at Smashwords Copyright 2015 Noel M. Stacey Discover other titles by Noel M. Stacey: My Wild Kitchen - Top 10 Ground Venison Recipes ISBN: 9781310719691 This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoymentonly.

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How to View the Recipes Each recipe is available in two forms: Withor Without Pictures. In the recipe list you will see each recipelisted twice consecutively. Choose the version you prefer byselecting the recipe followed by With Pictures or Plain Text.Both versions have a feature photo, but only the With Picturesoption shares the step-by-step pictures. You can also toggle backand forth between versions from inside the recipes.

Our culture has such adistant connection with the food we eat that most people don't knowor don't want to think about where their food comes from. People who choose to cook with venisontypically have a better understanding and perception of where theirfood comes from, but many people who eat venison do so as asecondary protein source. In other words, most of their meat comesfrom the grocery store. Theyre accustomed to eating chicken, beef,and domestic pork, and venison is just another option, notnecessarily their first pick. Then there are people who receive venisonfrom a friend or relative. The friend says, "Hey, I have some deer.Do you want some?" The freezer is stocked, and then stared at formonths with a resounding question of "How do I cook thisstuff?" Venison doesn't come in the same exact cutsthat beef comes in.

Ground venison can be treated identically toground beef, but then there are the cuts of meat: steaks,backstraps, and tenders. The steaks that come from venison areclearly not the same as a beef T-bone, and if treated the same as abeef steak, venison steaks will become a dry, tough, and inediblehockey puck. Venison steaks lack a key ingredient that beef steakshave: marbling. Venison is lean. We have to learn to respect thecharacteristics of venison. When we treat venison the way it shouldbe treated it will rival any beef steak at any gourmetrestaurant.

When I started My Wild Kitchen I couldn'twait to write about Chicken Fried Backstrap. It's certainly one ofour favorite ways to cook venison backstrap, or venison steaks forthat matter, and my husband, Coach, makes gravy that comes outperfect every time. Chicken Fried Backstrap was one of the veryfirst recipes I shared with my readers, and since then almost30,000 people have read the recipe. It's my #1 viewed recipe, andfor good reason! But, it makes me wonder, do people know how manyother amazing methods there are for cooking venison steaks,backstraps, and tenders? The possibilities are endless! And I have50 ideas for you to try. I also find myself wondering, "Who doesn'tknow how to chicken fry?" I'm from Texas. We fry everything in theSouth.

Fried Snickers at the State Fair of Texas, anyone? But I'velearned that not everyone is familiar with this practice. Irecently had a conversation with a colleague from Canada. I toldhim about my recipe for Chicken Fried Backstrap. After a long pausehe responded, "I didn't know chickens had backstraps." For thatreason, I've also included my recipe for Chicken Fried Backstrap inthis cookbook. Most of these recipes can be made usingsteaks, backstrap, or tenders, but I've categorized them by thebest fit, in my opinion. For our purposes, venison is any meat thatcomes from the deer family including whitetail deer, elk, moose,mule deer, sika, etc.

While they're not in the deer family, theserecipes can also be used with blackbuck or pronghorn antelope. Cuts of Venison Where do these cuts come from? High end beefsteaks come from the loin of a steer. That's not the case withvenison steaks. Venison steaks are typically cut from the hams.Round Steaks come from the rear leg and include the femur in thesteak. Ham Steaks come from the same area as Round Steaks, but thebone has been removed, and the steaks may be separated intoindividual muscle groups. Since Venison Steaks come from the legs, themuscle groups that make up the steaks are working muscles, musclesused for movement.

Muscles that are used for movement can betougher than muscles that are not used for movement. Therefore, itmay be important to tenderize the steaks before cooking them. Thisdepends on the type and age of the deer. Steaks from a mature buckwill likely be tougher than steaks from a younger doe. Venison Backstrap is actually the equivalentof the loin in cattle. The backstrap is not a muscle that sees alot of movement.

It's more stationary than the muscles in the legs.Consequently, it's more tender than round or ham steaks. Venison Tenders, short for tenderloin, arenarrow strips of meat that are found under the ribcage along thevertebrae of the deer. One of the most unfortunate things I've everheard of are hunters who simply quarter a deer, remove thebackstraps, and dispose of the carcass without removing the tendersjust because they didn't want to take the time to gut the animal.The two tenders found inside a deer are the most tender bites youwill take. It is a crime (metaphorically speaking) to leave thesetwo strips of delight for the buzzards. I've always joked that when I get to heaventhe first thing I'll ask God will be why he only put two backstrapsand two tenders on each deer. I know he had a good reason, if onlyto teach us to appreciate a good thing when we see it, but italways makes me sad when my backstrap and tender stashes run out.We process our own venison at home.

The tenders always get pairedtogether, and typically are not large enough to feed our family offive by themselves. I usually have to thaw out two packages oftenders, a total of four tenders, to make a complete meal. Thebackstraps are much larger than the tenders, running most of thelength of the back of the deer. We cut the backstraps intodifferent lengths, packaging them in roughly one pound packages.The amount of meat that comes from the backstraps and tenderslimits the number of recipes I have to share with you for each ofthese cuts. Tenderizing Venison When it's necessary to tenderize venisonthere are several methods and tools that can be used. My preferredmethod is to use a rubber mallet with teeth.

To tenderize venisonsteaks or backstrap medallions, lay the slices of meat out on acutting board and cover them with a large piece of plastic wrap.The plastic wrap will prevent the meat from splattering all overyour kitchen. There may be a small amount of splattering that getsby, so thorough clean up and disinfection are still important aftertenderizing your meat, but the risk of cross contamination isgreatly reduced when you cover the meat before beating it with themallet. I can remember my momma tenderizing meat when I was a kid.Her frugality prevented her from using plastic wrap. Instead shewould hold a kitchen towel over her shirt with one hand to protecther clothes and beat the meat with the mallet with the other hand.The splatter was terrible. That's how I started tenderizing mymeat, too. But I'm not quite as frugal as my momma, and one day itstruck me that I could cover the meat with plastic wrap and avoidthe mess altogether.