Venison Recipes

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Venison may or may not be the most popular game meat, but it is definitely the most abused. I can’t tell you how many people I have served venison to who have had to overcome some prior bad experience with it. “Ew, it’s so tough. It tastes like liver.” Yes, if you overcook it and handle the meat poorly when you kill the animal it will be poor fare at the table. Another secret is to avoid trophy hunters: They tend to kill big, testosterone-soaked bucks shot during the rut, which can be iffy as table fare. Go for a young buck or better yet, a doe.

Below are some recipes, grouped by style of cooking or cut of meat. I have found that while the taste of elk or moose or whitetail deer or mule deer may differ slightly, the cooking methods and recipes are all interchangeable.

Basics

• A primer on making venison sausages and curing whole cuts of venison
• The differences between cooking venison and other wild game and cooking domestic meat like beef or lamb

Recipes by Cut of Meat

Medallions, Backstraps, Tenderloins

Recipes for the tenderest part of the deer.

Sausages, Burgers and Meatballs

What to do with all that venison “burger” the butcher gave you.

Large Roasts

These are usually from the back legs, and are good for long, slow cooking to make sure they’re tender.

Soups, Stews and Stock

Pretty self-explanatory, these are my wintertime dishes.

Flanks and Shanks

This is the venison equivalent of beef shanks, flank steak and skirt steak.

The Wobbly Bits – Heart, Liver, etc

Offal. Innards. Variety Meats. In some cases, these are the best parts of the animal. Here’s how to cook them properly.

More Wild Game Recipes