Game Meat

J

jsfinn

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Nov 26, 2003
Messages
1,093
I set out to make chili today but decided I wanted something a little different than the normal beef or pork chili I've been making forever and thought I'd try venison. So, I stopped by the butcher, but they don't stock it... they really didn't have anything out of the ordinary but said he could order me just about anything.

I like to cook and I like to try new things so I came home and did a little Google search on game meat. It looks like you can buy a lot of different things online. Some that look interesting to me are Alligator, Antelope, Bison, Black Bear, Elk, Kangaroo, Rattlesnake, Venison, or Wild Boar.

Anybody ever use "exotic" game meat? How do you cook it? What's good? What's not good? Ever order meat online?
 
aspeck

aspeck

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
18,603
Re: Game Meat

Have cooked ostrich, wild bore, bear, venison (moose, deer, elk). It is all good! I generally cook it about the same as beef, depending on the cut and what I am hungry for. The Wild Bore was great as "pulled pork" BBQ!
 
tashasdaddy

tashasdaddy

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
51,019
Re: Game Meat

we did not like venison steaks etc. and my dad was a hunter. so we had venison ground,, you guessed it, burgers, spagetti, chili, meat loaf anything you can use ground meat in. grinding it is not tough.
 
aspeck

aspeck

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
18,603
Re: Game Meat

MMMMM ... Venison steaks ... marinated, rubbed, grilled, broiled (just not fried, unless you pound first). Dang, you are making me hungry!
 
J

jt57

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 2, 2004
Messages
101
Re: Game Meat

Having been raised on wild meat(moose,elk,deer,antelope) the one thing you want to remember when cooking is,it that it's a lot leaner then store bought beef.We did all of our own butchering,and anything that we made into burger meat we always added a little fat in with it.
 
B

Bass Man Bruce

Lieutenant
Joined
Jul 9, 2004
Messages
1,378
Re: Game Meat

To me aligator is a bit chewy.
Ostrich and elk must be cooked at lower temps than beef, they burn very easily.
For venison remove all tallow, cooks a lot like beef, I like it medium well.
I usually get two deer each year so we have lots of venison.
It makes excellent chili, burgers and tenderloins grilled are hard to beat. Goes great in pasties, tacos as well.
 
T

turfman

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
169
Re: Game Meat

Moose, Elk, Deer, Caribou, Antelope here. Moose and Caribou are stringy sometimes. Venison I usually only save the back straps and cold pack the rest.

Alot of the taste has to do with their diet and if the game ran after it was shot.
 
angus63

angus63

Captain
Joined
May 20, 2002
Messages
3,726
Re: Game Meat

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought for sure it was going to be about the Patriots!

(Don't worry, it's almost out of my system................almost)
 
JB

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: Game Meat

Really fond of venison saddle, broiled, and venison or bison stew.
 
rolmops

rolmops

Vice Admiral
Joined
Feb 24, 2002
Messages
5,316
Re: Game Meat

There are some concerns with wild boar.You must cook it to death,because that is the only way to get rid of trigonosis which is a worm that causes cists in your muscle tissue and can be very painful.
As for alligator meat.We had an alligator farm down the road (for leather shoes and purses).The 'gators were brought up on a diet of chicken necks from a nearby slaughter house.Their tails were very nice and tasted like chicken,except that it was steak sized.

Just never mention to your wife what it is she eats......
 
SgtMaj

SgtMaj

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
1,997
Re: Game Meat

Bald eagle stew... yumm.

Relax, I'm just kiddin with ya. :D Venisson is about as gamey as I go. Tried a bison burger once but it was way too dry. (perhaps it would be good if prepared better... but what can you do when you're at a restaurant?)

Oh, and I don't know if this counts as game meat, but I've also had escargo a couple of times. It's not particularly great though.

Oh, and caviar. That was actually quite good. It wasn't the stuff from sturgeon though, I think it was from salmon or something else... I forget.

I tried balot and day-old chick on a stick, too... neither are worth trying. But that's not really game meat since it's just chicken... but the age of the chicks makes it kinda exotic.
 
J

jsfinn

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Nov 26, 2003
Messages
1,093
Re: Game Meat

There are definitely some things here I want to try.

Where do you get your meat from? Hunt it? Buy it local? Buy online?
 
SgtMaj

SgtMaj

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
1,997
Re: Game Meat

If you don't hunt yourself, you can usually get venison from just about anyone that does, as they will usually have plenty to spare.

I don't really hunt much (mostly because it just doesn't thrill me like fishing does, to me it's just a boring day in the woods, usually without ever seeing anything), so that's how I get my venison.

Occasionally you can find venison in stores, but not often. A lot of stores have started to carry bison meat however.
 
Sig_Mech

Sig_Mech

Seaman
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
63
Re: Game Meat

There ain't nothing better than a good fresh antelope steak. Just marinate that baby in Wishbone italian dressing for a day then quick fry it in a buttered frying pan and enjoy. Be sure to have plenty of bread to sop up those juices.
The one mistake people tend to make is over cooking game meat. They believe that because it is a wild animal it needs to be well done to cook out all those parasites and diseases they carry. Nothing could be further from the truth. Cook it like beef, keep it well marinated because it is very lean then enjoy.
 
Kenneth Brown

Kenneth Brown

Captain
Joined
Feb 3, 2003
Messages
3,481
Re: Game Meat

rolmops said:
There are some concerns with wild boar.You must cook it to death,because that is the only way to get rid of trigonosis which is a worm that causes cists in your muscle tissue and can be very painful.
Click to expand...

Somebody will say I'm wrong and might be right so take it for what its worth. We eat quite a bit of wild hog. It gets frozen for about a month before being cooked unless I send some out to be smoked. I've made jerky out of it and its by far the best I've ever had. The wild is so much better than farm raised due to be so lean. When making jerky fat is your enemy and wild has almost none in the meat itself. Its my belief that the freezer is just as good as a high temp for the worms.
 
Caveman Charlie

Caveman Charlie

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
545
Re: Game Meat

Every labor day some of my friends have a snapping turtle feed. They bread it and deep fat fry it. It's; surprisingly; quite good. Every one brings a salad or something , and they have a keg. We have a good time and chow down on turtle. It's gotten to be a tradition for us.
 
J

jsfinn

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Nov 26, 2003
Messages
1,093
Re: Game Meat

I'd try a lot of things, but turtle just doesn't sound good to me. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top