Best Game Recipes? Pile on the mix!

Here are some winners we've found to be crowd pleasers:

Grind 2/3 large game with 1/3 pork. (shoulders are good)
Mix in Bratwurst or German Sausage spices.
Make into hamburgers. Known as a Wisconsin "Sheboygan Brat Burger". Most non-Germans say this is way better than a sausage. Serve on a pretzel roll with sauerkraut, sauteed onions, mushrooms, good mustards and stinky cheeses.

Venison Carpaccio: Do you like raw meat? How about sushi? If you do, this is the hit! My kids gobble it up like vultures. Really simple, grab a big game backstrap / loin out of the freezer. While still frozen, SHAVE little paper thin pieces off of it and put them on a large platter. Now drizzle lemon juice and your favorite vinegars all over it to sort of cook/Pickle it. (think ceviche) It sets up in the fridge in 1-2 hours. Mega crowd pleaser for people that hate wild game...because overcooked game tastes like hell and thus this tastes better than rare! Then put capers, minced garlic, and minced shallots on it along with arugula. Serve with toast points or crackers.

Those are the quick and dirty recipes we love. What do you have on your popular list?

Thats a great idea for burger meat Rookhawk, I am going to try that next time I grind burger. With teenage kids in the house we eat a lot of burger....And I am going to try the Carpaccio also.

Lately when I grind burger, especially venison or caribou that does not have much marbled fat, rather than adding tallow, or bulk pork fat I simply just add bacon as I grind it. Everyone loves bacon and it helps with the fat needed just to hold the patties together.

Mekaniks said:

Thats a great idea for burger meat Rookhawk, I am going to try that next time I grind burger. With teenage kids in the house we eat a lot of burger....And I am going to try the Carpaccio also.

Lately when I grind burger, especially venison or caribou that does not have much marbled fat, rather than adding tallow, or bulk pork fat I simply just add bacon as I grind it. Everyone loves bacon and it helps with the fat needed just to hold the patties together.

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I like the idea of grinding in bacon!

We bulk-buy premium pork because pork trim and ground pork that should be throw-away are STUPID EXPENSIVE in our area. Usually, around 5th of July (after the 4th) there is a silly-sale on pork shoulders and picnics they didn't sell. We bought ten of them for $0.50 a pound and just grind them into our game all year for fat content. This week, Costco had a crazy sale...pork loins for $1 a pound price with $8 instant savings each. (people before us in line got the 8lb ones with $8 off...walked out completely free!) We bought the 9lb ones of course, so it came out to like $0.20 per pound effectively.

Nonetheless, I really like your idea of grinding bacon because of the additional flavor that cured bacon provides to the meat. We're going to try that one!



One more recipe we've been doing that has really been a treasured appetizer: Venison Tartare. You have to grind steak and immediately prepare it because you're eating raw meat, but my God is it good. 16 ounces of steak, grind it, mix in minced garlic, lemon zest, red onion, shallot, white pepper, salt, capers, along with the wet ingredients including vinegar, sherry, Worcestershire, lemon juice, and serve with cocktail bread. We made 5 pounds for a dinner party last weekend with kids and non-hunters present and it was all gone by 12 people in two hours!

What I've learned is that most people love game, most people love raw, rare, and medium-rare foods, they've just been fed so much crap in life they are initially fearful, then pleasantly surprised. Kids are the easiest to get onboard, they eat what tastes good based on instinct and don't have preconceived notions on what food is supposed to be yet.

@rookhawk here is a recipe for "Autumn Soup". We used to call it hamburger soup when I was a kid. Our kid loves it and we usually end up with the neighbor kids when we have it. I just happened to make a pot a couple weeks ago...

I will share one of my favorite venison marinades that I got from a good friends wife. It was created for pork, but is a great 24 hour marinade I have used on venison that compliments the meat, not over powers.

1/2 bottle Wishbone Italian Dressing
1/4 Cup Teryaki
1/4 Cup Soy
1 Tblspn Brown Sugar
1 Tspn Minced Garlic
1 Bunch Green Onions(finely sliced or cut with scissors the green tops only)
Mix well in bowl all ingredients.
Add venison cubes, steaks, or however you are going to grill. Let stand overnight in fridge. Bring to room temp. You can wrap in bacon with a toothpick if you care to take high heat while not drying out venison. Grill to taste while dribbling marinade over cooking venison or game meat.

So fixing to go grill two or three back straps now!

Bon appetite’

One of my favorite burger recipes is as follows:

2# of ground venison
1/4# of bacon - fried crisp. Save the grease.
1/2 a medium onion, diced super fine (food processor works fine, for a special treat saute the onions first)
6 mushrooms, diced super fine
one egg yolk
salt/pepper to taste

Mix the bacon fat, onions and mushroom, egg yolk and salt/pepper in with the venison. Grill at 500 degrees for a nice char and enjoy.

Something about mixing in the fat, onions and mushroom really does a nice thing and the yolk helps keep the meat together on the grill.

PS: what about the bacon? well, I suppose you could serve the bacon on the burger but in my house it never seems to last that long!

Mekaniks, oh my goodness...

I am not certain if anyone would like it or not , but these are some Tandoori roasted quails which l made recently using my father's childhood recipe , and it was co incidentally the first time l got to try my new 12 bore side by side Westley Richards shot-gun and number 6 Game Bore cartridges .

Kawshik. How is this dish prepared? Is there a marinade involved?

All sounds great!

Shootist43 said:

Kawshik. How is this dish prepared? Is there a marinade involved?

Click to expand...

Shootist43
Absolutely , my friend .
Here are the ingredients :
1 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon finely grated fresh peeled ginger

2 garlic cloves, finely grated

1 tablespoon hot paprika

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro, plus cilantro leaves for garnish

Kosher salt

Vegetable oil

8 partially boned quail, halved lengthwise ( it helps to get the number 6 shot out )

Freshly ground pepper

What you do is this :
Cut small slits across the skin of the quail , emulating the marks of a grill ( this allows the marinade to permeate better into the meat ) . After that , you take a bowl and mix all the spices into the bowl ( except the salt ) . Marinate the quails in the bowl and cover them in plastic film and leave them in your fridge , over night . Next day , you take the quails out and season them with salt and freshly ground black pepper . Use fine grain salt , because it sticks to the meat better than coarse salt . Then leave it for another eight hours , in room temperature . After that , you put them on an iron skewer ( father , however , always used to use wooden skewers ) . Then , there are two variations :
If you have access to a clay Tandoori oven like l do , then you fill the oven with hot white char- coals ( lump charcoal , not briquettes) and start roasting the quails , turning them once every two minutes .
Depending on whether you like quail rare , medium or well done , the cooking time is from eight to ten minutes .
I personally prefer mine rare , with a hearty squeeze of lemon juice.

If you do not have access to a tandoori oven , then a gas grill will suffice . The cooking time is the same . But you should only flip the birds once ( Midway between the cooking time ) . However , my poor father is probably rolling in his grave , seeing his only son recommend a gas grill for cooking Tandoori quail.

A Tandoori oven is extremely basic to make , if you know someone who practices pottery and the taste from a Tandoori oven is infinitely better than than a gas grill .

rookhawk said:

I like the idea of grinding in bacon!

We bulk-buy premium pork because pork trim and ground pork that should be throw-away are STUPID EXPENSIVE in our area. Usually, around 5th of July (after the 4th) there is a silly-sale on pork shoulders and picnics they didn't sell. We bought ten of them for $0.50 a pound and just grind them into our game all year for fat content. This week, Costco had a crazy sale...pork loins for $1 a pound price with $8 instant savings each. (people before us in line got the 8lb ones with $8 off...walked out completely free!) We bought the 9lb ones of course, so it came out to like $0.20 per pound effectively.

Nonetheless, I really like your idea of grinding bacon because of the additional flavor that cured bacon provides to the meat. We're going to try that one!



One more recipe we've been doing that has really been a treasured appetizer: Venison Tartare. You have to grind steak and immediately prepare it because you're eating raw meat, but my God is it good. 16 ounces of steak, grind it, mix in minced garlic, lemon zest, red onion, shallot, white pepper, salt, capers, along with the wet ingredients including vinegar, sherry, Worcestershire, lemon juice, and serve with cocktail bread. We made 5 pounds for a dinner party last weekend with kids and non-hunters present and it was all gone by 12 people in two hours!

What I've learned is that most people love game, most people love raw, rare, and medium-rare foods, they've just been fed so much crap in life they are initially fearful, then pleasantly surprised. Kids are the easiest to get onboard, they eat what tastes good based on instinct and don't have preconceived notions on what food is supposed to be yet.

Click to expand...

Thanks for this post. I can tell by your recipes that you are a true Wisconsinite and if not a Sheboygan county native certainly a wannabe! I am a native and resident and a Wisconsin Nationalist! Thanks so much for the recipes and post. Go Pack!

I made this lovely steak and chips today from the dry aged sirloin of a magnificent sambhur deer taken taken 3 weeks ago , with my Belgian shot gun and a Lethal Ball cartridge . If any one would like the recipe , l would be more than happy to share it here.

Major Khan said:

View attachment 318647 View attachment 318648
I made this lovely steak and chips today from the dry aged sirloin of a magnificent sambhur deer taken taken 3 weeks ago , with my Belgian shot gun and a Lethal Ball cartridge . If any one would like the recipe , l would be more than happy to share it here.

Click to expand...

Poton ,
There are few friends like you who drop by my house with an ice box containing dry aged Sambhar steaks .
It was nice having you over today and cooking with you . Let us do a smoked leg of venison with the hog deer on the 27th ? Fabliha and Daniel's family will be there too.

Kawshik Rahman said:

Poton ,
There are few friends like you who drop by my house with an ice box containing dry aged Sambhar steaks .
It was nice having you over today and cooking with you . Let us do a smoked leg of venison with the hog deer on the 27th ? Fabliha and Daniel's family will be there too.

Click to expand...

Now, that is a good idea , Kawshik .
The liver and kidneys, we can eat on that very day . The rest , we will hang in your pantry for 28 days.
Those cool conditions of the Sylhet hills will be ideal for the venison .

By the way , when will you fix the left burner in your stove ? It was also broken when l came over , last time.

Major Khan said:

Now that's a good idea , Kawshik .
The liver we can eat on that very day . The rest , we will hang in your pantry for 28 days.
Those cool conditions of the Sylhet hills will be ideal for the venison .

By the way , when will you fix the left burner in your stove ? It was also broken when l came over , last time.

Click to expand...

Poton
Worry not. The repairman will be here on the 22nd of this month .

Poton, this looks very tasty, the recipe please. I suspect it will work equally on venison.

Shootist43 said:

Poton, this looks very tasty, the recipe please. I suspect it will work equally on venison.

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Thank you , Shootist43. Below , l have written the recipe for a grilled steak of sambhur deer .
Ingredients :
-One 8 ounce steak of sambhur deer , cut from the sirloin region , with the fatty side kept intact .
- Fine grain salt
- Freshly ground black pepper.
- Vegetable oil
Method : Heat a hot grill pan or griddle pan over a high heat on a stove . Then , cut slits across the line of fat on the sirloin . This is done to get the steak to lay as flat as possible and ensure even cooking throughout the whole steak .
Season the entire steak with salt and black pepper . Then salt the fatty edge of the sirloin and pour a little vegetable oil over the fatty side of the steak . Put the steak on the hot grill pan , fatty side down , first . This causes all the molten fat to run out of the steak and lubricate the grooves of the grill , which means that the steak is essentially cooking in it's own fat . After 2 minutes , lay the steak flat .
Cooking time is dependent upon desired doneness.
A rare sambhur deer sirloin steak will need 2 minutes on each side .
A medium sambhur deer sirloin steak will need around 3 minutes on each side .
A well done sambhur deer sirloin steak will need about 4 minutes.
I happen to like mine rare , with Dijon mustard on the side .
However , 2 things must be remembered :
1) Venison is far leaner and has less fat than a beef sirloin.
2) The thinner the steak , the lesser the cooking time .

By the way , when you attempt this recipe , please let me know the weight of the sirloin which you are using , so that l can calculate the adjustment in cooking time accordingly , Shootist43. For example , cheetal deer yield smaller sirloin steaks than a sambhur deer .

Kawshik Rahman said:

View attachment 318591
I am not certain if anyone would like it or not , but these are some Tandoori roasted quails which l made recently using my father's childhood recipe , and it was co incidentally the first time l got to try my new 12 bore side by side Westley Richards shot-gun and number 6 Game Bore cartridges .

Click to expand...

friends: take heed of this recipe. Google “Tandoori Chicken” as a similar approach. It is a yogurt lemon based marinade that infuses the meat with a dozen awesome spices, most of all of which you have in a well stocked spice cabinet.

It is indo-pakistani but a true crowd pleaser with pedestrian tastes in America too. People say “best grilled chicken thighs ever” ignorant to the ancient roots.

also amazing with quail, shark, swordfish, and light game.

Braised Venison

Though not an Italian dish per se, the inspiration is.

-venison shoulder
-1/2 cup olive oil (divided)
-2 bay leaves
-5 large yellow onions
-2-3 Tbsp whole mustard seed
-4-5 brown anchovy filets per lb of venison

Optional

-Kalamatta olives
-white wine vinegar

Brown whole shoulder with enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a Dutch oven. Add bay leaves and cover with tight fitting lid. Bake at 250 until well done (165-170, we are braising tough meat and making the equivalent of pulled pork).

Meanwhile cut onions into 1/2” half rings. Caramelize in enough olive oil to cover bottom of large low sided skillet. Add a little salt to bring out moisture but keep over medium-low heat; it takes time and there is no speeding it up. You will not get properly caramelized onions in less than 45 minutes.

When venison is done remove shoulder to large bowl to rest. Remove bay leaves from pot and add mustard seeds to liquid exuded from venison. Reduce slowly to a glacé.

By the time liquid is reduced the venison should have cooled enough to pull. Tear venison apart into shreds. Add reduced liquid to venison.

Add anchovy filets to caramelized onions once caramelization is complete. Stir and mash to combine well. Add this mixture to the venison and combine thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you like southern bbq add white wine vinegar to taste.

Serve as is with broccoli rabe and roasted tomatoes with crusty bread. Add chopped Kalamatta olives on top if you like. Also makes a very good sandwich.