How to cook venison.
When it comes to lean, ethical meat, simply put, you can’t beat venison. And newcomers are catching on: Trendy diets — think paleo and keto — have put a fresh spotlight on deer, elk, antelope and other wild-game animals classified as venison thanks to its high levels of protein and dense concentration of nutrients along with low calories and fat.
That’s music to the ears of Chris Hughes, owner of Broken Arrow Ranch in Ingram. His operation field-harvests axis, fallow and other invasive deer species on private ranches where those animals have become overpopulated and compete with the native white-tailed deer for food and other resources.
“People talk about venison being a fad. I say it’s been a fad for 15,000 years,” Hughes said with a laugh. “The reason for eating it has certainly shifted over time. One of the interesting things, historically venison has been a rich man’s meat and a poor man’s meat, but the middle class had been left out.”
In addition to all the things present in venison’s nutritional profile, many appreciate the things that aren’t there as well. Most venison is caught in the wild, where the animals live on an exclusive diet of brush, grass and other vegetation. That means no antibiotics, hormones or other things that go along with modern meat production.
Venison also can be among the most ethical and sustainable sources of meat-based protein. Hunting, particularly for the numerous invasive animals that have been introduced to Texas and don’t have natural predators, helps protect native species. And hunters, in general, are more likely to use every part of the animal they’ve just shot.
“If you’re going to decide to take the life of an animal, it’s not something that should be taken very lightly,” Hughes said. “But if you’re going to put it all to some use, that animal’s life will have a purpose.”
Most people who eat venison regularly either hunt it themselves or have a generous hunter in their circle of acquaintances. Fortunately, it’s not too hard to find in Houston-area meat markets, either.
B&W Meat Co. on North Shepherd
sells smoky venison sausage, ground venison and rib racks. Pete’s Fine Meats on Richmond sells backstrap. Broken Arrow Ranch also sells venison through brokenarrowranch.com.
Store-bought venison is considerably more expensive than beef and other red meats. Ground venison can be found for about $8 per pound, but tenderloin or rib roasts can cost $40 per pound or more.
“One of the comparisons I like to give is wild-caught seafood,” Hughes said, noting that premium seafood can easily approach the same prices as venison.
Whether freshly hunted or store-bought, venison newcomers should keep a few things in mind when using it in the kitchen.
“The first pitfall is not be overly intimidated to the point you never get started,” Hughes said. “It’s a meat that can very easily be substituted into your existing beef recipes.”
Venison sloppy Joes are a regular at the Hughes family table. It also makes a terrific pot of chili or batch of meatballs, and we have perfect cold-weather recipes for both of those.
Our chili is a classic bowl of red that eschews commercially produced chili powder for a variety of fresh and dried peppers and spices. We’ve also simmered up a pot of sopa de albóndigas, or meatball soup, where venison stands in for ground beef.
But more tender (and expensive) cuts of venison do require care. Where beef often has enough fat marbling to forgive an extra minute or two on the grill, venison steaks and roasts, being leaner, will typically go bone-dry and chewy if cooked past medium-rare.
Hughes takes a simple yet delicate approach with backstrap, generally the most pricey cut, in a plate of seared medallions and an elegant shallot and mustard pan sauce that would look right at home at a clothnapkin restaurant. And we’ve given a venison rib roast an Argentine chimichurri treatment that would be an ideal alternative to the usual holiday turkey or ham.
However you find it, deer season is here. Happy hunting, y’all.