Smoking Venison Question


 
R

Rich Paq

TVWBB Member
This might go into the stupid question category, but here we go. Will smoking venison in the WSM leave a gamy taste for other meats just like using lighter fluid to lite your coals might leave that fluid taste?????
 
I've never grilled venison at the same time as other meats but I wouldn't expect it would. The gamy taste is in the meat itself and I can't imagine that taste cooking out and being absorbed by other meats on the grate.
 
it shouldn't. I've cooked wild game numerous ways. never had a gamey taste to any of the meat. imo-the trick is to get it on ice quickly. my personal method is to quarter it as soon as possible, place in un-scented trash bags, then place in a cooler surrounded by ice. let it sit in the ice for at least a few days, draining the water and adding ice as needed every day. then process it(cut/grind into what you want to have and freeze). doing this then cooking, I've never noticed or had a comment from someone about it tasting gamey. most folks can't even tell it's wild when i'm done w/it.
 
Before Cooking Venison remove all fat! Unlike Beef & pork, Venison fat gets rancid very quickly. Then Cook like Beef. If you like your Beef marinated in buttermilk for a week then do the same for Venison. Don't try something different because Uncle Elmo says "that's how you get rid of the gamey taste"
 
After literally well over a hundred deer in my life the only time I ever had any "gamey" taste in my venison was with a deer whose paunch was hit and not found for close to 24 hours. Even that I was able to salvage some of it. That flavor you get that seems off is when a deer is not processed right in the field which is the most important point in harvesting venison.
As said above the removal of as much fat as possible is the other key during butchering. I serve venison roasts alongside the CEO's fabulous Thanksgiving meal many times to mostly non hunter folks and two roasts are always gone from the table.
Many people who are not really food knowledgeable often assume a flavor is gamey because it is different from beef which is the taste they associate with meat. The same thing happens with Lamb, Duck, Elk, Moose, Alligator etc.
Different is not gamey.
 
Agree with both Bill's and Dan's comments. Even if processed correctly venison has a different taste because deer don't eat what cattle do. Plus they're just a plain, different, wild species. Venison has a very good taste, at least to me. If you want, you can use Italian Dressing as a marinade. Will remove some of the "different taste" plus helps tenderize the meat. I wouldn't marinade more than 4-6 hours.
 
I think there is some great advice here!! I agree with most all above as well. I've been eating venison for 40 years...remove most all fat and you will be good.

Some of the best deer I've eaten was a tenderloin, soaked in red wine for about 4 hours, hit with some Montreal steak seasoning and smoked with hickory to a nice 130...good stuff!
 
R. Paquin said:
This might go into the stupid question category, but here we go. Will smoking venison in the WSM leave a gamy taste for other meats just like using lighter fluid to lite your coals might leave that fluid taste?????
Click to expand...

Just like fish or even lamb, clean out the drip pan and brush off the grates immediately after the smoke.
Leaving that residue inside the smoker for awhile will leave gamey or fishy smells, which I guess can absorb into the layer of built on seasoning.

Tim
 
Thanks Timothy, That's what I really wanted to know, would smoking venison leave a smell in the smoker for future cooks. Id be smoking it for a friend, but if the smoker absorbs a venison funk then I prob wont smoke it.
 
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