How to Preserve Venison -an Easy Guide to Freezing, Drying and Cooking Venison

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Venison: Preserving Deer Meats

Venison is an important food source for many families in America and Canada, and with tough economic times, and often such an overpopulation of deer in many areas that disease and starvation threatens the herds, hunting deer and preserving the venison is becoming a necessity for many. When handled properly it can make an excellent meat. It can be refrigerated or frozen as meat cuts or sausage. It can also be preserved by canning, curing, or drying.

While these facts may be upsetting to vegans and vegetarians, this information may be useful to others. I will not reply to emails attempting to engage me in a discussion of the morality of hunting or eating meat. This page is about food preservation, not dogma.

Now, with THAT out of the way, here's how to preserve venison, based on information from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (see references at the bottom of the page)

Field-to-Refrigerator

Use care when field dressing the deer. Contaminating the carcass is one of the most common errors hunters make. Refrigerate the carcass as soon as possible for best quality; usually within 3-4 hours after killing if the air temperature is above 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

Aging Venison

Aging will help dissipate the game taste and permit natural occurring enzymes to tenderize the tissues. Proper aging also firms the meat, giving it better cutting quality. Aging should be conducted between 32 - 35° F for 7 - 10 days. Never age at room temperature. Venison may be cut within 24 hours after the kill and still be acceptable for aging. Improper storage facilities increases risk for spoilage.

Freezing Venison

Trim fat and clean cuts so they are ready for end use. Fat will go rancid quicker and often has a very "gamey" undesirable flavor. Use freezer wrap or packaging made for the freezer. For best quality, wrap the meat tightly in plastic wrap first, keeping air out as much as possible. Then wrap packages in moisture- and vapor-proof freezer paper. Seal, label and date each package. Home vacuum sealers will also work for packing venison for freezing. Follow manufacturer directions for vacuum sealing. Freeze quickly at 0°F or below. Freeze no more than 4 pounds per cubic foot of freezer space within a 24-hour period. If space in the home freezer does not permit spreading the packages out, take the wrapped meat to a processing plant or meat locker for quick freezing.

Store ground venison (aka, "Bambi burgers") in a freezer at 0°F or colder for no more than 3-5 months. Venison roasts and steaks can be stored up to 6-12 months at this temperature. Meat quality and flavor will deteriorate in the freezer over time. Proper dressing, handling, packaging, quick freezing, and colder freezer temperatures will help maintain meat quality for the longest period of time. Thaw meat in the refrigerator or microwave (on the defrost cycle), never at room temperature. (Adapted from: So Easy to Preserve, Andress and Harrison 1999).

How to make venison products from the deer you harvest

• Sausage from venison
• Canning ground or chopped venison
• Curing and Smoking Venison; making jerky and more
• Corned Venison; tender and tastey!

Venison Cooking Tips

The key to cooking venison and to making it tender, moist and delicious is understanding that it has very little fat or fat cover. Add butter or cheese, or baste with other fats for improved flavor. Without much fat cover, the meat tends to dry out. Cook venison slowly using moist heat and baste often with a marinade sauce or oil. Don't overcook. A roast may also be wrapped in aluminum foil after browning or covered in a roasting pan. Strips of bacon may be placed on a roast for self basting. For these foods to be safe, internal temperatures must be high enough to kill any harmful microorganisms. Cook ground meats, chops, steaks and roasts to 160°F. Venison can be substituted for meat in many recipes and makes an excellent variation to your menu. (Source: Estes Reynolds, University of Georgia).

Venison cooking recipes from Michigan State Univ PDF - A 46-page resource bulletin

Venison Chili

Ingredients

• 1 to 1.5 pounds venison burger,browned and drained
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 1 green pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can sliced stewed tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 3 (14.5 ounce) cans dark red kidney beans, undrained
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 or 4 dashes crushed red pepper
• 1 or 2 dashes celery salt
• Dash of black pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a 4-quart slow cooker (crock pot) Cook on low heat setting for 8 to 10 hours.
2. Then preferably refrigerate overnight.
3. Top each serving with freshly chopped onion and shredded cheddar cheese.
4. Note: This is a very mildly hot chili .

 

Other sausage recipes

1. Master list of venison sausage recipes
2. Guide to Home Sausage Making from the University of Connecticut
3. Fresh Game Sausage by University of Minnesota
4. North Dakota University - making sausage
5. North Dakota State University has a nice PDF guide of tips about making and preserving sausage and jerky

References and Cooperative Extension Game processing resources

1. Handling wild game meats, Clemson University
2. Penn State has a complete guide to processing wild game and fish PDF
3. The Hunt is On: Know the Basics of Venison Preservation UGa
4. Wild side of the menu No. 3 preservation of game meats. (Marchello M, Beck P. 2001. Wild Side of the Menu No. 3. Preservation of Game Meats. Fargo, ND: North Dakota State University.
5. Preserving Game Meats. Clemson, SC: Clemson University Preserving game meats (Hoyle EH. 1999.
6. National Center for Home Food Preservation,
   September 2002- Brian A. Nummer is Project Coordinator with the National Center for Home Food Preservation, Department of Foods and Nutrition, College of Family and Consumer Sciences and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology, The University of Georgia, Athens. This material is based upon work supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 00-51110-9762.
   National Center for Home Food Preservation
   208 Hoke Smith Annex
   The University of Georgia
   Athens, GA 30602-4356
   
   Tel: (706) 542-3773
   Fax: (706) 542-1979