It took 8 yrs, but she finally made it!

[txpitdog]

My wife and I have been together for about 8 years, and this week she finally made it official. She likes venison! Hehehe. Now this is no big deal for some of you, but when I met my wife, she was about as city as it gets. Malls, getting her nails done, all that mess. She wouldn't eat anything that didn't come vacuum-sealed from H-E-B, and and certainly not any animal that actually lived as an animal.

At first I tried seasonings, and marinades, and even cooking two different things just in case she didn't like deer or hog meat. Then I stumbled into the buttermilk trick, and that at least "de-venisoned" the venison enough for her to eat it if prepared one or two very specific ways.

Slowly over time my skills improved, and she got used to it. Still had to use buttermilk, but at least she would eat it. I started mixing venison and beef 50/50 for our burgers and she liked that. Then I tried sneaking in a backstrap not soaked in buttermilk but marinaded and wrapped in bacon. We wiped that out before it even made it inside the house.

Finally this week we made dirty rice with ground venison and spaghetti last night with it, and she admitted had come around and now likes it. Even asked how much was in the freezer so she could take that into account for grocery shopping.

Whew, now all I gotta do is convince her that in order to have enough deer to last all year, I pretty much have to hunt every weekend

[Silent Assassin]

Good job! Working on my wife but I need to learn how to cook the vensions myself first to be sure it taste good before I let my wife eat it. My 2nd year so Im still greenhorn.

Wife eats chicken, ground turkey, and seafood only. lol Ive got a long way to go.

Silent Assassin a.k.a. TexMav

Sent by Samsung 4G via TapaTalk

[whitetailtrail]

Sounds like a BIG milestone, Congrats!

[Mojo]

I don't care for the gameyness of venison but have heard of the buttermilk and haven't tried it....I'll have to look into it...congrats on havin' a girl that'll eat the good stuff...mine likes grilled dove (bacon, jalap, onion etc) and also axis/pork solsidge...and really enjoys fresh caught fried speck trout and blackened redfish over white rice with alfredo sauce...

[bps3040]

My wife takes one bite, says that is so good and thinks about the movie Bambie....and won't eat another bite.

[Grill man]

I'm in the same boat, but I would need to add a "Period." where you have your first "comma". When we were dating, friends and family asked how it was going and I said "great, but I think she is a vegatarian". In fact, we have 2 fridges--one for normal HEB style groceries and the other for "Meat from that place that you always go to" and beer.

[jodsterag99]

txpitdog--
I'm right there with ya brother! My wife and I have been married 11 years, and I only got back into hunting about 3 years ago. She is also a city girl (born in Houston, raised in Dallas). She had chicken fried venison by my mom about 10 years ago and didn't like it. I've tried various ways of preparing it, but over the past year, she has come around to "my way of thinking", so to speak. We have about 40 lbs of 100% round venison in the freezer and she has been making EVERYTHING with it...spaghetti, meatloaf, tacos, sloppy joes, etc.

Next step: Get her to eat some backstrap or tenderloins wrapped in bacon. She likes black buck wrapped in bacon, but of course, BB is an antelope, not a deer.

Next Next Step: get her to let me go hunting more often to restock the freezer!!

[Loreva13]

Sounds like a BIG milestone, Congrats!

x2

[jodsterag99]

I don't care for the gameyness of venison but have heard of the buttermilk and haven't tried it....I'll have to look into it...congrats on havin' a girl that'll eat the good stuff...mine likes grilled dove (bacon, jalap, onion etc) and also axis/pork solsidge...and really enjoys fresh caught fried speck trout and blackened redfish over white rice with alfredo sauce...

mojo--I hear ya on the mixed sausage. My wife really enjoys the blackbuck/pork sausage I had made.

[txpitdog]

Well, for the fellers that are still fighting the good fight, here's a few recipes that won my wife over.

Venison tenderloin soaked in buttermilk overnight. Rinse milk off and season like you would a steak. Wrap in bacon, sear over a hot grille (careful not to catch on fire!), then move off heat and drizzle/paint with maple syrup once every 5 mind for 15mins. Warning: may not last until you get it in the house. Known to be eaten at the grille by the cook. Order pizza as a contingency plan.

Backstrap in buttermilk overnight the first night, rinse, then marinade in Lawry's Southwest Steakhouse marinade overnight the second night. Grille to medium rare,remove from grille, and wrap in aluminum foil for 10mins in kitchen.

Mix 50/50 with ground beef for burgers, or chop 2 pieces of bacon per burger and mix with ground venison to make burgers. Bacon fat helps the venison stick together.
Soak ground venison in buttermilk overnight, then rinse thoroughly in a collander/sieve/strainer. Use in Zatarin's dirty rice

This one works great for wild hogs. Use the McCormick Slow Cookers pulled pork seasoning packet with wild hog. I've done this in the crock pot and also tripled the batch and done half piglets on the smoker. Totally awesome...even some vegan knucklehead couldn't resist this.

Over time you can phase out the buttermilk as she develops a taste for it.