? Soaking game in milk??

[Scooby]

ive herd of many people doing it i personally like the gamey taste

[ren087]

So this subject can be something that people will always differ on. I love to cook & I hunt to cook what I harvest. I am not saying that I would turn down a chance at a trophy buck but I am more concerned with meat in the freezer.

The thing about meat is that our taste buds are conditioned to the chemicals & steroids that companies put in commercially processed meat & most of the beef we buy at the store is not properly aged. Fresh, non-aged, beef will have a much different taste then that of prime aged beef. The same holds true with venison. How many of you have had your venison processed & pull it out of the freezer to thaw & have blood running all over the shelf the next day? If you or your processor age meat by letting the blood drain properly, then the "gamey taste" will not be there. Yes it will taste different than store bought beef, but that is the point. Gamey taste=bad, Wild taste=good. (And healthy).

If you have venison that still has blood in it, you can, by soaking a few hours or overnight in a solution like salt water or vinegar & water, remove most of the blood. This solution is then discarded. I am not talking about marinading. Buttermilk has been suggested to work with the theory being that the acid in the buttermilk helps with the meat like vinegar does. I have found no scientific proof of this & I don't do it. Old venison can be tough but this is different in my opinion than taste. Tough needs tenderizing & low, slow cooking.

Our brains can be a powerful tool. I have "slipped" venison into traditional recipes & after it was eaten, I have come clean & 100% have liked venison. We get prejudices & we get told something is "gamey" & then when we try it we have to overcome our brain telling us it will be "gamey" or bad. I am not saying venison is for everyone, but it is for me. Wild is good!!!

If a 15 time Michelin star winning chef like Gordon Ramsay does not soak venision before cooking it, then neither will I.

[txpitdog]

Soaking in buttermilk is how I slowly converted my wife and kids into deer, nilgai, and hog devouring crazy people. They first got used to the taste of the soaked game meat then over the course of one season I slowly backed off how long I soaked it, and now we don't soak it at all.

[Fightin' Farmer]

Buttermilk is the way to go

[Llackey]

Try bleeding out the meat with a little baking soda and vinegar in the ice water.

[Rusman161]

I've heard of it and eaten it that way, I can make a difference I guess. I prefer it without the milk bath...