My First Cut Of Venison

[Rickster]

Friend Of Mine Gave Me A Venison Shoulder, I Have Never Done A Cut Of Venison Before. Anyone Have Any Suggestions On How To Cook It. I Would Appreciate The Help I Don't Want To Ruin It.

[KevinG]

The front shoulder is usually pretty fatty and tough. Most people turn this into burger or sausage. If you want to try and cut some steaks out of it, they will be either thin from the wide side of the shoulder bone, or tubular from the short side. Just take your time and pull the meat by hand, you'll see the connective tissue start to separate where you need to cut. The wide thin cut can be stuffed and rolled into a roast. Always cut in small strokes 1/8" deep. Cut out all the fat, connective tissue, sinew (anything not read meat). Also if you see what looks like a jello type substance remove that as well. There is a lymph node that you must remove, it is located in the fat though, so as long as you get that out you'll be OK. It is really hard to describe the whole process in text, and unfortunately I already cut mine up. Won't be able to do pictures until next year (if I'm lucky and get another one). Maybe Caribou can help, her husband just got a nice one. If not there are some really good videos out, Askthemeatman.com has one but he turns the front shoulder into burger/suasage, and Outdoor Edge Deer and Big Game Processing Volume 1 is another excellent one, this one he cuts the steaks/roasts out of the front shoulder.

[Rickster]

Thanks Kev,
                 If I decided to cut it into steaks, How would I smoke,cook or grill it. Again thanks for the tips.

[KevinG]

I usually soak mine in Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing overnight. Then cook them on the grill. I'll also drizzle a little more dressing on when I turn it. You definitely don't want to cook them well done. I usually only do about 5 minutes a side, but it depends on how hot it is and how big of a cut you actually get. Venison tastes pretty bad if you burn it (at least to me). I'm normally a well done kind of person, but I never cook venison more than medium.

[tsquared]

Sounds like Kevin knows the scoop. A woman at work recently gave me a whole bag of different cuts of venison as her father gives her way too much. I cooked a sirloin tip roast from a blacktail last night for about 4 hours at 240 to an internal temp of 155-160.I made a spice paste from rosemary, black pepper, dried mustard, crushed garlic and a mix of north African spices together with evoo. I am a noob about cooking venison as I am not a deer hunter so I didn't know what  to expect.(I was a bird hunter in my hunting days, not deer) It turned out awesome--tender and delicious. I went with low and slow and didn't brown it first.
Last week I mixed some muley burger with pork and did a couple of Ain't your mamas meatloaf--oh my my!
Anyway, I know lots of you guys are deer hunters and I am rapidly becoming a convert!!
T2