Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Venison Flop - What did I do wrong?

Last night the venison came out of the oven, um...., wrong. And I'm not positive what caused it. Any assessments/advice?

Here's the story:
- Mature but not huge doe. Shot 1 week ago.
- Good shoot - through the front of the chest, left lung, left leg, cold day, good blood trail, dressing her within 90 min. Perfectly clean and healthy.
- I cut the tenderloins out and froze them since we had to travel.
- Thawed them, soaked in salt water for awhile, until the water was nice and red - no idea exactly how long.
- Clearly not spoiled or anything, and the raw meat looked and smelled perfectly normal.
- Roasted like we usually do. Oven at about 425; put some butter, salt and pepper on there, and put it in for maybe 4-5 min.

When it came out of the oven, the meat smelled EXACTLY like the (clean) raw carcass cavity. You know what I mean? Part of me wants to say it smelled like blood, and it did, but it was more intense than I'd ever smelt after cooking. Intense enough that even the 6-year-old was able to say unbidden that it smelled just like the inside of the carcass...

Never had it come out this way before - so what did I do wrong? Not let it thaw enough, so the soaking didn't work? Something else?

Thanks.

Just a guess�you might want to cook it longer than 4to5 minutes�..

[quote=ingwe]Just a guess�you might want to cook it longer than 4to5 minutes�.. [/quote



My guess too ingwe.

Well, I know what you mean (and that 4-5 sounds short), but it's never been a problem before.
- Small tenderloins
- Really hot oven
- Only barely pink inside - really makes you wish it were a little rarer.

Whole tenderloins?

Yep. And for clarity, by "tenderloins" I mean the little ones inside the body cavity, not the big loins down the back. The ones where the largest effective diameter is maybe 1.5", and mostly smaller.

(Just saying that because I know there's a lot of variation and interchangeable terms in exactly what folks call those parts.)

I have had the same thing happen with a very few elk and deer. Never did figure it out.

Sometimes you get one that just tastes bad for some reason.
Have you tried any of the rest of it?

Deer been eatin' bad stuff. Now you.

As long as it's not a funky tasting animal (they do vary) I'd guess that not browning it would result in something less than desirable.

The tenderloins are such a small piece of meat that if you don't stick it under the broiler with direct heat and brown it or cook it in a frying pan it won't "develop" the best flavor. It takes more than four or minutes to brown something that's roasted in the oven or otherwise you're just heating it up.

With tender cuts of venison my preferred method is frying it in butter with flour, salt and pepper. It doesn't distort the true flavor and is very tasty.

PT, I don't care for fresh meat off an elk or deer for that reason. I never freeze any meat that isn't aged.

Let the acidic enzymes break down the dense fibers of connective tissue.

Leave the meat in a cool to cold place 4-8 days and the sharp smell of blood will morph to a smoother, "rounder" good smell. Then, freeze or cook. Not gospel, JMHO.

Thanks y'all.

Back straps and tenderloins belong on a hot grill with butter and a little salt and pepper, rare to medium rare.

Agreed!
I field dress it ASAP and get it hung and skinned out within an hour or less (if possible). Let it hang as mentioned above and it'll be as good as it can be.
I also carry a couple gallons of water to wash out the body cavity after field dressing

FWIW, I've killed deer that just tasted bad. I don't have any answers as to why, but I've taken multiple deer from the same stand and gotten an odd one that tastes extremely strong, to the point of being inedible.

Pine Tree;
As you've already received a few good answers I'll try not to replicate those too much and offer some of our experience.

We've had the tenderloins on a few animals taste quite "gamy" and the rest of the animal be more mild. Why that is I can't say for sure, but it has happened on more than one deer over the years.

I've done my share of eviscerating over the years so I don't believe it was a contamination issue - I'll note that on any shots where the bullet traverses back into the back half of the deer I'd expect a wilder flavor - but that's not what you've indicated.

Before making sausage out of the entire deer I'd likely try to cook up some back strap using a proven method that you're happy with the flavor of and see what that tastes like.

If the 2nd taste test proves less than you'd hoped, well then the doe might be a good candidate for a couple batches of sausage - which isn't all that bad either.

Hopefully that was some use to you or someone out there this cool morning sir.

All the best to you and Merry Christmas as well.

Regards,
Dwayne

I thought I was being sneaky one day and took the tenderloins from my brothers elk back to school with me. I marinated them for a while, slapped them on the BBQ pit and they were cook through and through. But....they smelled exactly like a rutting bull. Didn't smell bad when I thawed them, just after they were cooked. I tried hard, but couldn't get it past my nose. My lab wouldn't even eat them. Haven't had that happen again though. Strange

Some years ago my BIL and I shot 2 does out of a herd. It was cold and snowy and we had them dressed & skinned in short order. The meat from both was inedible. It smelled so bad that we couldn't cook it in the house and even my dog wouldn't eat it. We threw out 90% of it.
I've always tied it to some plant they'd been eating. This was in the Idaho mountains and I can't imagine what it would be but when both deer were that way, there really wasn't any other answer. Diet can affect meat flavor for sure but I've never run into one that bad before or since.

Exactly ...



Like that!

Yup. With a side of mushrooms and onions sautee'd in real butter. And Texas toast.