If you grew up around here you ate two things quite often. Fresh seafood that your family or a friend caught and venison obtained the same way. Venison is very lean and actually much sweeter I think than beef. I always heard that if the deer was harvested properly it would be easy to cook. If it wasn't....well it may not be possible to make it taste good, without that "gamey" taste.
Wild game meats, such as venison, are low in saturated fat unlike other animal meats.. This is often the motivation behind people choosing venison over beef. A 4-ounce serving of beef flank steak has more than 9 grams of total fat, and nearly 4 of those grams are saturated. Venison contains 3 grams of total fat and only 1 of those grams is saturated. If you are watching your intake of fat, venison would be the better option.
Thanks to my youngest granddaughter I now have several cuts of fresh deer meat, wrapped in butcher paper, labeled and in the freezer. I decided to cook one of the small roasts today.
Here is what I do....
Soak the meat in water in the refrigerator overnight.
Then marinate in a Zesty Italian Salad Dressing for several hours
Put in roasting pan with potatoes, onion, and carrots. Add about 1" water.
Cooking time depends on the cut of meat. I allow 35-40 minutes per pound. The Minnesota Department of Health recommends cooking to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. (see here for reference)
Now I mix a few spoons of flour and water to make a thick pasty liquid and let it sit for awhile. Add this to the juices in the pan to make your gravy. Add salt and pepper as needed. Put back in the over for 10-15 minutes for thicken.
Serve with some nice winter greens and homemade biscuits for a wonderful healthy meal.
