How to Cook a Deer or Venison Ham | One of Our favorite Deer Recipes from Appalachia


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Even though we love to can the deer meat Matt harvests, he always leaves a few hams whole for us to cook. We always have one at Christmas and at …

50 replies
  1. Larry Reese
    Larry Reese says:

    You're giving me some good ideas. I've never eaten venison any way but in thin steaks, pounded, battered, and fried. That looks good. Wonder how a little liquid smoke would work? Wouldn't want to mess it up. Thanks.

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  2. Bob Sternvogel
    Bob Sternvogel says:

    Looks tasty, Matt, although I'd probably be too worried to leave the oven on all night, even at such a low temperature. Then again, I forgot to turn my stove off one night after checking to see if the meat I was cooking was done, and didn't realize my error until the next morning. Fortunately, I didn't burn the house down.

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  3. Okie Jammer
    Okie Jammer says:

    THANK YOU, MATT. There is no feeling or sigh of relief as when the freezer is full and 'the store' is in for the coming Winter. If we can harvest from the hunt, it's doubly satisfying. I'll be doing the methods here to get the venison tender, moist and less gamey. Also, THANKS TO THOSE GONE FROM US for passing down and paying forward the many HOW-TO'S our families still enjoy.

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  4. Yvonne Shaub
    Yvonne Shaub says:

    Greetings Miss Tipper and Matt..you can't go wrong with Bacon😁😁..it truly does make everything better..up here in PA hunting is a rite of passage..even the schools know when hunting season is on..we make a lot of deer sausage and balonge..do you also make sausage and other stuff too?..blessings to you and your family 😇😇

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  5. Mama Mode
    Mama Mode says:

    I do believe I've learned a new way to cook it.

    I just pierce it with garlic, wrap it in Bacon, rest it on onion, potatoes, and carrots.

    I do believe sometime, i will give this way a try.

    I do love old bay.

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  6. Druid SadwyrnEmrys
    Druid SadwyrnEmrys says:

    I think I would pierce the roast with a knife most of the way through to get the flavors deep into the meat, but I'm sure this venison preparation tastes really really really good – I might try this with some goat or if I get an oryx hunt in southern NM.

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  7. GRASS GANGSTERS
    GRASS GANGSTERS says:

    yumm matt as a hunter i know how fun deer hunting is, after that trigger pulled the work begins, its so worth it, i have a 7mm i haven't shot in years, it puts the food on the table, the 1st deer i ever killed i took his heart and fried it in butter and made biscuits,

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  8. Travis Rickett
    Travis Rickett says:

    I cook mine about the same way. I leave the hind quarter whole and season real good, I like a lot of garlic on mine, then wrap in the cheapest bacon I can find, and cook on 250° till it falls apart.

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  9. Alice Cochran
    Alice Cochran says:

    My husband and I hunted deer and elk for 30 years , we tried all kind of ways to cook deer but it was always tough , wish I knew how to cook it years ago ( he's passed on now ) maybe this will help someone else though I did learn that if you soak deer steak in salt water for 30 minutes that it taste good gets some of the game taste out love your videos !! Gl. Az. 🐦

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  10. Susan Pumphrey
    Susan Pumphrey says:

    It's nice to see someone stressing the importance of removing ALL the silver skin from venison before cooking! I always say that people who think deer meat tastes gamey just haven't had it processed properly. I'm thankful hubby (and now our oldest son) know how to properly process the deer they harvest so it always tastes great without me having to go through a million extra steps when I'm cooking it trying to get the gamey taste out.

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  11. mary w
    mary w says:

    Last week a friend gifted us a huge portion of venison. It's been 50 years since I cooked any and then I just floured and fried it. It was stored over ice in an ice chest for a week to tenderize and remove gaminess. I stuck large 3-4 pound chunks of meat into gallon freezer bags to store until I had time to cook them. I opened my laptop to search out some recipes just now and at the top of the YT videos was this one. Talk about great timing. Your recipe looks wonderful, the resulting meat looked delicious, and it will be the first recipe I try. Thanks so much!

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  12. Duey Jones
    Duey Jones says:

    Are there really any recipes in Appalachia? My mom and her 6 sister's would write them on index card's but never used them. Think they were used as guides for the sister's who didn't possess the "magic" that was southern comfort food or just off the tops of their head's. I caught on, early on but can't quite replicate it all and I miss it dearly now that I'm older and they are gone. Venison is still my favorite right along side Virginia ham. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas too all!

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  13. Candi Ray
    Candi Ray says:

    Hi, this year I finally learned to love deer meat by trying new recipes from the deer my husband harvested and I butchered. I also learned silver skin can break down through long braising and makes the meat feel less lean. I've slow braised stew cuts and shanks by making venison bourguignon in the dutch oven with beef broth and merlot wine. Braising is a wonderful method and made the meat taste like beef.

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  14. Cindy Pressley
    Cindy Pressley says:

    Matt makes that look so easy and the cooking is the easiest part, but you should see him when he's cleaning the deer meat. When I say cleaning, I mean when he is preparing the meat for the freezer. He is miraculous in cleaning the meat and removing all connective tissue and the film that covers the muscles and that is why his end product is so good!

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