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The Christian Science Monitor reports
Nashville residents who dropped by their local Arby's beginning [the week of November 2] could try the restaurant's limited-time-only venison, or deer meat, sandwich, which the fast-food chain debuted in commemoration of the beginning of deer hunting season.
[...] Many of the Arby's locations that are selling the sandwich are located in more populous or urban areas rather than rural areas where one might expect people to hunt. But Evan Heusinkveld, the president and CEO of the Sportsmen's Alliance, tells The Christian Science Monitor that the urban population is exactly the group that should have the opportunity to try venison.
"Many people who live in the country either have their own freezer of venison or know somebody who hunts", he says, "Selling to city dwellers is exactly what the hunting community would love to see."
While Arby's venison is sourced from farm-raised deer in New Zealand due to USDA rules against serving wild-harvested meat, it will still give customers a taste of what they're missing. The sandwich features a juicy venison steak, crispy onions, and juniper berry sauce.
Arby's venison sandwiches will be offered in just 17 locations in six states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Georgia) during deer season, with the promotion ending the Monday after Thanksgiving.
So far, the company says the sandwich has been a big hit.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday November 06 2016, @11:09PM
Also, to the inevitable cries of 'what does venison taste like?' I will start by saying not at all like chicken.
It's a red meat, so the inevitable comparison is to beef. In comparison to beef, leaner, firmer texture, slightly more flavorful. I half-expected these to be roasted/shredded/covered in sauce in typical Arbies style, in which case it would be roughly impossible for anyone to tell the difference, but a little more research shows these being 'steak sandwiches' with fairly chunky rounds that have been slow-cooked in hot water for several hours. That might be to soften them up a bit, a common complaint non-venison lovers have is toughness.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday November 07 2016, @12:25AM
Here in California there are plenty of hipster-infested burger joints selling what they call "exotic meats" including venison, bison, camel, kangaroo, wild boar, ostrich, and alligator. I've tried everything except for the camel and kangaroo and intend to once I can rest up a bit, but all the others are good. Ostrich is surprisingly beef-like.
The alligator it seems is the hardest to get right, because it's a tough meat. The only place I've eaten it that tenderized it properly was the flagship Bass Pro Shops [pinimg.com] flagship store in Rancho Cucamonga.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @01:26AM
Please tell where are these places and their names. Around Long Beach especially nice.
I did not know they sell alligator in Bass pro (never eaten there). I have to try it next time, maybe early next year.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday November 07 2016, @01:38AM
No, foreigner, I will not tell you. Fuck off, we're full.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @01:46AM
Yeah i once basically got that answer in a fish restaurant in Rochester, New York. Me and my collegues went to eat there and the others ordered beer (i don't drink beer). The owner said he does not serve beer to foreign people, even though he had been there many times before (not with that many people though).
We left and that was the last time anyone of us went there.
If that reply is your humor, it's not really that funny.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @01:48AM
How in the hell is that reply a flamebait?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 07 2016, @10:14AM
Buffalo you can get all over Western America in the form of bison burgers. It's good, like a leaner kind of beef. Kangaroo I've had in the form of a steak in Sidney, Australia; it's not bad, milder than beef. Alligator I've only ever gotten in southern Louisiana; it's always in spicy sausage or heavily spiced somehow. I feel ill every time I eat it, so I can't really recommend it.
Venison, though, varies quite widely in its flavor. Where I grew up in the Rockies the meat was always quite gamey because the animals were eating bark and pine cones and that sort of thing. Out east of the Divide, in the high plains, they were eating pretty much the same thing as free range cattle and didn't taste too different.
You are what you eat, I guess.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Monday November 07 2016, @02:56PM
If the kangaroo was milder than beef, then they only told you it was kangaroo. It is a strong-tasting, fairly gamey meat. Emu, however is quite good.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 07 2016, @03:49PM
It was at a high-end restaurant in Sidney, across the street from the opera house, so I believe it was actually kangaroo. It might have been fed a special diet to cut down on the gamey flavor of wild caught.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Monday November 07 2016, @05:14PM
Ah, a high end restaurant. I commend to you an excellent (but very short) book by George Orwell: "Down and Out in Paris and London." [ http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100171.txt [gutenberg.net.au] ]
Also, all kangaroo meat is from wild animals. There are no kangaroo farms, so there would be no special diet. I think it likely that they simply ran out and didn't want to say so. You probably actually got a nice beef steak.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 08 2016, @01:06AM
Age of the animal impacts the gamey flavor. A high-end restaurant could afford to source younger kangaroo with a more mild taste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @02:14PM
You can get alligator everywhere in Florida, especially around Gainesville. It's usually served like chicken tenders, but sometimes (rarely) you'll find a cook who knows how to do it well - blackened and pan-seared.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Francis on Monday November 07 2016, @01:39AM
It's not absurd, there are a lot of rules because deer are native to the Americas and Eurasia, so the rules surrounding their farming are going to be much stricter than they would be in New Zealand. On top of that, there's issues with regard to poaching that would have to be addressed on top of the food safety issues.
New Zealand can farm them in large part because deer aren't native to the region, so any deer they have are ones that were shipped in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @02:19AM
New Zealand can farm them in large part because deer aren't native to the region, so any deer they have are ones that were shipped in.
Are you sure about this? Do you have any evidence it is true? How did you come to know this? Citation needed.
(Score: 2) by Absolutely.Geek on Tuesday November 08 2016, @02:40AM
Deer are a pest species here, they literally have no predators other then man, they breed out of control and thus there is a massive wild population; I'm from NZ. The fact that the deer are non-native is of no consequence to weather or not they can be farmed....also all 4 legged animals are non-native to NZ. We still farm cows, pigs, goats and sheep in fairly large numbers.
much stricter than they would be in New Zealand
Where did that come from? We have quite strict rules about what you can and cannot do on your farm......the fact that some farmers are assholes and flout the rules going to happen ever where.
Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 08 2016, @04:49AM
much stricter than they would be in New Zealand
Where did that come from?
Strangely enough, it seems that it is something else that certain Soylentils do not know.
My theory, based on myself knot nowing anything as an AC, is that Arby's imports deer from NZ because NZ is upside down. Thus, the deer spend most of their lives upside down. This increases pressure and vascular flow to the deer's heads, making them much less likely to contract chronic wasting disease! See? This is easy! Also, since the deer are upside down, you can just pluck them off the ground, much like fruit bats. Yeah, fruit bats! Flying Foxes! And so the costs of production are very much lower, countering the extreme environmental costs of shipping food to where khallow eats. It all makes sense know . . .
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Monday November 07 2016, @02:32AM
To be fair, the ban is on WILD CAUGHT game, which is a good thing. Otherwise there'd be a lot of poaching and pressure on natural populations. It appears there are numerous deer farmers who will sell venison though: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=buy+us+raised+venison [duckduckgo.com]
(Score: 2) by Arik on Monday November 07 2016, @05:11AM
I disagree.
"Otherwise there'd be a lot of poaching and pressure on natural populations."
That seems to be the underlying assumption, but why? Why assume that you have to ban commerce entirely in order to prohibit poaching? That's stupid. Again, other countries don't do this, and do not experience this problem.
In Sweden wild game can be (and very often is) sold directly to a local butcher, who will document and report the sale, so you can't really get away with poaching and selling the meat. You need license/tags all in good order to make the sale. Venison, moose, wild boar, etc. are regular stock in the larger butchers, and some of the smaller ones as well. There's no reason the same couldn't be done here, but the people that make money from the status quo will always defend it, no matter how absurd the arguments become.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 07 2016, @10:23AM
There is no shortage of deer in the United States. New Jersey is crawling with them. Yes, the state next to New York that resembles Magnitogorsk [tripadvisor.com]. They can't get rid of them. Their populations used to be kept in check by predators like wolves, but they exterminated wolves in the lower 48 and other predators like bears and cougars are frowned upon near human habitation. So the deer go to town and multiply into a pox.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Monday November 07 2016, @04:07PM
I wouldn't want to eat a city deer. Imagine all the roundup it has ingested from those suburban yards.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday November 07 2016, @03:16AM
And if it is too 'gamey' tasting for the kids (and baby adults), try slow cooking in tomato (sauce or chunks). Just like with skunk spray, tomato removes the 'yuck' taste if you are so inclined.
Love venison, would love to try horse and my mealworm colony is about a quarter the way to becoming food for more than just my turtle! Gonna try it fried.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 07 2016, @10:28AM
Hat's off to you. That's brave. Please report back on the meal worms the next time entomophagy rolls around in the story queue.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday November 07 2016, @04:43PM
Slow going: between the 'relatively' slow growth period, i have a small plastic tray of mealworm beetles (Darkling beetles), but now waiting for them to produce some off-spring and start the cycle again. Want to get to the point where i have a self-sustaining farm before i delve into it much.
I have a fairly strong stomach (my daughter talks about the time i was cleaning up her puke (from the flu) while i myself was running back and forth to the toilet puking (from the flu also): it's a fact of life, so you deal.
The worst i've had to handle is that mustardy baby poo: that stuff could make a dead man retch, lol.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday November 07 2016, @05:15PM
And if it is too 'gamey' tasting for the kids (and baby adults)
I find our modern cuisine preferences to be a bit baffling, frankly. Back in the days before refrigeration, I suppose half-spoiled meat was normal anyway. But the odd thing (to us today) is that they actually used to hang meat for much longer periods of time, resulting in a process the French called mortification. Yes, it made tough meats softer, but it mostly tended to enhance those "gamey" flavors.
Now we seem to value the "boneless skinless chicken breast," effectively a cut of meat designed to be as flavorless as possible.
The thing is -- kids are NOT born hating other stuff. It's amazing what you can feed to a toddler, if you don't present it as weird. My son was eating various organ meats and other offal at that age, as well as eating hearty strong-flavored vegetables like kale and bitter greens. He loved them.
Then he got old enough to realize that other kids didn't eat that stuff (and in fact would throw a fit rather than eating it). And he got old enough to realize that other ADULTS around him also often weren't fans (in fact, even his other parent often was a bit skeptical of the offal). So he chose to imitate the majority and then wouldn't eat a lot of what he used to love.
Still, today, in many traditional cultures around the world, things like organ meats (which often are more "gamey" and have stronger flavors, in addition to being more nutritious) are highly prized, often given to respected elders at meals and young kids for their nutrition. Kids happily lap such stuff up, because they know how special it is. But much of Western culture has upheld the chicken "nugget" instead....
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday November 08 2016, @02:02AM
My mother-in-law tells us of very often taking egg salad sandwiches to lunch with her to school.
No refrigeration at the school or at home.
She'd eat lunch, and then sometimes be throwing up out back of the school. A lot of kids did that (farm country) and they didn't really realize why.
She lost her mother, her twin sister and some of her brothers to tuberculosis and had to take over raising the family at a young age (getting up early, milking cows, making breakfast, getting the young ones ready for school and then going to school herself, then coming home and making supper......
We are so wimpy today... "venison tastes yucky!". I'm starting to realize that other people have no restrictions on what they'll eat: horse, cat, dog, insects... food is food, and if something bad happens i'd better be prepared with recipes, lol.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Username on Monday November 07 2016, @11:46AM
Ground and steaks taste like crap anyway. Not enough fat.
There is only three options for venison: loins, summer sausage and hot sticks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @09:27PM
You just need to cut it up into 2in pieces about 1/4in thick. A quick dredge in seasoned flower (salt, pepper, a little garlic powder, onion powder). Fry it up in a pan with butter until medium rare.
(Score: 1) by justinb_76 on Monday November 07 2016, @01:24PM
had venison once when I was a kid - was not a fan but I was a picky eater (still am unfortunately).
Check out your upscale grocery stores if you have any in your area - I was in Harris Teeter (common in Southeast Virginia) a few weeks ago, and they had Bison and Elk meat, and we have a meat market (a place where you buy meats, not a crappy bar where people meet to exchange STDs) that has venison, alligator and crocodile meat. I'm glad my kids are more adventurous than I was...