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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday January 04 2018, @12:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the eat-more-Bambi dept.

Deer are regularly hunted across the United States, but some people pay exorbitant prices for imported deer meat:

Wintertime is a special time of year at Cafe Berlin, located just a few blocks from the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. This is when they roll out their menu of wild game, such as deer, wild boar, and quail. Regular customers have come to expect it. "They ask, weeks in advance, 'When does the wild game menu start? When does it start?'" says James Watson, one of the restaurant's chefs. And the star of that menu is venison. The restaurant serves venison ribs, venison loin, even venison tartar. It's food that takes your mind back to old European castles, where you can imagine eating like aristocracy.

You won't see venison in ordinary supermarkets. At Wagshall's, a specialty food shop in Washington, I found venison loin selling for $40 a pound. This venison comes from farms, usually from a species of very large deer called red deer. Much of it is imported from New Zealand.

Yet there's a very different side to this luxury meat. Less than two hours drive from Washington, Daniel Crigler has a whole freezer full of venison that he got for free. Crigler's home in central Virginia is surrounded by woodlands full of white-tail deer. For Crigler, they are venison on the hoof. And he loves hunting. "I love the outdoors. I love being out. But I also like to eat the meat," he says, chuckling. It's pretty much the only red meat he eats. And as he shows off the frozen cuts of venison in his freezer, this crusty man reveals his inner epicurean. "That's a whole loin, right there," he says. "What I like to do with that is split it open, fill it full of blue cheese, wrap it up in tin foil and put it on the grill for about an hour and a half."

And here's the odd thing about this meat, so scarce and expensive in big cities; so abundant if you're a hunter in Madison County, Virginia. Hunters like Crigler kill millions of deer every year in America, but the meat from those animals can't be sold: It hasn't been officially approved by meat inspectors. Also, the government doesn't want hunters to make money from poaching. Yet hunters are allowed to give it away, and many do. As a result, venison occupies a paradoxical place in the world of food. It's a luxury food that turns up in notably non-luxurious places.

Related: Arby's is Selling Venison Sandwiches in Six Deer-Hunting States
Deer in Multiple U.S. States Test Positive for Chronic Wasting Disease, Leading to Restrictions


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:05AM (25 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:05AM (#617465)

    A story of an artificial shortage. No, quality beef is much better tasting than venison. In fact, wild boar meat tastes better than venison.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:37AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:37AM (#617469)

    Boar meat is a treat. It's bit more gamier, but lean and much better flavor.

    Venison? Bushmeat, literally.

  • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:07AM (8 children)

    by fyngyrz (6567) on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:07AM (#617481) Journal

    ...quality beef is much better tasting than venison.

    Tastes vary. Widely. That said, I agree with you.

    To me, venison tastes like toasted dog poop. The only meat worse than venison I've had the displeasure of trying is antelope, which is an incredible insult to my palette.

    A lot of beef isn't very appealing to me either, though; it takes a good cut and a skilled cook to being beef into my "hey, that's good" zone. Luckily, one of those lives with me. :)

    I keep hoping the whole artificial meat thing will bring a consistently delicious, non-cow-harming beef "cut" to my table, but... nothing so far. I'm beginning to think I won't see it before I shuffle off this mortal coil. That, AI, human space travel outside low earth orbit, and a working fusion system.

    OTOH, I lived through the sexual revolution, so... win.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:20AM (4 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:20AM (#617486) Journal

      I'm beginning to think I won't see it before I shuffle off this mortal coil. That, AI, human space travel outside low earth orbit, and a working fusion system.

      That's why we need anti-aging first. And avoid prion diseases in the meantime.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday January 04 2018, @05:11AM (3 children)

        by fyngyrz (6567) on Thursday January 04 2018, @05:11AM (#617524) Journal

        Anti aging would be good if you're young-ish. Aging reversal is the only thing that would help me. :)

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @05:54AM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @05:54AM (#617543)

          Initial stem cell aging reversal treatments:

          Pros: you're a younger person.
          Cons: you're a different younger person...

          But I suppose if you have the same memories, would you be bothered enough that your preferences gradually change to be closer to those of the donor stem cells?

          Even the "you" at 2 years old from a DNA perspective might be significantly different from the you at 70 years: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/brain-dna-changes-through-life-2378009.html [independent.co.uk]
          https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/51118/title/Thousands-of-Mutations-Accumulate-in-the-Human-Brain-Over-a-Lifetime/ [the-scientist.com]
          https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/50700/title/Advancing-Techniques-Reveal-the-Brain-s-Impressive-Diversity/ [the-scientist.com]

          Which "you" would you want to drift towards if you had the choice? Your 2 year old self? Your 20 year old self? Some top athlete? ;)

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 04 2018, @06:18AM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 04 2018, @06:18AM (#617551) Journal

            But I suppose if you have the same memories, would you be bothered enough that your preferences gradually change to be closer to those of the donor stem cells?

            Is this a trick question?

          • (Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Thursday January 04 2018, @06:27AM

            by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday January 04 2018, @06:27AM (#617556) Journal

            Cons: you're a different younger person...

            But I suppose if you have the same memories, would you be bothered enough that your preferences gradually change to be closer to those of the donor stem cells?

            Don't repeat this meme (which you partially rebutted in the next line).

            You're a different person cellularly and mentally week to week. You're accumulating mutations somewhere in your body's cells every millisecond [madsci.org]. Mentally, your memory is very fuzzy. For most people, the further back into the past they try to recall, the more they "edit" or remove the memory. Witness testimony is considered unreliable because aside from a few photographic/savant types, human memory really is quite imperfect. I was about to say "bad", but "imperfect" could be a good thing since your brain can "remix" old memories to come up with new and better ideas.

            Neurogenesis [wikipedia.org] already happens in your brain throughout life, and every other part of your body doesn't matter (might as well lop those limbs off and replace them with advanced prosthetics).

            I cringe whenever this is used as an objection to anti-aging (you seem to have brought it up more as a curiosity).

            Initial stem cell aging reversal treatments
            [...]
            Which "you" would you want to drift towards if you had the choice? Your 2 year old self? Your 20 year old self? Some top athlete? ;)

            Theoretically, your youngest self would have the "least mutated" DNA, which would presumably be better. It should be possible to get the almost entirely unmutated genomic sequence by sequencing multiple cells and just comparing them. Once you have that, edits could be made to correct mutations you were born with or do other optimizations. Then the digital sequence can be synthesized and used in synthetically created stem cells (if that is the approach you are going with). Because there may be other treatments for aging that end up working better than stem cells. Such as nanobots.

            --
            [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:50PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:50PM (#617692) Journal

      A lot of people groused when Ted Turner started raising bison on his ranch (they were mostly cattle ranchers concerned their herds would contract bucellosis that bison carry), but I'm glad he has popularized bison meat because I can't have my beloved beef any more.

      I'm a little surprised you dislike venison so much when the animals you can get out where you are taste so much milder than the ones west of the Divide.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Goghit on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:52PM (1 child)

      by Goghit (6530) on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:52PM (#617741)

      "Tastes vary. Widely."

      Agreed.

      "To me, venison tastes like toasted dog poop."

      -15 Flamebait/Tasteless Troll

      Well, unless you're talking about venison that was gut shot or not properly bled out and carefully eviscerated immediately, in which case I'm back to agreeing with you. Too many hunters are gormless twits about this.

      I'm a little biased. I grew up in a subsitance hunting environment and didn't taste beef until I was four years old. Apparently I asked my parents why this deer meat tasted funny. And now here I sit, planning to expand the lentil/dried bean section of the 2018 garden.

      • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Friday January 05 2018, @05:55PM

        by fyngyrz (6567) on Friday January 05 2018, @05:55PM (#618416) Journal

        -15 Flamebait/Tasteless Troll

        Meh. It's an opinion. We all have them. Super-taster (high density taste buds) here. Most foods make strong, complex impressions on me. I reserve the right to share those opinions - and I'm not trying to be offensive, just telling it like I see it.

        But anyway, what part of "To me," did you fail to absorb? I didn't say it tasted like dog poop to you.

        I'm a little biased.

        So are we all. That's the thing about taste. Of all kinds.

        And now here I sit, planning to expand the lentil/dried bean section of the 2018 garden.

        Are you leaning towards these instead of meats, or just using these more in other ways?

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:56AM (8 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:56AM (#617506) Journal

    You have to specify what beef, actually. I can have one cow slaughtered and processed by an expert butcher - and you'll say it's horrible. Another cow, of a different breed, processed by a rank amateur butcher, you'll swear it's the best meat you've ever eaten. An old mossy longhorn compared to a Brangus? There really is no comparison.

    For me, the average venison ranks with medium good quality beef. Which, of course, still doesn't compare well with some good Brangus. If the deer meat has been processed by some dumb redneck, who has no idea how to handle it and cut it, then yeah, it's poor quality, and you don't enjoy it much.

    Of course, the cook makes all the difference in the world. An excellent chef/cook can take poor quality meat, and make it good. And a crappy cook can ruin the best of meat.

    In short, you can't generalize like that. Venison is good meat, it all depends on how you treat it. Kinda like women, I think - treat it poorly, it will treat you poorly in return.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @05:39AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @05:39AM (#617537)

      Just goes to show, Runaway, you should never eat what you fucked. Just saying.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by Kromagv0 on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:33PM (3 children)

      by Kromagv0 (1825) on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:33PM (#617678) Homepage

      You also forget that how the deer is killed also affects the quality of the meat. I have had some really bad venison over the years, mostly from my cousin who is a bad shot. He frequently does gut shots and his deer run for hours. As he hunts in the same area I do and brings his deer to the same processor, and I have cooked some of his deer meat and mine the only difference is in the kill and his are frequently bad ones. All that adrenaline and running when you are trying to find the thing only makes things worse. Then there are the people who let the deer lay in the bed of a truck or hang in an over warm garage for too long and it starts going south as well.

      Yes the cook's and the butcher's ability affect the taste but there are also other factors that have a big impact too like kill quality, how it was handled before it got processed, and what the deer was eating.

      --
      T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:44PM (2 children)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:44PM (#617685) Journal

        That earned you a heaping serving of +1 informative.

        And, suggest to that cousin that if he shoots a dear, and it runs off, he should just sit down, and chill for at least fifteen minutes before pursuing. That won't make the kill any cleaner, but if the deer isn't being actively pursued, it should either lie down, or go to water. Once he lies down, or gets in the water, he ain't getting back up. That beats walking 20 miles through snow, underbrush, and bog, tracking blood spots.

        • (Score: 4, Informative) by Kromagv0 on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:50PM (1 child)

          by Kromagv0 (1825) on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:50PM (#617740) Homepage

          That is what I keep telling him and that he should also spend a bunch more time at the range. I hate helping him retrieve his stupid deer as they do run all over god's green earth. Even though my deer run it isn't far (40 yards max and that was with the biggest deer I ever shot) and then they tip over dead. I can see where they are and the blood trail to them that looks like someone dumped a bucket of red paint on the ground. I always go for the clean unobstructed shot to the vitals and get them through both lungs, or the heart and a lung depending on how they are facing.

          --
          T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:46PM (2 children)

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:46PM (#617687) Journal

      Those are good points. I'd add that with venison in my experience the bigger factor is what the deer ate. Whitetail from the mountains who've been eating pine bark and the like taste much gamier than their cousins from east of the Divide who've been eating the same stuff the free-range cattle have been eating.

      I have never had venison cooked in a smoker, though. I can see that changing the experience. Has anyone here?

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday January 04 2018, @10:23PM

        by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Thursday January 04 2018, @10:23PM (#618015) Journal

        I've had various smoked venison products over the years. They've varied in quality, just as smoked beef or pork or whatever products do. Then again, I'm generally a fan of venison, and extra flavor (sometimes called "gaminess") is a matter of fashion in cuisine. A few generations ago, meat was often not just aged but often underwent "mortification" where it would basically rot for a while, then be trimmed of mold, etc. The intensification of flavor including gamey flavors was often prized.

        Today, in the era of boneless skinless chicken breasts as the standard "mild" (aka "flavorless") meat, it's unsurprising that wild game is often avoided by many. (To be clear, I'm not passing any judgment here: people like what they like, and there are things that are too gamey for me too.)

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 05 2018, @01:17AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 05 2018, @01:17AM (#618142)

        Smoked backstrap done right has to be one of the most outstanding things I've ever eaten. To echo what others have said, whoever butchers the deer needs to know what they're doing (Read a guide!) Excess silver-skin can easily ruin the flavor in my opinion. I've eaten venison primarily for the last decade due to my Father being an avid hunter in an area with less restrictions for hunting. If you do it right, its not "gamey" Yes, its lean, yes its delicious, and Bambi's smoked backstrap melts in your mouth.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @04:02AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @04:02AM (#617507)

    went to a small banquet in Switzerland about 10 years ago. The restaurant only served unusual meats -- your choice of venison, boar, horse and several other animals not normally eaten in N. America. Also, several organ meats that we don't normally see. The Swiss thought they were doing something really special for us, but we were mostly unimpressed with the flavors, maybe some are an acquired taste?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @05:23AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @05:23AM (#617533)

      > maybe some are an acquired taste?

      We call that "learning to love masochism".

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 04 2018, @07:28AM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday January 04 2018, @07:28AM (#617573) Journal

        Organ meats are awesome. I grew up surrounded by Cantonese people so I'll eat almost any part of an animal aside from nervous tissue and a few other bits. Properly prepared, tripe or heart or liver or even properly-washed intestine will make you go back for seconds and thirds. Less wasteful, too.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Thursday January 04 2018, @08:19PM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Thursday January 04 2018, @08:19PM (#617920) Journal

      Probably yes. After I resumed eating mammals after a 10 year hiatus, I have never been able to like the taste of pork. It just comes off as disgusting. Deer liver though -- that's amazing.

  • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Thursday January 04 2018, @12:38PM (1 child)

    by TheRaven (270) on Thursday January 04 2018, @12:38PM (#617636) Journal
    My mother lives in the south of France where boar are increasingly a problem. They're large and aggressive. They used to be culled pretty effectively by hunters, but the older hunters are gradually dying off and few young ones are replacing them (let's face it, unless you particularly enjoy killing things, hunting boar isn't that much fun). They're probably going to end up with boar-hunting drones or something equally silly and likely to lead to a robot apocalypse.
    --
    sudo mod me up
    • (Score: 1, Troll) by VLM on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:18PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:18PM (#617717)

      Google indicates at least 50:50 odds Muslims cannot eat wild boar and France is converting to a Muslim country so wild boar hunting is going to be a pest control thing in France in the future rather than a food source.