It’s too greasy…..It tastes gamey….It’s too tough…It tastes like liver. How many times have we heard those famous lines coming from people regarding wild game. Most of the people that speak those words have either never tried wild meat, or, had a bad experience the first time, and probably the last time, they ate it. It’s no secret that if you prepare and cook wild meat the same way you would domestic meat, you may be disappointed in the outcome. There is more then one reason that wild game can taste less then palatable. So let’s go over some of them.

One of the biggest complaints about game is that it’s tough to chew. While it is true that meats like venison are a little drier then beef, that is not the reason for the toughness. The reason is overcooking. When it is cooked, most people think that because it was not raised on a farm or processed it some large butchery, that the meat is contaminated and needs to be rawhide to make it safe. While there are diseases that you need to be aware of, the meat does not need to be cooked any differently then what you would buy at your local supermarket. The internal temperatures and cooking temperatures for venison roasts are the exact same as beef.

Some other people may say that it is too dry. It is a fact that wild meat, no matter if it is venison, elk, bear, duck, or goose has a fraction of the fat that domestic or farm raised meat has. This will lead to drier meat if it is not prepared correctly. While the classic marinating in Italian dressing is always a crowd favorite, there are some newer methods out there for adding moisture back into wild meat. One of my favorites is the injector. I don’t know exactly when the process of injecting marinades directly into meat came about but I am sure that the one who invented it is probably sitting pretty on a beach in Acapulco now. The injector kits that you can buy almost anywhere now usually come with an assortment of marinades. But don’t think that you have to stick with those products. Any liquid that you may prepare meat with can be used. Try your favorite steak sauce, barbeque sauce, and even Italian dressing. If it worked good all those years on the outside, think what it will do when it is on the inside as well.

Now let’s get a little more technical. While preparation and cooking are the final steps in creating a gourmet wild game meal, there are a few steps that need to be taken prior to the kitchen that are more important then anything else.

Field prep and processing can make or break your meat. You can marinade, treat, beat, and cook wild meat like a five star chef, but if the meat was not processed correctly from the beginning it will most likely be a waste of time and effort. The most important thing is rapid recovery and field dressing of the animal. The more time blood and the internal acids sit on the meat the more gamey the meat will taste and there is usually no fixing it. It is arguable that some of this can be resolved by the time of year an animal is taken, but regardless of that point you have to make sure that the animal is very clean after field dressing before you transport it for processing.

This brings up the next problem. When you take your deer to the butcher, one thing you want to be aware of is how that butcher processes the animals. If they take the time to bone the meat you will have much better tasting meat then if it is not boned. When a butcher runs the meat through a band saw, like most of them do, this spreads the bone marrow into the meat. Bone marrow is some of the raunchiest tasting stuff in an animal and when it is introduced into the meat by a saw, there is no way to get that taste out.

Finally we get to waterfowl. When you talk to someone that says they have duck in a restaurant all the time, I will pretty much guarantee they are not eating wild duck. Diet of the bird that you are eating has everything to do with that taste of that bird. Puddle ducks like Mallards, Teal, Wood Ducks, and Geese, are much milder tasting then diving ducks. If you are a liver fan this is not much of an issue. A properly prepared diver duck can taste just like the finest prepared calves liver. There are countless recipes available for waterfowl that can produce five star results. Search around, try different ideas, and you will achieve the success that you are looking for.