Demystifying Deer Fat

[TheRealSpurhunter]

Very good read.
I consider myself informed on deer meat and processing and cooking, yet have held the belief that deer fat is "nasty", hence I have always trimmed it completely off. I am open to learning new things, and this is one area I am going to do some experimenting on from your previous posts, and this article.

I did notice that Hank talks about using the fat sparingly in sausage and burger, primarily where I use the most of my meats, so I am not 100% sure of how much I will be using, but im going to make it a point to try some new things this year.

 

[DntBrnDPig]

All the deer I have killed in Tennessee have been almost completely void of fat. The ones I used to kill in Illinois where completely white when skinned.

But again, this article completely busts my 'inherited knowledge' about venison fat.

I have been trying to step out of my comfort zone so I deep fried some venison heart off a doe I got. I cooked it too long and it was kinda nasty. Problem is I used the same oil to cook the tenderloins and the heart had flavored the oil so the tenderloins were too 'heart' tasting. My kids and wife wouldn't eat it. :-(

 

[DaveB]

I killed a very large doe last year. She was completely encased in a layer of fat that in some places was inches thick. Date was the last Saturday in the season. I must admit I was amazed as most of the deer I've killed have a token amount of fat. I ddi not save the fat, sorry guys. Nex time I will do so.

 

[TheRealSpurhunter]

I or my friends/family kill about 12-14 deer of my place each year, every deer is different when it comes to how much fat they have. There is no crops near us, its 5-6 miles any direction, and they would have to cross the interstate, or wide open fields to access those areas, so I am fairly confident they are not crop-fed deer.
There is certainly some feeding going on somewhere as a few will have some corn in them when cleaned, but its not like every deer does.

I have had a few that shocked me how thick the layer of fat is, and some that are devoid.

 

[diamond hunter]

Kinda like people.Some like spaghetti and some like salads.

 

[TAFKAP]

Good read. I rendered some venison fat down last year and have used it to cook with ever since. I'll often mix a little bit with some butter or Coconut oil for cooking anything and everything as it add a earthy flavor.

http://honest-food.net/2014/10/13/cooking-deer-fat/

The stuff I did off a leg last year was mild-to-neutral in flavor. It made some excellent sugar cookies.

 

[JimFromTN]

I have not been able to eat it since I experienced the mouth coating thing he mentions.