most people don't eat deer?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’ve never eaten deer. My mother never made it growing up, although we were certainly a family of meat-eaters. Guess it just wasn’t a popular dish in the suburbs of Baltimore. And if I’ve ever seen it offered in a restaurant, I don’t remember, but it obviously didn’t sound appealing enough for me to order it. But, I would certainly try it if it was offered to me. It’s meat, and I’ve heard it’s very good. I haven’t had it not because it disgusts me or anything.

Now that I think about it, I HAVE had caribou before, which I believe is a type of deer, isn’t it? How similar is that to venison?

22

Nardopolo, I certainly understand your POV. I argue, however, that what I put in my body is my choice. If someone TRICKS me into eating something that I otherwise wouldn’t eat, I’m probably going to become sick to my stomach out of sheer disgust and rage.

I would also compare it to, “Oh, you thought that was me you were having sex with? No no, it was my twin brother Bobby.”

::double shudder::

It’s the deceit that would make me nauseous.

23

And alligator! Don’t forget alligator!

(Mmmmm… Tastes like pork…)

24

During my trip to England a couple of weeks ago, we went to a restaurant in Salisbury one evening and tried their venison sample plate.

The sausage was awful, but the burger patty was okay (a bit dry). The blood pudding was tasty, and the pate was very good.

25

I grew up in a rural area where deer meat was common, along with squirrel and rabbit. (Oh, the visions I have of skinned squirrels hanging from my grandfather’s oak…:eek:)
I don’t recall ever eating any of it, though, except as an adult, when I was too broke to buy food and someone gave me a few pounds of it. I wasn’t overly impressed with the taste, but my kids ate it without blinking an eye. It definitely didn’t taste beef-like, and I like beef better.
In general, I’m a little squeamish about wild game. I know all the icky stuff about meat processing, etc, but I still prefer meat that comes from…I dunno, a farm. Goofy, but there it is. My guideline is pretty much: I don’t eat anything that looks all nice and fluffy in the forest, anything that has to be shot out of a tree, or anything that I’d have to pay 10 bucks to see in a zoo. And anything with tentacles, I suppose.
Now, if someone were to send me some tallow from deer or whathaveyou, I’d whip up a batch of soap with nary a second thought. (I never said I was consistent!)

~karol

26

Like hell! It tasted like chicken! Fishy chicken! Not my idea of a good flavor fusion!

But deer isn’t bad. Not as good as good lamb, but on par with goat. Better than most rabbit I’ve had. Not as good as frog.

BTW, as a farm owner, I consider deer to be great big rural rats.

27

The alligator I’ve eaten tasted like (wait for it…) chicken. But not exactly like chicken, with a strange musty oysterish taste added.

28

I haven’t had venison in years… only had it a couple times, too. I liked it well enough. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s definitely edible. I think it’s about on par with beef, in my book. It doesn’t taste like beef, it’s just in a similar position on my meat totem pole. Perhaps a little higher - I’m not a huge fan of beef these days…

29

I haven’t had venison in years… only had it a couple times, too. I liked it well enough. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s definitely edible. I think it’s about on par with beef, in my book. It doesn’t taste like beef, it’s just in a similar position on my meat totem pole. Perhaps a little higher - I’m not a huge fan of beef these days…

30

During my trip to England a couple of weeks ago, we went to a restaurant in Salisbury one evening and tried their venison sample plate.

The sausage was awful, but the burger patty was okay (a bit dry). The blood pudding was tasty, and the pate was very good.

31

I’ve had venison a few times, but since I live in L.A., it’s not like we have deer hanging around to make venison a common item in the market or restaurants.

When I lived in Alaska, I did eat moose & bear a few times–eh, they were okay, but I’d rather have a good-sized hunk of dry-aged beef or lamb if given the choice.

32

I haven’t had venison in years, and wouldn’t go searching for it either. But the first time I had it was before I was married, at a party in my then-fiance’s hometown, where every other person hunted. They had prepared the venison as Sloppy Joe’s, and didn’t tell everyone that it was deer…but then this was a big hunting area, so they kind of assumed everyone knew. I ate one, and didn’t really care for the taste…the seasonings, I thought…they didn’t use Manwich! But my soon-to-be brother-in-law, who’d lived there his entire life and should have known better, happily ate three sandwiches. Then the hostess told him it was venison, and he ran for the bathroom and heaved it all right back up. If she had waited an hour to tell him, he would have kept it down and might have said, hey, that was pretty good. But now when he thinks of venison, he thinks of puking at a party, and he’ll never touch it again.

33

You would think that living in a wooded area, with a fair amount of deer, that most people here would eat it. I don’t eat game at all, but I know people who do. Not the majority, though, but enough do so it doesn’t seem strange, just a little unusual.

34

I’ve tried it a coupla times. Living near the Indiana/Michigan state line, you meet and work with a lot of hunters, who would bring in stuff like venison salami for the rest of us to try. I was the only woman in the department who would taste it- the other girls couldn’t get past the Bambi factor.

I must say it was mighty tasty. Much better than beef. Of course, I have a strong preference for free-range meats, (especially chicken) over the penned-up varieties. They taste, I don’t know, healthier. Also, supermarket chicken will go bad in the fridge fairly quickly- if you haven’t cooked it within 36 hours of bringing it home, you may as well pitch it. Free range chicken I’ve kept in the fridge for 3 or 4 days, and it was perfectly OK.

Once a friend of mine was eating some stew and asked me to try it. I tasted it, thought it was pretty good. Then he told me the meat was turtle. I said “Really?” and took another bite. “Yes, really, that’s turtle.” I took another bite. “You’re not just putting me on, this is really turtle?” “No, it really is turtle”. I took another bite, and said “This is good, you’re sure it’s really turtle?”

He took the fork away from me to keep me from eating up his turtle stew.

A while back, my mom found some leftovers I had brought home from a Chinese restaraunt. She got my little take-out box from the fridge and commenced to munch. “This is really good. What restaraunt did you go to? We’ll have to eat there sometime.” I looked at her and said, “Are you eating my squid?” She shrieked “No!” and hurridly closed the box and put it back in the fridge.

I have a fairly high gross-out threshhold. About the only kinds of animals I’ve heard of people eating that register on my “eeewww” meter are monkeys (mostly because eating other primates seems like a form of cannibalism) and…
tarantulas (eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww)

The only time I have been truly grossed out by food on my plate was at a company Christmas party, held at the local overpriced restaraunt. I got the prime rib. I tried to eat it to be polite, after all, the boss was springing for it, but gave up and handed it over to a coworker.

This piece of meat was so rare, I wanted to send it back to the kitchen and ask them to please kill the cow. Bloody raw meat, just barely warmed in the oven. The really gross part was that so many of my coworkers were actually enjoying it.

To me, just about any critter is fair game for the dinner plate, as long as it has been killed and (excepting oysters) properly cooked. I do like raw oysters. With lemon. None of that shrimp cocktail sauce stuff that so many restaraunts like to serve with them. Just lemon.

35

Are you serious? Maybe what I had was badly prepared. Some friends from North Carolina once invited me over for snapping turtle, which they described as the best thing they’d ever eaten. I was handed a turtle foot on a plate. As I sliced off a bite, greenish-black grease oozed out. As I chewed, the bite just got bigger and bigger, tougher and tougher. It was one of the most unpleasant dining experiences of my life.

Now squid is no problem, though it doesn’t smell so good. (It’s common on street corners and in movie theaters where I live.) Octopus is all right as well, but I prefer it already dead. (Some eat it alive.) Nothing so bad about tentacles, unless the little suction cups are stuck to your lip.

Oh, and deer is pretty good too. My sister’s husband has a ranch in east Texas, and he usually has some deer in the freezer. (Sorry about the turtle and squid hijack.)

36

I just realized I never answered the OP. Yes, I’ve eaten venison on many occasions. While in college, not so long ago, friends and I would tailgate with deerburgers or deersteaks. I don’t mind the taste of venison. It’s a little sweet to me, but I don’t mind it.

But I PREFER beef or chicken.

37

I think it alot of whether you have/will eat deer depends on where you live. Here in the sticks, if it can be legally hunted, we eat it. :wink:

Venison is pretty good, I prefer it to beef, but I know plenty of people who don’t. No biggie that I can see.

My all time favorite though… Elk, yummy

38

Never had deer and I’ve lived in GA for um, 17 years now. I’ve tried gator, squid, snails, and beef heart (very tasty!). I just never had the chance to try deer. I don’t hunt and I’m not good friends with anyone that does. I liked the other meats that I’ve tried but I just feel sorry for gators so I won’t eat them anymore.
I love steaks though and can’t imagine that deer would be any better than a nice rare filet.

39

Had the usual (beef, pork, chicken, fish).
Had the less usual (deer, emu)
Had the very unsual (bear, rattlesnake)

But my favorite is beefalo!!!
Farm-raised, free-running.
Yum.

40

I used to eat bison burgers when I worked out in San Bernardino, but it’s not very common around here. I actually have a “buffalo gun” – a Shiloh Sharps Model 1873 No. 3 in .45-70 caliber. I have no intention of actually using it to hunt with. (In fact, although I’ve had it for about a decade, I’ve never even fired it!)

I have “the” deer gun, too – a Winchester Model 94 carbine. And the rifle version, circa 1932. But I don’t intend to hunt with it either.