# I need a Deer hunter's help



## Chef Niloc (Jan 13, 2012)

Deer hunter/cook needed

I need some deer tallow (rendered fat) I can't find it for sale anywhere. I also cant think of a better place to ask, hunters here like knives and like to cook. Any one feel like playing around in the kitchen after a hunt?
Elk would also work.
It's also pretty cold here so if you don't want to render fat in your kitchen you could likely just freeze it and ship it, fat won't go bad as long as there's no blood or meat still hanging off of it.


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## JohnnyChance (Jan 13, 2012)

http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?st=34&ty=0&nm=venison

http://www.creeksedgeelkfarm.com/

http://www.joneseysriversideranch.com/


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## Chef Niloc (Jan 13, 2012)

JohnnyChance said:


> http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?st=34&ty=0&nm=venison
> 
> http://www.creeksedgeelkfarm.com/
> 
> http://www.joneseysriversideranch.com/



Any of them sell tallow?


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## Eamon Burke (Jan 13, 2012)

Typically it is sold to make soap, so I'd check with some soap people.

I googled anad found this contact from 2009, she sells deer tallow for $2/lb:
Kay Bright
Kajon Farm Soaps and Dairy Goats
[email protected]


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## DeepCSweede (Jan 13, 2012)

Wish I could help. We usually save some good stuff to feed the birds / squirrels through the winter months. No deer this year, luckily I still have some meat left from last year. Good luck finding some. Mind me asking what you are making with it?


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## Chef Niloc (Jan 13, 2012)

johndoughy said:


> Typically it is sold to make soap, so I'd check with some soap people.
> 
> I googled anad found this contact from 2009, she sells deer tallow for $2/lb:
> Kay Bright
> ...





johndoughy said:


> Typically it is sold to make soap, so I'd check with some soap people.
> 
> I googled anad found this contact from 2009, she sells deer tallow for $2/lb:
> Kay Bright
> ...



Thanks, ill keep that email in the bullpen but I am still hopping I can get it on the cheap, got to be a deer hunter here? And tallow is sooooo easy to make. I did a search to and came up with all kinds of sights selling beef tallow, some for about the same ($2.00 lb), i get duck fat for less then that. Makes me want to go into the tallow making business.


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## Chef Niloc (Jan 13, 2012)

DeepCSweede said:


> Wish I could help. We usually save some good stuff to feed the birds / squirrels through the winter months. No deer this year, luckily I still have some meat left from last year. Good luck finding some. Mind me asking what you are making with it?



venison confit :hungry3:


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## jmforge (Jan 13, 2012)

I am not a cook, so take this for what it is worth, but from what I have heard, most people don't use deer fat because it supposedly goes nasty rancid VERY quickly.


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## DeepCSweede (Jan 13, 2012)

Ok, my first recommendation if you are going to confit is to not use venison fat. Venison has been my primary protein for the majority of my life and I have found that as soon as you are done cooking any fat will solidify extremely quickly and will have a dense almost chalky texture. My father and I butcher all of our deer by hand and we trim the majority of the fat off of the meat and only leave a little on some of the chunks that we save for sausage. 

My experience especially as I have expanded other methods/styles of cooking it is to incorporate other fats with it to keep it moist. A good smoked bacon or pork fat is one of my favorites. I have never used it but if I were to make a confit, I would seriously consider using duck fat. I think the texture and flavor of duck would be excellent. 

My two cents - however if you do decide to use some rendered venison fat, I wish you luck and would love to know how it turns out. I am always game to learn something new.

As to keeping it / storing - keep it frozen as much as possible.


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## ajhuff (Jan 13, 2012)

Yeah my experience is the deer fat tastes nasty, that might be why you find it difficult to find. When I would cook venison we would always trim it as lean as possible. And as DeepCSweede said. when we ground venison, we still trimmed it as lean as possible and then added beef fat in. For us it was a taste issue.

-AJ


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## Eamon Burke (Jan 13, 2012)

I think Pierre said he bagged a few elk this year, you should PM him.


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## PierreRodrigue (Jan 13, 2012)

An elk, moose. and 10 deer in our little group. I agree with other posters. The fat is the first thing to go in the trash. 99% is trimmed prior to packaging the prime cuts, and everything that is easily removed is tossed from the lesser cuts going to sausage. Also, no bones, they are worse when it comes to bad flavour. They add an off flavour to anything fried/roasted. Anotherthing odd about venison fat, if it does make it into the pot/pan, it desolves and stays out of the way, right up until it gets to a warm temp, say 80-90F then is solidifies, and is a very annoying texture. Its a gritty, pasty texture that sticks to your mouth/teeth, and thats all you taste. Ruins the whole experience. I'm all for flavor, but deer fat is not where its at. Elk and moose are a different story, where a little fat is a good thing.

My thoughts..


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## DeepCSweede (Jan 13, 2012)

Pierre,

I forgot to add that point about the fat sticking in your mouth - especially the roof of your mouth - that is awful. 

Eric


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## jmforge (Jan 13, 2012)

The other posts jogged my memory a bit. I have also heard of some people adding beef fat when fat was called for. I have also seen venison chops "larded" with bacon like a fillet, but I think the intent was to impart some of the pork product flavor to the dish.


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## Chef Niloc (Jan 13, 2012)

Thanks for the info, I would prefer elk but thought deer would be easer to get. As for taste and texture I think once it's rendered down to tallow it would be a whole different story? I could be wrong about this but I think it's still worth a try.


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## PierreRodrigue (Jan 13, 2012)

You may be right. I have never been bothered to take it anywhere that far, but let us know how it works, good or bad.


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## jmforge (Jan 13, 2012)

Are you looking for some kind of authenticity in the dish? Most folks would not expect you to use deer fat and you run the risk of messing up the dish IMO. As far as other types of meat goes, if you can't find elk, you may want to try to find some nilgai, blackbuck or one of the other "pest" exotics that run rampant in places like Texas. Nilgai is very tasty, but like elk, it is probably closer to tasting like beef than whitetail deer. Of course, the problem with whiteail is that some of it can taste like good beef and some can taste like sauteed ass.:lol2:


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## Chef Niloc (Jan 14, 2012)

Playing around at home, it's not for the restaurant


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## Dusty (Jan 14, 2012)

When I make venison sausages I use hard pork back fat, and for confit venison shoulder, duck fat does the trick nicely.


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## Eamon Burke (Jan 14, 2012)

Do it, Colin! All new food started with some crazy ass who decided to eat that thing anyways.

Not that you are a crazy ass. :sofa:


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## jmforge (Jan 15, 2012)

Colin, Broken Arrow Ranch sells Axis deer, antelope and wild hog, Cabela's sells nilgai steaks and New Zealand sourced elk, but they are pricey. Broekn Arrow says thet have "South Texas antelope." Not sure if that is nilgai, blackbuck or just whatever exotic wanders into their sight picture on a particular day. King Ranch used to have the worst nilgai infestation, but I am not sure they sell any or that they still have the big culling hunts. the used to take up to 30 animlas a night and that make the beasts VERY skittish as you might imagine.


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## Chef Niloc (Jan 15, 2012)

johndoughy said:


> Do it, Colin! All new food started with some crazy ass who decided to eat that thing anyways.
> 
> Not that you are a crazy ass. :sofa:



watch a year from now Thomas Keller will be doing this and saying he came up with it


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## DeepCSweede (Mar 8, 2012)

Colin,

Did you ever try this out?


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