Venison Anyone?

This last summer a neighbor shared some venison and elk steaks from her last Autumn's hunting trip. It brought back so many memories from my youth of tall bottles of canned venison and jerky made from the deer Mom got when she went hunting with friends. We loved the jerky, and the way she knew how to make venison with gravy and tiny potatoes. It made me want to go hunting too.

Some friends from church gave us about 25 pounds of venison after their hunting trip last week. I was so tickled! I was able to get 12 pints of canned meat, a huge batch of jerky, and enough left over for several pounds of burger and sausage. This is some nice deer meat, it was quite a large deer, and you can tell that my friends know how to take care of it. My Kitchenaide mixer has a nice food grinder attachment so I can do this at home. Almost everything is done but the sausage, which I am now going to find a recipe for. For dinner we are having venison chili, yay!

The rest of the story- It's a family tradition for my friends to go hunting each year. There are 5 brothers and their wives and families. They circle the campers and go out on their 4 wheelers to hunt. They were quite successful this year and so most of their freezers will be full. The brother that shared with us doesn't really like the meat except in jerky form, so he will keep what they need for jerky and give away the rest to those who might need the meat. Why did we get some? Well the wife was supposed to be here to help with our Super Saturday, but asked to bow out so she could go. Her husband wanted her there, and since they have a son on a mission right now, they thought it would be important for for all who could to go. I jokingly said I wanted some jerky, and they were way more than generous. As for me, I am very grateful to be able to relive memories of the past because of their generosity. We have already sampled some of the finished jerky and it is delicious! If you would like the recipes drop me a note.