7.62NATO

For the neck, I coated it with salt and pepper, then seared all sides (even the front and back) in a pan (just a minute or so on med-high heat). I then placed the neck in the crock pot, and draped slices of bacon over the top of it so that it was completely covered (probably about 6-8 slices of bacon). Then I poured a large 32oz container of beef broth over it, and set it on low for about 8-10 hours. Check it at 8 hours (but don't lift the lid off before then), and if it is falling off the bone, it's done. If not, let it go another hour and check it, etc.

I typically don't like beef or venison in the crock pot, but that neck turned out really, REALLY good! I had leftovers today, threw them in a skillet with some sliced bell peppers, added my own taco seasoning to it and threw it in a burrito shell with sour cream, cheese and hot sauce and it was amazing. Too bad I didn't have any onions.

When dealing with whole front shoulders, Google "braised venison shoulder" and read the top hits and you'll get the idea. You're supposed to sear the shoulder as well, but being that it is so uneven, it is a difficult undertaking. I have thought about taking a propane torch to the shoulder to sear it, and may try that this fall.

Anyway, when you braise the front shoulder right, it blows hind quarter roasts out of the water! You gotta make all that crap in the shoulder (tendons, sinew, ligaments...whatever!) work FOR you!

c-rad

Here is a fancy way and a easy way to try it. I always try new ideas I get out of magizines and the internet. I also tried breading the liver in BBQ chips in the past and it was actually turned out ok.


- 1 pound liver
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 cup brandy
- 1 cup of chopped onion
- 2 teaspoons of minced garlic


In a bowl, soak the liver in milk for two hours. Refrigerate liver while soaking. Drain liver well.

In a large skillet, melt four tablespoons butter with one tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring often, until soft (about three minutes). Add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add the liver, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper and sauté until the liver is browned on the outside and slightly ink on the inside (about five minutes). Remove pan from heat, add brandy, return to heat and flame. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and the liver is cooked through but still tender. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Discard the bay leaves.

In a food processor, puree the liver mixture. Add the remaining butter in pieces and pulse to blend. Adjust seasonings to taste. Pack the pate into a mold (sprayed with Pam) and refrigerate until firm (at least six hours).

- deer liver
- milk
- seasoned flour
- oil
- large onion, sliced into rings
- milk

Soak liver in milk for a couple of hours.
Season some flour to taste with salt and pepper, seasoning salt or your favorite seasonings. Heat some oil in a large skillet. Remove the liver from the milk and coat with the flour. Fry the meat on both sides until almost done. Place on a warm plate. Caramelize the onion rings in the oil. Remove to the plate with the liver.

Remove all but 2 - 3 tablespoons of oil from the skillet. Stir in 2 - 3 tablespoons of the seasoned flour. Stir in enough milk to make a gravy. Heat and stir until thick and bubbly.

Add the liver and onions. Stir, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Murdy

Are you sure you were frying the liver? If it smells like urine, that suggests it was a kidney. Kidneys are edible--my Grandma used to make kidney stew--but they are, in my opinion, nasty. I've eaten venison liver and loved it (also like beef liver), but never could stand kidneys.

Gunplummer

Yes, I know what a liver looks like. It is probably the only good organ I have left. I never ate deer kidneys but rabbit and squirrel kidneys are O.K. I will try that recipe, but first I have to get the liver.

Mojotex

I use every piece of meat from the deer as is recoverable. That is what I was taught. Some time I do ruin a shoulder/ I use the tongue, the heart and often the liver. I have not gotten into the kindey-brain thing. Not that hungry ... yet. Ain;t notuing wrong with a slow cooked shoulder. Ever try feer ribs in a crock pot with "watery" BBQ sauce !!! Not much meat but fine eating.

One of the dishes down this way I came across several years ago the cook called "Neck Bone Soup". I first came across thjis dish when I was introduced to it by a family that lived near a hunting camp that I was in for 30+ years. An elderly couple, trying to scratch out a living, had a ramshackeled house about 200 yards from the camp-shack I had bullt that summer. I'd see them around off and on and would wave, but that was about it.

Mr. Smith came and introduced himself to me that first season one cold morning while I was skinning out a young buck that I had killed that morning. And it was obvious what he was hoping for. So I'd offered him a ham. To my my surprise he asked for the neck instead. Always did, eventhough I often offered a ham or strap ... or the whole deer (which he'd take).

After a couple of seasons I just had to ask ... and the next time I was down he brought me the reason. A pot of his wife Ms. Creesie's "neck bone soup" .. bones and all. Man talk about fine !!

Told me that he'd cut the neck through at each veterbrae. Remove and trash the spinal chord. Soak the meat in salt water about two hours. Pour off the bloodey salt water. Slow cook the neck chops in a huge pot for hours and hours along with seasonings until the meat fell off the bone. Then add whatever vegetables they happened to have ... and lots of 'maters that Ms. Creesie had canned from their garden, potatoes and onions. It was never exactly the same ... but always great.

Both have gone on to their eternal and I am 100% certain its a good one. No finer folks have i ever met. Try as I might I have yet to recreate the flavor of her soup. I get close, but no cigar. And I have yet to find a sweet potato pie as good as hers.
We became great firends and I have missed them both a lot.