From the U.S. Venison Council
Controversy has long raged about the relative quality and taste of
venison and beef as gourmet foods. Some people say venison is tough,
with a strong “wild” taste. Others insist venison’s flavor is delicate.
An independent food research group was retained by the Venison Council
to conduct a taste test to determine the truth of these conflicting
assertions once and for all.
First, a Grade A Choice Holstein steer was chased into a swamp a mile
and a half from a road and shot several times. After some of the
entrails were removed, the carcass was dragged back over rocks and logs,
and through mud and dust to the road. It was then thrown into the back
of a pickup truck and driven through rain and snow for 100 miles before
being hung out in the sun for a day.
It was then lugged into a garage where it was skinned and rolled around
on the floor for a while. Strict sanitary precautions were observed
throughout the test, within the limitations of the butchering
environment. For instance, dogs and cats were allowed to sniff and lick
the steer carcass, but most of the time were chased away when they
attempted to bite chunks out of it.
Next, a sheet of plywood left from last year’s butchering was set up in
the basement on two saw horses. The pieces of dried blood, hair and fat
left from last year were scraped off with a wire brush last used to
clean out the grass stuck under the lawn mower.
The skinned carcass was then dragged down the steps into the basement
where a half dozen inexperienced but enthusiastic and intoxicated men
worked on it with meat saws, cleavers, hammers and dull knives. The
result was 375 pounds of soup bones, four bushel baskets of meat scraps,
and a couple of steaks that were an eighth of an inch thick on one edge
and an inch and a half thick on the other edge.
The steaks were seared on a glowing red hot cast iron skillet to lock in
the flavor. When the smoke cleared, rancid bacon grease was added, along
with three pounds of onions, and the whole conglomeration was fried for
two hours.
The meat was gently teased from the frying pan and served to three
intoxicated and blindfolded taste panel volunteers. Every member of the
panel thought it was venison. One volunteer even said it tasted exactly
like the venison he has eaten in hunting camps for the past 27 years.
The results of this scientific test conclusively show that there is no
difference between the taste of beef and venison…
