A Brief Summary of Cooking Methods

Basically, start with a marinade (recipes). Then depending on the quality of your meat, marinade:

* good quality meat (young and "fast kill"): less than 12 hours. Really good meat doesn't need a marinade at all. Most farmed meat is extremely tender and of very high quality.
* medium meat 12-24 hours
* poor quality meat 24-48 hours

Make sure the marinade covers the meat completely. Let the last hour or two of marinade time be at room temperature to let the meat warm up.

1" steaks should be roasted or broiled for NO MORE than 4 minutes per side. I like 3 minutes per side myself.

Roasts should be cooked for about 20 minutes per pound in a 325oF oven. Baste regularly. Obviously, a flat piece of meat cooks faster than a large lump, so take a look at the meat each time you baste; look for rosy red juices (bright red is very rare, clear is well done). You should probably cover a large piece of meat with wet cheesecloth to keep the outside moist while the inside cooks.

Leftover cold roast venison (like roast beef) makes a wonderful sandwich.

For serving suggestions, try juicy vegetables like leeks, eggplant, tomatoes and zucchini. Rice, roast potatoes (with gravy), and sweet potatoes all make good carbohydrates... I particularly like Wild Rice (it is grown locally where I grew up). Always turn the pan juices into a gravy. Some of my favourite venison side dishes include:

* Appetizers: Stuffed Mushrooms; Ginger Garlic Eggplant Spread
* Soups: Zucchini and Rosemary Soup; Tomato Basil Soup; Gazpacho
* Salads & Sides: Spinach Apple Salad; Warm Scallop Salad; Wild Rice and Spiced Shrimp Salad; Eggplant Salad; Begun Pora; Tomato Onion Bake; Potato, Celery Root and Stilton Gratin (Scalloped potatoes); Wild Rice with Almonds and Mushrooms; Danner's White Bread
* Sauces Mango Macademia Nut Salsa; Burgundy Cranberry Salad; Bundy's Chutney