My co-worker and his dad managed to get a doe and a buck last weekend and offered me some it. Actually, he offered a rack of ribs, so now I’m completely lost what to do with them.
Normally I would marrinate the venison with something acidic to help tenderize the meat, but that doesn’t sound like the way to go for ribs. It seems wrong to not put ribs (of any kind) on the smoker I’ve heard that a coco based rub can be pretty tasty on venison - anybody tried that?
I would suggest soaking them overnight in buttermilk, dry em off, put some spices on and when you put them on the smoker, put bacon on top…low n slow. My personal exp is they are way to lean to grill… a steak is another story… but can’t go past med rare or you’ll ruin them.
There’s no real meat on deer ribs, at least not on NJ deer. I tried to prepare some ribs and there wasn’t enough meat on them to do really anything with.
I haven’t got the ribs from him yet - still at the butcher. I’ll have to ask him about it on Monday, he made it sound like they were meaty enough to be bothered with though. Any game I’ve ever had has been pretty lean with very little fat.
I like the buttermilk & bacon idea - if there’s any meat on 'em, I’ll probably go that route.
BTW these deer are Nova Scotian (eastern Canada) and may have spent their entire life without ever seeing concrete, cars or asphalt. We had a pretty awesome summer, so they may have fattened up pretty good (wishful thinking? :-\ )
If you are getting a true 'rack" you should get part of the chop in the end.Just depends on how the butcher is cutting them .If you get them like a rack of lamb you can 'French" them then make a crown roast.
If you can get a bag of ground venison you can make a stuffing for the crown roast. You can mix bacon or some other fat into the stuffing to bard it.
After the crown roast is tied off and stuffed you can bard the whole thing by wrapping it with some bacon.
Even if there is not much meat on the ribs, they will flavor the stuffing and the stuffing will make for more to go around.
I got the ribs from my co-worker yesterday. Cap, after getting excited about the crown roast, I was let down pretty hard - the rack was cut into 3 pieces!
They’re certainly no pork ribs, but I do see meat on them - and more fatty than anticipated too! Once I’ve thawed them, I’ll have a better idea how much fat & meat they have on them. Probably best to have some bacon on hand just in case.
He also gave me another unknown cut of venison - there’s no bone - it kinda looks like a small loin or round - scratch that, I think it is a hind. I see a venison stew in my future :)
I’ve never been a fan of venison ribs…as a kid when I ate them, I would get a mouthful of tallow whenever I ate them,
Nowadays, when I butcher a deer (and that will be this weekend ;D), I take my filet knife and cut the meat out of the ribs, and throw it into the sausage/burger grind pile.
Now a cut I have grown to like is the shank…its got too much sinew to cut up into the burger pile, but if you braise it like a veal or lamb shank, it comes out delicious!
Curry! I never thought of that - brilliant! Not sure how much the kids will like it though. I think my 7 year old daughter will refuse no matter how I serve it (though she’s quite happy to eat cute and cuddly lamb). We saw a 4 or 5 point buck at the edge of the road the other day and she’s been talking about it non-stop.