Venison – the other red meat – is getting some attention this season. And venison deserves it. This lean and flavorful meat makes a great alternative to beef any time of the year but seems to get noticed most during game season.
This week NPR ran a piece about venison being in both top restaurants and at the food pantry, and not seen much in between. Read Why Is Venison On Expensive Plates And Food Pantry Shelves? to find out more about this dichotomy.
Rules of the Game
The simple fact is that FDA regulations prohibit the sale of hunted game meat, which means that your neighbor is able to give you venison from a hunting trip, but cannot sell it to you. Nor can it be sold to a restaurant or grocery store. Many hunters are donating their venison to food pantries like Hunters for the Hungry, where it is often the only protein available for the needy.
Because of these regulations, we import venison from New Zealand, where the deer are raised on vast pastures in close-to-wild conditions. The FDA allows this venison to be sold in stores and restaurant because of these pristine conditions, and the way the animals are processed and inspected.
These circumstances lend themselves to venison of superior quality, with consistency and tenderness that cannot be achieved in the wild. And that’s why our New Zealand venison is beloved by chefs and home cooks alike. Learn more about our venison in this blog post.
How Chefs Are Serving Venison
Instagram gives us a view right into the kitchens and dining rooms of restaurants around the world. Follow @dartagnanfoods to see what’s cooking. These are some recent pics shared by chefs using D’Artagnan venison, which we hope will inspire you to cook venison soon.
Andrew Bosi is the chef de cuisine at Casa Apicii in NYC, and he shared this colorful venison dish with earthy vegetables on Instagram.
One Fifth Houston is a Texas restaurant with an ambitious concept. This juniper-crusted venison was on their menu recently and seen on Instagram…
French Louie in Brooklyn shared this beauty of a venison dish on Instagram. The colors of beet, sumac, and chard work well with the red game meat.
Peter Loria, chef-owner of Cafe Matisse in Rutherford, NJ has artfully combined many flavors in this venison and scallop dish.
The new cut on the block, our venison tri-tip is perfect for sous vide, as Bar-n-Que, a home cook, demonstrated with his Anova Culinary sous vide machine.
Explore our venison recipes and find a new way to enjoy this delicious game meat.