Deer hunting season is over and you have venison to deal with. What do you do? Here is what my hunters do. The venison should be left to age for 10-14 days in temperature between 35-42 degrees without the hide before processing. If the temperature is warmer than that the meat is cut up and refrigerated, canned in jars or frozen. Some is ground up for burger. Some is made into sausage after the steaks and roasts are cut.

The tenderloin rarely makes it to the freezer as it is the easiest and quickest to cook. I slice it into 1-inch pieces, butterfly it and fry it up with onions and mushrooms. Venison burger mixed with ground pork is delicious. I never mix the two together before freezing as venison will keep longer frozen than pork. I mix them just before cooking. Sausage meat is spiced, put into casings and hung to dry overnight before smoking. The heart and liver are utilized as well, nothing is wasted.

I have been cooking venison for many years. I have tried dozens of recipes and methods. This way is one of my favorites. I put the round steaks in a pan, pour buttermilk over to completely cover and let them marinade overnight or longer in the refrigerator. The next day I drain off the buttermilk and dredge the steaks with seasoned flour. I dice a few pieces of bacon and brown it in my cast iron pan. I add a few cloves of garlic and then I brown the steaks well and top with thinly sliced sweet onion. To that I cut red, green and yellow bell peppers into strips and layer them on top. Sometimes I add sliced mushrooms. Last I pour dark beer over the whole works, put the cover on and bake in the oven at 350-degrees for about an hour.

The buttermilk will tenderize the steaks and you will be able to cut them with a fork. This marinade works well for grilling also.