Hi, whtbengal! It is cool to have a freezer full of venison, but not if it doesn't taste very good, right? My family eats alot of it, too and I can't stand it when it is so gamey. My husband and son hunt and over the years we've learned that there are 3 things that affect the taste of venison. Do you know the answer to any of these, since the meat came from your ex-roommate?
how quickly it dies
how quickly it is field dressed
how it is butchered (most of the game taste is stored in the fat)
You can take a package of Bob Evans sausage (or somewhat) and mix it 1/2 with the venison to try to dilute the taste. You can then take it and mix with country gravy and have it over biscuits, to mask the taste, or make spaghetti.
If it is a bad deer, there is not much you can do about it. A stressed deer, from a bad hit, a poor job of field dressing or a butcher who does an inferior job trimming the fat from the meat, makes some really rancid venison. If it is a bad deer, there is not much you can do about it, except try to feed it to your dog, but my brother-in-law tried that one year and even his dog would not eat it!
We have found an excellent butcher that trims the fat, and we have learned to ask that no beef fat be added. My hasband and son are both excellent hunters and make sure they have good clean shots. We had a real wild gamey year about 8 years ago when they hunted in the mountains. The type of food they eat makes a big difference in the way they taste. The mountains have alot of wild sage and that is part of what I did not like about wild game. LOL! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Anyway, I hope that this helps. You can try to mask the taste; our favorite is spaghetti; if the meat is bad, there is not too much you can do, sorry. If we lived close enough, I'd give you a couple of packages. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Trish
