Gamey! Youxe2x80x99re darn tootin’ my venison is gamey! Thatxe2x80x99s exactly why it is celebrated around the world as the most desirable, delicious, nutritious, natural, organic, healthy food on planet earth.
Let us all dedicate ourselves to destroy the bastardization of the once glowingly positive term gamey!
Gamey does not mean nasty, rancid or yucky! Originally when describing wild-game meat, the term gamey was universally considered the ultimate positive compliment anyone could use to describe how special and delicious venison is.
Somewhere along the line as mankind migrated away from the independent hunting lifestyle of self-sufficiency and rugged individualism, some hunters became increasingly nonchalant and disconnected from the spiritual respect for the animals we hunt, and became less considerate on how they handled the hard-earned carcass.
Thatxe2x80x99s when they messed up and foolishly allowed urine, body fluids, bile, guts and all sorts of flavor-destroying guck to infect the meat.
Somebody somewhere took a bite of irresponsibly mishandled venison and got a suckerpunch of nastiness that turned them off from the flesh of game.
Knowing that they had a bad taste experience with game meat, they knee-jerkingly pronounced they didnxe2x80x99t like the gamey punch of venison.
And it all went downhill from there.
Gamey is supposed to mean delicious in a tastebud stimulating way. Special, robust, unique and yummy!
In my lifetime of rock-n-roll globetrotting adventure, satisfying my extremely demanding pallet has brought me to some of the worldxe2x80x99s finest eating establishments, and served by world-class chefs and kitchen creationists.
With my reputation as a gung-ho American hunter, most chefs come out of the kitchen to meet me and say hello, always eager to discuss their basic worship of game meat as the foundation of the best meals possible.
Passionate dialog ensues about the joys of hunting, killing, gutting, aging, butchering, preparing, grilling, serving and eating what we all know to be the best, most exciting meal there is; venison in all its varied and exciting forms and species and presentations.
The worst crimes of flesh mishandling come in many sundry forms.
Bad hits on game can and will happen, but dedication to aim-small, miss-small shot placement can make or break a quality meal.
If a bad hit is made, all of the tainted flesh exposed to any body fluids must be carved away from the desirable cuts.
An inexcusable mistake is a sloppy gutting process. There is no hurry. Nobody gets an award for the fastest gutting time.
Care and caution should always be the modus operandi for keeping undesirable fluids off of the meat. Take your time and very carefully use a real sharp knife.
Another bizzarro failure that I witness all too often is the horror of carting a dead deer around in the back of a pickup truck exposed to sunlight and warm temperatures.
Getting the carcass cleaned and cooled as soon as possible is Job #1 for us deerhunters.
Walk-in coolers are a Godsend, but getting the quarters in the shade or cooled down any way possible will spell the difference between so-so venison, and great venison.
Then, of course, the final cooking process is the end-all deciding factor for killer tablefare, and keeping it simple and rare to medium rare, regardless of the preferred cooking process, makes all the difference in the world.
I have unlimited killer ways to cook my sacred flesh, but the easiest and still one of the best, is aged backstrap with all of the fat, muscle and silver removed, marinated for an hour or so in really good olive oil and melted duckfat, covered with a little herbs and seasonings of choice.
I stab small slices into the strap and insert shards of fresh garlic throughout.
I grill it relatively quickly over hot, glowing wood coals till singed on the outside, then roasted off heat for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Served with onions, peppers, garlic and small potatoes cooked in the drippings, and what you have is the most unbelievable, tastebud-exhilarating gamey meal you can imagine.
Venison is game meat. Itxe2x80x99s supposed to be gamey delicious, and when handled with genuine loving care from field to table, nothing else comes close.
Game on! Gamey on!
Multi-platinum guitar legend TED NUGENT has a new full-length album THE MUSIC MADE ME DO IT, released on Friday, November 9, on Round Hill Records. The album is available now for order everywhere, and the title track xe2x80x9cThe Music Made Me Do Itxe2x80x9d is available to download and stream wherever music is sold.
Ted Nugent xe2x80x93 xe2x80x9cThe Music Made Me Do Itxe2x80x9d (Official Music Video)
With more than 40 million albums sold, rock legend Ted Nugent is equally well known as the nationxe2x80x99s most outspoken proponent of our 1st and 2nd Amendment rights, conducting thousands of pro-gun, pro-freedom, pro-American interviews in major media worldwide. Nugent is a New York Times best-selling author whose works include Ted, White & Blue xe2x80x94The Nugent Manifesto; God, Guns & Rock xe2x80x98nxe2x80x99 Roll and Kill It & Grill It.This year, his award-winning Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild TV show celebrates its 500th episode! For all things Nuge, visit www.tednugent.com