Venison or Beef?

[goldhound]

VENISON VERSUS BEEF

> THE TASTE CONTROVERSY ENDS

> FROM THE UNITED STATES VENISON COUNCIL

>

> Controversy has long raged about the relative quality and taste of

> venison

and beef as gourmet foods. Some people say that venison is tough, with a

strong

"wild" taste.

> Others insist that venison's flavor is delicate. An independent food

> research group was retained by the Venison Council to conduct a taste

> test to determine the truth of these conflicting assertions once and for

all.

> First a Grade A Choice Holstein steer was chased into a swamp a mile

> and a half from a road and shot several times. After some of the

> entrails were removed, the carcass was dragged back over rocks and

> logs, and through mud and dust to the road. It was then thrown into the

back

of a pickup truck and driven through rain and snow for 100 miles before

being

hung out in the sun for 10 days.

> After that it was lugged into a garage, where it was skinned and

> rolled

around on the floor for a while. Strict sanitary precautions were observed

throughout the test, within the limitations of the butchering environment.

For

instance, dogs and cats were allowed to sniff and lick the steer carcass,

but

were chased away when they attempted to bite chunks out of it.

> Next a sheet of plywood left from last year's butchering was set up in

> the

basement on two saw horses. The pieces of dried blood, hair and fat left

from

last year were scraped off with a wire brush last used to clean out the

grass

stuck under the lawn mower.

> The skinned carcass was then dragged down the steps into the basement

where a half dozen inexperienced but enthusiastic and intoxicated men worked

on

it with meat saws, cleavers and dull knives. The result was 375 pounds of

soup

bones, four bushel baskets of meat scraps, and a couple of steaks that were

an

eighth of an inch thick on one edge and an inch and a half thick on the

other.

> The steaks were seared on a glowing red hot cast iron skillet to lock

> in

the flavor. When the smoke cleared, rancid bacon grease was added along with

three pounds of onions, and the whole conglomeration was fried for two

hours.

> The meat was gently teased from the frying pan and served to three

blindfolded taste panel volunteers. Every one of the members of the panel

thought it was venison. One of the volunteers even said it tasted exactly

like

the venison he had eaten in hunting camps for the past 27 years. The results

of

this scientific test show conclusively that there is no difference between

the

taste of beef and venison.