Cooking with Wild Game

Whether you’re a hunter or not, trying to cook wild meats, like venison, can be daunting. We have put together some general tips as well as a helpful chart on typical cuts of wild meat, including safe internal cooking temperatures, the best way to cook your wild game as well as some of our delicious wild game recipes to try. 

What temperature do you need to cook this meat to? Is it supposed to be that dark red colour? These are just some of the questions that may come up when you are trying to decide how to cook wild game. Below are a few things to remember:

• Game refers to animals hunted for food and not normally domesticated, like deer or moose

• Game meat is very lean and can easily become dry and tough

• Cook tender cuts from the loin section and most young animals by grilling, sautéing or pan-frying  

• For cuts of meat that need to be cooked to medium doneness or higher, bake or roast the meat

• For meats cooked to well done or cuts of meat that are considered tough, moist heat and longer cooking time tends to break down the connective tissue and produce a better result, so methods such as stewing, simmering and braising would be best