For most people, their food comes in plastic packaging with a styrofoam tray holding a cut of meat and wrapped in a plastic film packaging wrap. If one wants to eat a little healthier, they can spring for “organic” meat, which comes in the same packaging but with the industrial promise that it is free from antibiotics and steroids.
For those looking to save a little money and not buying “organic” protein, the FDA approves of estrogen, progesteron, testosterone supplements via implants in cows and hogs. For those buying ‘free range’ meat products, free range does not necessarily mean living in a big pasture under blue skies. The USDA defines ‘free range’ as a chicken essentially having the ability to pop it’s head out of a hole and look around.
As of summer 2021, organic pork runs about $8/lb with organic beef running between $8/lb to $32/lb, depending on the cut. For a hunter, everything they ever harvest will truly be 100% organic and 100% free range. That means with a Georgia deer, I’ll get around 40 to 50 lbs of 100% organic protein with cuts varying from burger to tenderloin. That puts the harvest at around $500 worth of meat.
And when one starts preparing wild hog, venison or turkey, one realizes the difference in quality, texture, marbling and color of the meat from store-bought products. When I prepare venison backstrap (loin), that cut of meat looks almost identical to the finest cut of sashimi tuna one can buy. Venison, wild hog and turkey are typically so lean they require great care in the prep and cooking techniques and times.
One of the best things I ever purchased was a sous vide device which allows one to cook to precise temperatures without exposing the meat to flame or coals, which quickly dry out such lean proteins.
I have heard friends say that they didn’t like venison, wild hog or turkey because it ”tasted too gamey." But I have never had that experience nor have any of the people who ate meals I prepared for them. I think the secret to that is quick and efficient dressing in the field along with careful and proper preparations and recipes in the kitchen.
I can say that venison loin, prepared well, is the finest cut of red meat I have ever had. And wild hog, prepared correctly, warrants being called some of the best meat in the world. Iberico ham, while not wild, runs $220/lb.
In the end, because hunting and harvesting wild game is such a time and labor intensive practice, preparing it well is the only way to give it the respect it is due.
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