Before I had met Mark, I had never ate venison meat.  Well let me correct myself.  I did once by MISTAKE.  A friend of mine would have a game party every year.  For those not familiar with a game party, everyone brings a dish that includes some sort of dish with NOT your typical meat.  Typical meaning normal beef.  These dishes included venison, rabbit, squirrel, etc.  So I filled my plate with the safe foods.  Noodles, salad, brownies…nothing that included meat so I was safe. 

I can’t recall who brought the beef and noodles but my friend INSISTED it was your typical beef, not venison.  At this point I was starving.  I need meat.  I am your protein kind of gal.  After drilling her and drilling her and her insisting it was not venison, I made my plate of beef and noodles.  One bite and I knew what I had feared.  It WAS venison.  I couldn’t eat it.  No matter how much everyone tried convincing me that it is good, it is good for you, it taste like chicken, don’t be a baby, its all in your head.  I just couldn’t do it.

After Mark and I were married, I still couldn’t bring myself to eat it.   If he would make dinner I would check the garbage can to make sure the empty package was from the meat I bought at the store and not the packaged Bambi from the freezer. 

Over the years, things changed.   We had a freezer full of venison that I was determined I had to eat.  So one night I told Mark go ahead and make venison steaks for dinner.   Ohhh the fear I had.  And the sweats.  I didn’t want to see it raw.  I didn’t want to see him cooking it or smell it.  I just wanted it on my plate so I could hurry up and get it over with, like a kid screaming and kicking forced to eat peas.  That was me.  Whining and all.   But I coated it with A1, mixed it in my potatoes and forced it down. 

To this day, I still have issues but I do eat it.  

Does it taste like chicken?  No, no and no. 

Why am I ashamed …. I do post recipes but they are Mark’s.  Mark is a great cook and eats a lot of venison. 

 Please don’t hold it against me!  I am really trying to overcome my fear.