My husband is a hunter of deer and because I am consumer of venison I make sure I expose myself to the reality of killing for food. I’ll be honest, each time he brings home a carcass, I consider whether my decision to eat meat is the right one for me.My husband talks about what can be described as ethical hunting. This encompasses a commitment to target practice, considering the age, sex and condition of the animal, pulling the trigger only when you know you have clean shot, respect for the animals and the land. These considerations and the fact that we try to eat from nose to tail make my carnivorous choice a more digestible one.
I do have a general interest in just how muscle and fat connects to bones and connective tissue, how joints rotate and how meat varies between breed, sex and age. So I’ll often jump out of bed at 3am when I hear the ute pull into the driveway, put the jug on and get myself ready to clean, trim and process the meat. Well truthfully, even when I talk up my past experience learning butchery at Culinary School I am usually delegated to vacuum packing and labelling.
This butchery experience was 16 years ago and because my current role is around optimising food care in refrigeration appliances, I’m probably better suited to the end processing anyway.
This pie recipe used fellow deer from one of my husband’s recent trips. I believe this recipe does the animal justice.