Great Venison Cooking

Share your favorite venison recipe | Buy “The Hunting Widow’s Guide to Great Venison Cooking” today | Learn to Cook at Rouxbe Online Cooking School

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Who are we? We’re glad you asked. We’re a hunter and his wife who happens to love cooking.

When I (Susan) met Rick, I’d only ever had venison once. Fortunately for Rick, I’m a very adventurous eater. So when he asked if I wanted to try it again, I said sure. He prepared it beautifully (yes, he cooked it…pepper encrusted medallions, to be exact). I was hooked.

Good thing. Once Rick got into the serious hunting groove, I realized I needed to figure out what to do with the hundreds of pounds of venison that would be coming through the kitchen. A girl can only eat so much chili!

Fortunately, I love to cook. In fact, I had considered going culinary school at various times, but never really want to be a professional cook. So, I take classes for serious recreational cooks (check out the link below for Rouxbe on-line cooking school—this place is awesome! I have some of their tutorials on this site), honing my skills and having a blast. I also love experimenting with recipes, always delighting in finding something delicious to serve.

By profession, I am a writer. I own a small graphic design agency with my sister: Two Sisters Creative. With one novel under my belt (Confessions of a Frog Kisser), I had been wondering what the next project should be. One morning while looking for an interesting venison roast recipe, I got the idea to write a venison cookbook. What a wonderful way to combine my love of writing with my love of cooking, and to make an adventure out of preparing the venison Rick brings home.

This web site is the beginning of the cookbook adventure.

We live in Northern Virginia, where there is a very serious problem with the White Tail Deer population. Our county has decided that bowhunters are the only viable solution to getting this problem under control. Enter Rick and his bowhunting friends.

Rick learned to hunt while stationed in Germany when he was in the Army. It was all guns, and the training was very rigorous. He loved it! But, he came back home after his tour was over and didn’t hunt for many, many years (he was a little busy with school, children, career, and what not).

A few years ago, he picked up a bow for the first time since he was a kid. He’d always loved archery, and found got right back into the swing. A few of his archery friends hunted and invited him out to hunt some property in Loudoun County. That first season he hunted with a traditional long bow…and he got a few deer! More importantly, he was hooked. Bowhunting combined his love of archery with his love of hunting. And, as a bowhunter, he had access to hunting practically in our backyard.

He’s upgraded his bow these days, but he’s still doing mostly urban hunting. Yes, that means he sets up the tree stand in someone’s backyard (with their permission, of course). Last year, he got 20 deer. That sounds impressive (it is impressive), but 20 Northern Virginia White Tails don’t yield as much meat as 20 Colorado Mule Deer! That said, at least 300 lbs of meat got donated to very grateful neighbors, family, and friends.

When he isn’t hunting, Rick manages his business. He owns Rejuvenations Massage Therapy, a therapeutic massage center in Herndon, Virginia.