Here we are on the downhill side of summer, and some thoughts of deer season are coming forth.
Also heard in a number of Arkansas households is a call to get that last bit of deer meat out of the freezer to make room for what may be coming up in the fall.
Many folks still have meat in the freezer from last year. Chances are that the choicest portions have already been used, and remaining are odds and ends, the kind of deer meat that often goes into stews.
In Arkansas, "venison," the formal term, is much less frequently heard than "deer meat," the popular phrase. Either way, good eating is the bottom line if the meat was handled properly in the field and if it was properly frozen and not dried out or freezer burned.
How can we use up those last few packages from last year?
There are the Big Three of using up deer meat in Arkansas chili, stew and meatloaf. Nothing wrong with any of these. But two of the three call for ground deer meat, and stew can be made with ground, diced or cubed meat.
OK, let's take a package, let it thaw at least partially and make good use of a sharp knife to cut it into cubes. Now the idea of kabobs comes forth.
Put cubes of deer meat on a skewer metal or wood that has been well soaked in water. Alternate the meat with pieces of whatever vegetables are available - onion, yellow squash, zucchini, mushroom, bell pepper, tomato. Grill it on a gas or charcoal cooker on the patio or broil 'em in the over.
You may want to treat the meat with a marinade before the kabob process, though. Here is where your imagination and creativeness can come into play.
One of the easiest marinades for deer meat results in a tasty entre on the table. Just soak the meat in apple juice. Drain the meat then assemble the kabobs. You don't want to marinade the vegetables, probably.
Someone years ago told of saving the juice from bottles of maraschino cherries for this purpose. We haven't tried it but certainly don't knock it. Cherry juice may be an excellent marinade or at least an ingredient in a marinade.
Pineapple juice, lime juice, lemon juice, orange juice all can be used to marinate deer meat, but you may want to mix a concoction rather than use the juice alone. Fruit juice can be combined with vinegar and spices of your choice for a sweet and sour result.
Cola beverages can be used for marinades just as hey can for making venison stew with a special taste.
You might try this for a party feature deer meat marinaded in Dr Pepper or Coca-Cola then made into kabobs. Again, use the cola as an ingredient rather than by itself for a more pleasing result. Depending on who your guests are, of course, all sorts of tall tales and stretches of the imagination can enliven this dinner main dish.
We won't mention the fellow's name, but a friend who enjoys cooking has a penchant for putting the name of an Arkansas community on a dish. He offers Searcy salad, Lepanto beans, Mena mushrooms, Dierks deer kabobs. And the names are just his creations with no real significance except he's having fun.
Here is the marinade for his Dierks deer kabobs that have no connection with that southwest Arkansas town:
Mix a half cup apple juice, 2 cloves of minced garlic, one-fourth cup vinegar, one-fourth cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons brown sugar,1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon cooking oil. Whisk and put in the cubed deer meat then refrigerate for several hours but not overnight. Drain and assemble into kabobs. Notice that there is no salt, and you can add black or red pepper if you want a bit of a kick to the kabobs.
(Log Cabin outdoor writer Joe Mosby can be contacted by e-mail at jhmosby@cyberback.com.)
