Venison

ODENTON -- When the opossums appeared on the evening news, Del Cohrs glanced at the television in his living room and expressed a strong opinion on the subject: "I don't care how you fix one of them things, they ain't fit to eat."It was the voice of authority, of a man who has eaten opossum and found it consistently greasy. It was the voice of a man who has dined on rabbit, quail, deer, even squirrel, and for the moment wears a crown of achievement in the field -- first place in West Virginia's annual wild game cook-off.

Chad Wells, the executive chef at Alewife Tavern, is at it again. Wells hosted a few endangered species dinners this past year, featuring Maryland's notorious snakehead. Coming up on Monday, January 9, Wells will present a Campfire Dinner at Joe Squared at Power Plant Live , the new home for the Food = Art series of monthly dining events. All of the food on Wells' campfire menu is food people can kill themselves, conceivably anyway, and all of it will be prepared backwoods style -- with limited ingredients, cast-iron pans, smoke and fire.

SOME THINGS, AMONG them wine and cheese, improve with age, but not venison in the freezer. So, it is time to consider cooking some of that deer taken by the hunter of the household in the recent seasons.Too often, venison, waterfowl and fish are bypassed in household freezers -- considered something to cook "one of these days." Not infrequently, they are prepared so late they are bordering on freezer burn, rancidity or are otherwise past their prime. Sometimes they are kept so long they are tossed out without ever seeing a stove.

Charles Samuel "Sam" Poole Sr., a Carroll County butcher whose Sam's Deer Processing in Finksburg has been a destination for lucky hunters for decades, died Saturday from complications after heart surgery at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. The longtime Louisville, Carroll County, resident was 65. The son of a butcher and a homemaker, Mr. Poole was born in Gaithersburg and raised in Sykesville. He attended Sykesville High School. Mr. Poole began his butchering career when he was 16, working at small grocery stores and butcher shops.

Maryland has had small-scale venison donation programs in various parts of the state for more than 20 years, but now there is in place a grass-roots organization that officials say has the potential to produce red meat for 1 million meals a year."

State wildlife managers have too many deer, and soup kitchen operators have too many mouths to feed. So why not let the state's hungry eat venison?Maryland deer hunters may soon be asked to help make that possible.Encouraged by hunters and the success of deer donationprograms in neighboring states, the Department of Natural Resources has reversed past policy and hopes to have a venison donation program in place by the opening of deer hunting season in September."We would take all they can give us," said Wayne G. Flickinger, marketing manager for the Maryland Food Bank.

If the thought of venison doesn't whet your appetite, you've never heard Charlie Magee describe the way he cooks venison roasts at his cabin in West Virginia."

The National Rifle Association and the Department of Natural Resources have reached an understanding that should help offset the high costs of processing deer meat donated to the hungry by Maryland hunters."

With the firearms hunting season for deer open until Dec. 11, hunters who fill their bags and have extra venison are reminded they can donate meat to Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry at participating processors across the state.Since 1997, FHFH has provided more than 67 tons of venison and 536,000 meals for needy people in Maryland."The season of giving has arrived, and with additional harvests from the firearms season, support is needed more than ever to process this food source for the homeless and the hungry," said FHFH director Rick Wilson.

It was quite a thrill for Mary Braun to skin the dead deer hanging from the rafters in the garage.Forget about the fearsome collision and that initial rush of terror on the dark, country road. Forget about the shattered grill and crumpled running board on the family's aptly named Ram van.Something about the events of that recent evening excited her, touching her in ways a good novel does -- as when they butchered a mastodon in "Clan of the Cave Bear.""It's a question you always carry with you," said Ms. Braun, 44. "What would you do if you hit a deer with your car?

When Colleen Ballantine, Cheryl Sanders and Bradley Kennedy size up meat for their freezers, they're thinking three things: free-range, low-fat, clean of antibiotics. The three women are deer hunters, and their market of choice is the woods of Maryland. With consumer demand rapidly growing for animals raised humanely and meat free of things not found in nature, supermarkets are stocking bison and pasture-raised beef at premium prices. But hunters -- especially women -- say white-tailed deer are nearby and plentiful, healthful and economical.

Now that a fill-up costs them $90, Minnie and William Lewis of Baltimore County have given up weekly pleasure drives on scenic routes. East Baltimore resident Leonard Cochran is buying less meat at the grocery store and eating the wild rabbit and venison he can get free from his hunter friends. As for Thomas Brown of Baltimore and companion Dorothy Lewis, they're looking for jobs. He's 84; she's 75. "Everything is up," Lewis lamented. "The gas, electric, rent." This is what happens when consumers feel stretched, pressed and battered by escalating costs as incomes aren't keeping up. Even as the U.S. economy worsens and businesses have begun cutting jobs, the price tag for everyday necessities such as food, heating oil, gas and electricity is spiking.

As we wrap up this weekend of turkey and all that goes with it, let us pause to give thanks for one of the true lifesavers of our time: sweat pants. No kidding, where would we be this weekend without our cozy, expandable friends? Of course, there are other reasons to be thankful. For Pat Gary of Millers, it's the freezer full of venison on its way from the butcher after a successful day bow hunting at Prettyboy Reservoir on Nov. 9. Gary, the older brother of state fisheries biologist Marty Gary, took an 8-point buck that weighed 186 pounds field dressed, the largest he has ever taken in 30 years of hunting.

Bambi is out to kill you. The adorable little fawn has grown up to be several hundred pounds of embittered, suicidal venison - holding you personally responsible for what those nasty hunters did to his mama. He's on a mission from the Deer God to break through your windshield and land in your lap. This is all nonsense, of course, but this is the season when it would be wise to drive as if it were literally true. The October-to-December period is the peak of mating season, when deer become even more loopy than at other times of year.

The Rev. Edward G. Robinson's flock was reluctant to try the unusual new offering suddenly filling the freezers at his West Baltimore food pantry, so one Sunday the pastor decided to use his burgeoning culinary skills to whip up a meal with it. "Most of them thought it was roast beef and they enjoyed it and sampled it and even asked for the gravy," he recalled. What they were eating at Agape House was something perhaps out of place at an inner-city soup kitchen but regularly found on the menus of top-tier restaurants: venison.

Most $10 wines are strictly for early consumption, but this full-bodied Spanish red has the structure and intensity that make me suspect it will be even better in five to 10 years. There's no need to wait, however, to enjoy its vibrant blackberry and black-currant fruit and meaty, earthy flavors. It's a little tight when the bottle is first opened, but it develops added complexity and a smoother texture in the glass. Ludovicus is a skillful blend of grenache, tempranillo, syrah and cabernet sauvignon.

The Rev. Edward G. Robinson's flock was reluctant to try the unusual new offering suddenly filling the freezers at his West Baltimore food pantry, so one Sunday the pastor decided to use his burgeoning culinary skills to whip up a meal with it. "Most of them thought it was roast beef and they enjoyed it and sampled it and even asked for the gravy," he recalled. What they were eating at Agape House was something perhaps out of place at an inner-city soup kitchen but regularly found on the menus of top-tier restaurants: venison.

Some people look at a plate of venison and see Bambi. This article probably isn't for them. But with deer-hunting season here, the rest of you may be interested to learn that venison is flavorful, versatile and healthy. It is a red meat with less fat than chicken and nearly as much protein as beef. Ground venison can be substituted for beef in spaghetti sauces, chilies, tacos and meatloaf. Cuts can be grilled, pan-seared and even stir-fried. The meat's strong flavor marries well with traditional autumn ingredients like pears, cranberries, pumpkins and squash, making it a perfect choice for the season's holiday dinners.

In Washington County Venison-meal charity seeks Md. meat processors HAGERSTOWN -- A charity that turns donated venison into meals for the poor is seeking additional processors in Maryland to cut, package and freeze the meat for distribution to food banks next season. Hagerstown-based Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry said last week that it wants to add processors in Anne Arundel, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George's, Queen Anne's, Somerset, St. Mary's and Talbot counties.