Cooking With Caul
Whitetail Deer
I killed a deer Saturday morning. I have a new shop and just finished a skinning station with an electric hoist. I have read before about Caul Fat, a web of fat around the stomach of deer (and some other animals). Since I had a great location for cleaning the deer I kept this fat. Last night I cooked tenderloins wrapped in caul fat. They were excellent! I will be saving it from all my deer from now on.
Who has tried this? Did you like it? Do you continue to save the caul fat?
I would encourage anyone to try it. The fat web is really easy to get to. Just don't gut shoot the deer and it's nice and clean!
Wouldn't that fat give it a more gamey taste?
Alright Mr. greg simmon... YOU SUCK! I clicked on your thread and saw your shrimp, tenderloin, and whisky pic... almost took the rest of the day off because of it! Well done sir, well done!
Does it cook into the meat, or did you take it off after cooking?
No gamey taste at all, flavor was great. A little fat helps keep the meat moist also.
Most of the fat cooks into the meat. There was a little left but it was pretty crispy, easy to remove.
I saw that on Meat Eater.................never knew what that was until that episode. Never tried it though.
I would definitely give that a go! Looks delish!
There is a dish here in my area called A’chii’. Take the the caul fat from a lamb, clean out the intestines, save the liver. Wrap the liver and caul fat together with the intestine and fry until the intestine and fat get crispy. Natives love that stuff! Other than that, caul fat works very well for cooking. If the fat tastes “gamey” then more than likely the meat will taste that way too whether or not the outside layer of fat is removed from the steaks and roasts.
It’s absolutely delicious. Indescribable delicious. Best fat on a ribeye kinda good.
"HELL NO" on a tenderloin,,, then she doesn't like venison...
@Timex - A guy could do a lot worse! ;)
My wife loves to eat it, but all of the processing and cooking falls to me, which is close enough. My brother was clever enough to marry a gal who has been known to bone out and help pack off an Elk. Processor said it was the best work he’d ever seen.
I had sausages wrapped in caul when I was in Cyprus....outstanding!
Does caul fat freeze well for later use or should it be used fresh. Deer fat from other areas leaves a film in my mouth...maybe caul fat is different
I read that the caul fat could be frozen for later use. I’ve tried to use deer fat before and yes it leaves a nasty film in the mouth. The caul fat had no such film.
Is there a difference between Caul and the fat under the hide?
Beendare: Yes there is! Without getting scientific, Caul fat tastes good and fat under the hide is nasty.
I am for sure going to save this stuff the next time I clean a deer. But for you squeamish guys that would like a little fat for your lean deer why not just save some off your next set of pork chops or ribeye's? Could easily be tooth-picked onto your deer meat for cooking. Not hard to find grocery store meat with too much fat on it.
Interesting thread, never heard about this before. Thanks for sharing
The deer around here are well fed in ag fields and typically have a lot of soft fat in the abdominal cavity around the organs and on the cavity wall along the backbone etc. Is this all caul fat or is caul just the fatty webbing around the stomach? It's all a very different texture than the thick solid fat found on the deer's exterior under the hide.
Thanks Greg going to try.
From a culinary standpoint, there are three basic types of pig fat or lard: fatback, leaf lard, and caul fat. While each has its own particular characteristics and best uses, it is safe to say that caul fat is the most distinctive. Though fatback is a hard slab of fat from the back of the animal, and leaf lard is the soft fat surrounding visceral organs like the kidneys, they both are sizable deposits of fat that can be rendered into soluble fat, then used as a cooking medium or ingredient. Because of its flavor profile, fatback is generally more suited for savory cooking while leaf lard is especially prized for pastry.
Caul fat, on the other hand, is not renderable and is not used as an ingredient, per se. In fact, it is used primarily—if not exclusively—as a wrapper or edible cooking package for a larger cut of meat, meatloaf, pâté, or fish, or to encase ground smaller ingredients, like in a forcemeat or sausage. Most importantly, besides wrapping its contents, the caul fat also melts as it cooks, contributing additional flavor and moistness to whatever is inside.
See the link for further discussion about caul fat. It’s possible to buy various species of caul fat with pig being most popular
Try layering the entire flank cut with caul fat, adding a little kosher salt and cracked peppercorn rolling tightly and tying with butcher twine. The flank is a triangle shape so you start rolling from the point and end up with a tapered cylinder. Place these cylinders in the smoker at the "slow" or cool point while smoking a larger cut like a ham or whole loin. It will turn "burnt end" black after a couple or three hours. About midway through the smoke (I usually smoke dear hams 6 to 8 hours with the smoker hitting 225 F ish) you'll be a little peckish and want a cold Yuengling or three. Slice the cylinders into pinwheels, and eat with hunks of pepper jack cheese and some spicy mustard. If you try this and don't like it, you way want to try again same recipe but with boneless chicken breast, tofu and bud light.
Texas Red !
Texas Red !
Catscratch……yeah, he ain’t right ! ;-).
Retribution is in order !
Never heard of this before.
How do you remove it from the stomach? Just wind it off?
It's easy to remove. Just peel off by hand and cut loose in a couple spots.
^^ Ok, if I kill a deer this month, I’m going to try this. Thanks!
