The 3 Best Ways Of Sourcing Venison

Venison can be an extremely tasty dish to add to your table, but if you don't hunt, where do you get it?

The essential guide cover

Take the Culinary Career Survey

We’ve compiled a checklist of all of the essential questions into one handy tool: career options, culinary interest surveys, educational opportunities, and more.

Campus of Interest*
Program of Interest*

Clicking the "Get the Survey Now" button constitutes your express request, and your express written consent, to be contacted by and to receive automated or pre-recorded call, texts, messages and/or emails from via phone, text, and/or emails by Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts at the number(s)/email you provided, regarding furthering your education and enrolling. You understand that these calls, texts, messages and/or emails may be generated using an automated or pre-recorded technology. You are not required to agree to receive automated or pre-recorded calls, texts, messages or emails as a condition of enrolling at Escoffier. You can unsubscribe at any time or request removal of street address, phone number, email address via Escoffier website.

August 3, 2015 3 min read
Venison is a very tasty and lean meat that most meat lovers will enjoy.

Venison is a very tasty and lean meat that most meat lovers will enjoy.

Venison can be an extremely tasty dish to add to your table, but if you don’t hunt, where do you get it? Sourcing venison can sometimes be hard. As an Austin culinary arts student, you’ll learn how to cook all kinds of meat, but before your cooking can begin, you have to have the meat on hand. Finding good venison will prove to be harder than finding a perfect cut of beef, but if you look hard, you should be able to find a source.

Local butcher shop
Your neighborhood butcher shop can sometimes have some unusual offerings. Usually, these rarer offerings are seasonal. Venison may be one of the seasonal options that the shop offers. Go in or call and ask the butcher if they ever get in venison. If they don’t, consider asking them to carry it when they can. Venison can be easily frozen, and your local butcher may be open to finding you some if you’re willing to buy in bulk. Small, local shops are more likely to be able to help you find what you need, and if they can’t get it for you, they might be able to point you to someone who can.

Farms, ranches and farmer’s markets
Local farms, ranches or farmers markets are also sources of venison. Some farms and ranches raise deer for slaughter or preform meat processing for hunters, so you may be able to find what you’re after. If they don’t provide people with venison, ask if they know someone who will.

Farmers markets are going to be the best place to get fresh vegetables and fruits, but they can also be a useful source of information. Ask around to see if the vendors know of anyone who sells venison and try to find out how to get the proper contact information.

Meat suppliers
If all else fails, make some calls and do some research on the Web. There are a number of meat suppliers like Lobel’s of New York, Creekstone Farms and Omaha Steaks that sell a number of different types and cuts of meat. You should be able to find one that supplies venison. See if you can get some meat delivered right to your door or sent to a butcher shop near you. In some cases you’ll have to buy a certain amount of meat, but if you have a decent sized freezer, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Subscribe to the King of Chefs Blog

Subscribe to the King of Chefs Blog

Get the King of Chefs email newsletter delivered to your inbox weekly. You'll get everything you need to know about culinary & pastry careers, food entrepreneurship, financing your culinary education, and more.