Nila Orr looks for dishes in which to put deer meat

Nila Orr’s tater tot casserole with ground deer meat was a winner at the recent Wildlife Tasting Buffet and Expo.
Her family (husband Parker, and children, Ryker and Aria Gray) eat a lot of deer meat, so she is always trying to find different ways to cook it.
“I have tried a lot of things with deer meat,” she said, including spaghetti, tacos, stew, roast and the tater tot casserole.
Even though her family eats a lot of deer, she said her favorite dish from the wildlife dinner was crappie cakes with dipping sauce. The first thing she ever remembers cooking was eggs and chorizo, taught by her dad, Juan Salinas. And she still makes it from time to time.

“I have been around cooking since I can remember,” she said.
At age nine, she went to Mexico and while there she watched her grandmother make all kinds of Mexican dishes. When she wants to cook some of it here, she and some others get together and do it as a family since it is so time consuming.
“We have an assembly line for the tamales,” she said. “Me, my mother (Louise), my mother-in-law (Carla Orr), sister Jona Salinas and cousin Kaley Swords.” They also like to make gorditos.
The teachers at CCES, where Nila works in the library, will sometimes bring finger food to school.
Among her favorites of those are cornflake candy and Oreo balls.
She gets a lot of recipes from her mother-in-law, including the one for poppyseed chicken. Nila describes the chocolate cake pudding as, “chocolate heaven in your mouth.”

Deer Shoulder Tacos
One whole deer shoulder
Corn tortillas
Salt
Pepper
Cover shoulder with water in crockpot. Add salt and pepper. Cook deer shoulder in crockpot on high for six hours. After cook time, remove meat from bone and shred. Add 1/4” of oil to skillet. Put meat in tortilla and let it form shell before laying entire tortilla in oil to fry. Remove when it’s a golden color. Once you have achieved this color and let cool, add toppings of lettuce, tomato, onions, sour cream, and lime if desired. Serve with rice and refried beans.

Chocolate Cake Pudding
1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Topping: 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa
Preheat oven at 350°. Melt butter in 8-9” pan. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa. Add milk, butter and vanilla. Stir well until blended. Pour in pan where you melted butter. Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa powder. Sprinkle over batter. Do not stir. Pour 1/4 cup of hot water over top. Do not stir. Bake 35-40 minutes. Better served hot.

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole
5-6 chicken breasts
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
16 oz. sour cream
2 tsp. poppyseed
2 stacks Ritz crackers
1 stick butter, melted
Season chicken with salt and Tony Chachere’s. Cook until tender. Cut cooked chicken into bite size pieces. Mix with soup, sour cream and poppyseed. Pour into sprayed 9×13 casserole dish. Crumble crackers and mix with melted buter. Spread on top of chicken mixture. Bake 30-45 minutes at 350°.