Oh Deer- Revision of essay # 1

Oh Deer

Deer sausage, its not an everyday thing for most Americans. On that note, it’s not an everyday thing for most people around the world. It is a unique food that my dad is very proud to have introduced my family to. The first time I remember him bringing it home was when I was 7. He had been away for about a week and a half on a deer-hunting trip in Texas. When he came home, I was so excited. I remember watching him pull up in the driveway and walk into the house with a handful of things. The first thing he had was a mounted deer’s head. It was a twelve point, which is when the deer’s antlers have twelve points sticking out on them. In the hunting world, this is a really big deal! He bragged about how big the deer was and how it only took him one shot to kill it. He then showed my family his next surprise, deer sausage. We all looked at him with a confused look. My mom, sister, and I had never seen or heard of this before. He told us we needed to try it because “it was the greatest thing he had ever put in his mouth”. I have to confess, I was very skeptical to try it and a little worried I might have to spit it out. I’m not even a huge sausage fan in the first place, but deer sausage? I thought my dad was crazy. I decided though, that I was going to try it because I knew my dad wouldn’t lie to us and say it was extremely good if it wasn’t. I made sure I had a glass of water next to me so that if it was terrible I could wash it down with water. My dad assured me I wouldn’t need the water and cut me a piece of sausage to try. After I took my first bite, I realized that my dad had proved me wrong, it was extremely good and I didn’t need that glass of water. I now anticipate the day my dad brings it back from his trip.


Each time my dad brings it home, it comes in a clear package that is about a foot long and has the shape and size of a silver dollar. It is a brownish reddish color on the outside, and doesn’t look like the most appealing thing in the world. You can’t smell the sausage when it is in the package, but when you cut it open, the smell of smoked sausage fills the room. The inside of the sausage is a pink color with dots of yellow throughout. This is because when my dad has it prepared at the deer butcher, he asks them to mix chunks of cheddar cheese into the meat before they smoke it. This makes every bite taste like cheese and sausage. The two mixed with one another is a very tasty combination and traditionally a Memphis thing to put the two together. The meat is already cooked when it is brought home, so it is kept in the refrigerator and is a food you can just slice and eat whenever. You can eat it by itself and cold, or warmed up and on a biscuit. I have grown up loving deer sausage, especially because it is something that my entire family can enjoy together. It may not be an everyday thing for people, but I think it helps make me a little bit different from all the people around me.


Most people think that deer sausage doesn’t really help you understand someone, but I think it does. It shows some of my background and where I come from.. I am from a Southern city called Memphis, Tennessee. Most people in Memphis love to hunt and do the outdoors thing. You wouldn’t think that the sausage would have any big meaning to a person, but to me it does. The sausage is all of my best memories in one. I remember all those times when my dad would come home from his long hunting trips. I would be so excited and wait all day for him to drive into the driveway. Then we would sit around the kitchen table and eat the sausage and catch up on things. My dad would tell us about his hunt and describe everything about his trip to us. This is an example of the closeness my family and I share.


I know that deer sausage may not mean the same that it does to me to everyone else who eats it, but it probably has some meaning to him or her personally. It is a good easy food to eat when you are hungry and want something fast. You can eat it on crackers with hot sauce or make it into a sandwich. You can also eat it in a biscuit too. There are many ways to eat it, but it’s different for any person that eats it. It is however not a common food for all people, but down South where I am from, it seems to be common. Many of my friends and their families enjoy this dish just as much as I do. It is safe to say that someone who eats the sausage a lot is probably from a Southern state as apposed to a Northern, Western, and Eastern state because I feel like hunting and eating your kill is a southern tradition. By talking about this food, it helps people not from the area see more into the Southern culture. It helps show about the people down here and what they like to do with their time. People in the South hunt a lot and love to eat what they kill, so this food just highlights that I am from the South and shows more about my culture.