Who’s game for this unique savory snack?

One of Japan’s favorite savory snacks is the nikuman, which gets its name by mashing together the Japanese word niku, meaning “meat,” and a truncated form of manju, “dumpling” or “bun.” That, of course, still leaves the question of just what kind of meat is inside the palm-sized steamed buns, and the answer is diced pork.

However, the steamed buns we’re taste-testing today are an exception, because they’re not just nikuman, they’re shikanikuman. And what’s shika mean?

Deer.

We came across these special venison buns while browsing through the offerings of Nagano Prefecture’s Yamamura Farm, via their online storefront on Rakuten. Once we knew of their existence, we swiftly put in an order for a pack of six, priced at 2,980 yen (US$20).

▼ And yes, each one of them has shika written in Japanese hiragana characters as しか, seared into the bun.

Taking a look at the list of ingredients printed on the packaging, we saw that the filling is actually a mix of venison and pork. However, with venison being listed earlier, it makes up the majority of the meat.

▼ 鹿肉 = venison
豚肉 = pork

Because they ship frozen, the first thing we had to do was defrost them. Then it’s just a simple matter of placing one on a plate with a damp paper towel underneath, lightly placing some plastic wrap above it (but without actually wrapping it under the plate), and heating it in the microwave for 90 to 120 seconds.

It’s OK to just grab a nikuman whole in your hand and bite into it, but right when they’re done cooking they’re usually piping hot on the inside, so to let ours cool down a bit, and also to get a peek at it in cross section, we sliced it in half.

▼ Fluffy bun and meaty filling – this is why fans love nikuman!

Taste-testing duties fell to our Japanese-language reporter Udonko, who was impressed by how big the shikanikuman are, but also felt some trepidation. Venison isn’t a very common part of the Japanese diet, and Udonko had actually never tried so much as a single bite of it before this. She’d heard that venison is “gamey,” but with no personal experience to draw from she could only imagine a vague sense of unpleasantness from the term.

But she had a job to do, so she picked up the shikanikuman, took a bite, and had no complaints about the flavor at all! The bun was soft with a gentle sweetness to the dough, and the filling was juicy and flavorful. It all tasted great, and Udonko didn’t find it disagreeably gamey at all…because she didn’t find it gamey at all.

Flavor-wise, Udonko couldn’t detect any difference between the shikanikuman and a regular, really good pork nikuman. She thought that maybe the sweetness of the dough could be masking some of the rough edges of the flavor profile, so for further testing she scooped out a bit of the filling and tried it on its own, but nope, her taste buds still sent back the message “really good nikuman,” so venison’s gaminess remains something that Udonko still only knows of as a rumor.

Perhaps those with more experience eating wild game, who’ve developed a more attuned palate for it, will be able to spot the venison-y notes, and it’s also possible that Yamamura Farm just has access to venison with an extremely refined level of quality. There’s also just the simple fact that these are really tasty nikuman, and if you’re keen to try them yourself they can be purchased online through Rakuten here, and also in-store at the Neba Land roadside local products and souvenir shop in Nagano.

Related: Neba Land
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