Re-post: Another request for your favorite venison recipes, please

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Saturday, March 8. 2014

Re-post: Another request for your favorite venison recipes, please

Our occasional contributor Kondratiev posted this recipe as a comment the other day:

Cooked this one last night using venison backstrap (loin):

Seared Venison Steaks with Baked Pear and Red Wine
Serves: 6

Ingredients
3 bosc pears (1/2 each)
1 small cinnamon stick, broken
5 black peppercorns
bottle red wine
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 trimmed 6 oz. venison steaks
Salt and ground black pepper
1 shallot, finely diced
1 tablespoon red currant jelly
2 oz. butter, plus extra for greasing

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter an ovenproof dish. Peel, core and halve the pears. Arrange snugly in the dish, hollow side up. Tuck in the cinnamon and peppercorns, then pour in half the wine. Sprinkle with sugar and dot with butter. Crumple up and wet a sheet of greaseproof paper, then lay it over the dish before covering with foil. Seal tightly and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until the pears are tender. Turn the pears after the first hour. Keep warm. You will need their liquid for the sauce.

2. Pour the oil into a non-stick frying pan and set over a high heat. Season the steaks and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Remove the steaks and keep warm. Reduce the heat and gently fry the shallot before adding all the wine, including that with the pears. Boil vigorously, scraping the pan as you do so, until it has reduced by half. Microwave the jelly and, once it has melted, then stir it in, remove the pan from the heat and quickly whisk in the 2 oz. butter. Strain into a warm sauceboat and serve immediately with venison and warm pears.

Here's a simpler recipe for marinated loin steaks. (Loin is just tenderloin steak without the bone.)

For a roast (a 4-5 lb haunch, say, which is chuck or rump or whatever), this is a simple basic pot roast. Here's a fancier venison pot roast.

Or for a stew, this sort of thing is good - if you use red wine instead of water. We would use shank, or any haunch or shoulder meat for this.

We hope all of our hunter readers, or friends of hunters, have some meat in the freezer. Please send us your favorite venison recipes in the comments -

Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink, Our Essays at 14:03 | Comments (25) | Trackbacks (0)

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Oh, I was dreaming about recipes for venison. So glad you posted some. We have always sauteed green onions and garlic in butter/olive oil, added burgundy and seasoned beef stock (lots of pepper), then marinated the meat 3-4 hours (to room temp), sear or broil exposed areas, roast/bake/grill to rare-medium-rare. Simmer marinade to thicken. Smashed potatoes and Caesar salad.

#1 JMA on 2008-12-10 10:25 (Reply)

Venison Steaks with Apples, Pears and Cr�me Fra�che

Preparation time 5 minutes , cooking time 15 minutes. Serves: 4

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
4 Venison Steaks
2 small Royal Gala apples and one small bosc pear, peeled, cored and cut into 12 wedges each
2 Cup Beef Stock (COSTCO�s box is best)
5 tbsp cr�me fra�che
4 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp pear, pear raspberry or redcurrant jam
Calvados

Put the oil in a small heavy-based frying pan over a high heat. Season the steaks well and place in the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until just cooked through and nicely browned. Set aside on a plate to rest for 5 minutes, covering with foil to keep warm.

Meanwhile, place the apple & pear wedges in the pan and cook for 1 minute on each side or until golden brown. Add the beef stock and cook for 5 minutes or until the sauce reduces by about two thirds and the apple is tender. Turn the heat down and add the jelly, stirring until it melt, then stir in the cr�me fra�che and parsley. Option: add a splash of Calvados to the sauce for a more complex flavor. Season to taste.

Cut the steaks into four or five diagonal slices and return to the pan, with any juices, to warm through.

Serve with mushroom wild rice or Cavolo Nero cabbage lightly steamed until tender.

#2 Gwynne on 2008-12-10 10:41 (Reply)

Mmmm. I'm saving this one.

And Jephnol's sounds good too.

Too bad the old Savage 99 has to sit in the safe until September.

#2.1 Skookumchuk (Link) on 2008-12-10 12:06 (Reply)

I like to brine my steaks (thin cut) for thirty-minutes before I throw them on the grill. It pulls a little of the gaminess out of the meat and seems to help keep the meat moist (coupled with searing the steaks on the grill, leaving them alone while they cook, and not cutting them right off the fire). Otherwise, salt and pepper to taste before they hit the heat (garlic powder is nice, too). Don't forget to carmelize a bunch of onions for the eating!

I like venison chili:

2 pounds of ground venison or 1.5 with .5 lbs of ground beef or pork
1 large sweet onion diced
16 oz kidney beans
big can of crushed tomatoes
8 oz can tomato sauce
I cheat on the spices with Carroll Shelby's Chili kit
Add chipolte to taste (because that smoky taste rocks)
3 tablespoons olive oil
8 oz water

Carmelize diced onion in oil
add meat and brown
toss in everything else and simmer for 15 minutes

#3 Jephnol (Link) on 2008-12-10 10:58 (Reply)

Better with chunks than with ground meat, IMO.

#4 bd on 2008-12-10 11:09 (Reply)

My brothers kept us in venison, squirrel and turkey shoot turkeys growing up. Mom relied on the 4 of them for meat on Sunday. When she got a crock pot for Christmas in the early 70s, she used that for cooking deer meat. She didn't have a lot of time for making 'fancy food', as she called it but she loved that crock pot. She soaked the deer for a while, rolled it lightly in flour, salt and pepper and put it in there with an envelope of onion soup mix. It cooked overnight and she served it with creamed potatoes and several trays of home-made biscuits, some with cheddar cheese inside. 3 layer pineapple cake for dessert. Don't scoff - for poor folks, we did alright. At least, I always thought we did. We sure ate good!

#5 middleagedhousewife on 2008-12-10 11:45 (Reply)

Here's an easy and different pot roast:

Whole venison shoulder cut off at the shank and pot roasted in cider and red wine with potatoes and vegetables.

Brown the shoulder in a very large pan. This can be problematic with a large shoulder but can be accomplished at least on one side. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme.

Place in a plastic "browning bag" with about 4 cups cider and a cup or so dry red wine. Place the bag/roast in a pan to catch leakage. Baking time (350 degrees) is by eye, until the meat is not quite done or tender. Maybe 45 minutes to an hour, just keep an eye on it.

Remove from oven, open bag and add mass quantities of quartered potatoes and other pot roast appropriate vegetables - onions, celery, rutabaga, all cut coarsely. Tie the bag closed again.

Continue baking until vegetables are cooked and meat is pulling away from the bone. Make gravy of the juices and season to taste.

The toughest shoulder is rendered tender and it beats cutting it into stew meat.

#6 CT on 2008-12-10 13:29 (Reply)

Like Bird Dog, I process my own animals. I generally bone the meat and remove as much silverskin and connective tissue as possible. Most of the time, I grill it until rare without any marinade or other treatment aside from hot coals.

However, I also like home-style steak frites, oven roasting potato wedges in a very hot oven (450) with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Ten minutes before the potatoes are done, I heat a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat until hot, then throw in a knob of butter, which should quickly begin to brown. I add three or four elk or deer steaks (off the hindquarters or loin, cut 1 1/2 inches thick) which have been sprinkled with black pepper and let them get well browned, then flip and brown the other side. Remove to a warm plate, then deglaze the skillet with a cup of red wine and a cup of game stock. As soon as the wine and stock go in, add a couple of tablespoons of dried shallots. Add a grind or two of black pepper, a bit of salt, and taste. Once reduced by 1/3 to 1/2, remove the sauce from the pan and pour it over individual portions of meat and potatoes.

I look forward to trying this recipe:
http://stephenbodio.blogspot.com/2008/10/elk-shanks.html
soon and think it would work well with deer, perhaps with a bit more in the way of spice as elk is more mild than deer as a rule.

#7 mdmnm (Link) on 2008-12-10 14:56 (Reply)

Any good squirrel recipes? I have a few of the grey rats getting into my house with the bad weather. I just took one out from the bathroom window with my pellet gun, but now he's just laying there wasting away.

I need a long, slow cooking strategy to tenderize the meat because tree rats are tough eating. I expect a few more in the next couple of days and I'll quarter them up pretty skippy. Any culinary suggestions?

Also, FYI: I do de-gland the stinkers to spare myself the gamey blech taste.

#8 Jephnol (Link) on 2008-12-10 15:11 (Reply)

Jephnol, I have no culinary suggestions for tree rats. I have one for laying hens.

Kill and defeather as usual.
Get two 1 by 6 by 6 inch pine boards.
Put the bird between the pine boards.
Put in the oven and, cook@325 for an hour and a half.
When done throw out the chicken, and eat the pine boards.
The boards are more tender than the stupid laying chickens. : )

#8.1 jappy on 2008-12-10 15:52 (Reply)

Hee hee! Wooo! Wifey grew up in a Nepalese village (she's ethnically Czech--go figure) where they ate chickens which were called kookra (phonetic spelling--sounds like it should be spelled along the lines of "kukri" like the ghurka blade). From all accounts they should have cooked the birds using your recipe!

When I tell her I'm cooking up a mess of squirrel she runs into the other room. Go figure.

Anyway, I think I'll try to slow cook the suckers before I try your recipe.

Thanks!

#8.1.1 Jephnol (Link) on 2008-12-10 17:12 (Reply)

Sauerbraten might be good with venison. A bit different.

Jo Macs' Irish Sauerbraten
Combine in a large bowl, chill and soak overnight, turning at least once...
5 lb. rump or chuck roast
Add sliced vegetables, 2 large onions, 2-3 carrots and 2-3 stalks celery
2-3 Tblsp pickling spice
2 cups vinegar
2 cups water
2 Tblsp salt
1/2 cup Heinz hot catsup
7-8 whole cloves
Brown roast, then add the liquid and 12 gingersnaps. Cover and simmer until tender, about three hours. Take out roast, strain liquid, and make gravy by thickening it with a paste of 3-4 Tbsps flour and 1/2 cup water. Mash and strain vegetables and return to gravy. Add more sweetener if needed. Add the sliced meat. Serve over egg noodles sprinkled with buttered, browned bread crumbs.

Also, Shoppers Stew
2 lbs cubed stew meat
1 large onion
6 carrots
3 celery stalks
1 tsp each, salt and pepper
Pinch thyme, marjoram, rosemary, 1 large bay leaf
1/2 cup red wine
2 cups tomatoes
Put meat in casserole, slice vegetables over it, sprinkle with herbs, add wine and tomatoes. Cover and bake at 250 degrees for 3-4 hours. Can add a few potatoes later or serve with noodles.

#9 Patina on 2008-12-10 16:18 (Reply)

So glad I asked. Worth spending time on Maggie's Farm. (don''t forget the wild rice with mushrooms...or is that a Midwest thing?)

#10 JMA on 2008-12-10 19:45 (Reply)

A reader emailed me this one:
MARINATED VENISON APPETIZER WITH SWEET MUSTARD SAUCE

Ingredients

This recipe will work with the hindquarter muscles of young animals and, of course, tenderloins and backstraps. The Sweet Mustard Sauce is Great on just about any big or little game. Makes 4 servings

1 pound venison, trimmed of all silver skin, fat and gristle

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup dry red wine

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh herbs � rosemary, oregano, basil, sage or a whatever looks good

2 tablespoons peppercorns, crushed

2 tablespoons olive oil.

Combine venison with remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for 2 � 3 hours. Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Brown meat on all sides, but not past medium-rare. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing across the grain into thin slices. Arrange slices on a plate and serve with sauce.

Sweet Mustard Sauce

� cup Dijon mustard

� cup red currant jelly

1 lemon, juice only

1 tablespoon chopped sage

Combine all ingredients.

#11 BD on 2008-12-11 06:45 (Reply)

The Right Wing Prof emailed us this one:

From the 1887 White House Cookbook:

ROAST HAUNCH OF VENISON.

To prepare a haunch of venison for roasting, wash it slightly in tepid water and dry it thoroughly by
rubbing it with a clean, soft cloth. Lay over the fat side a large sheet of thickly-buttered paper, and next
a paste of flour and water about three-quarters of an inch thick; cover this again with two or three
sheets of stout paper, secure the whole well with twine, and put down to roast, with a little water, in the
dripping-pan. Let the fire be clear and strong; baste the paper immediately with butter or clarified
drippings, and roast the joint from three to four hours, according to its weight and quality. Doe venison
will require half an hour less time than buck venison. About twenty minutes before the joint is done
remove the paste and paper, baste the meat in every part with butter, and dredge it very lightly with
flour; let it take a pale brown color, and serve hot with unflavored gravy made with a thickening in a
tureen and good currant jelly. Venison is much better when the deer has been killed in the autumn,
when wild berries are plentiful, and it has had abundant opportunities to fatten upon this and other fresh
food.

#12 Bird Dog on 2008-12-11 06:57 (Reply)

This should work well with venison (the second, not the first):

http://rightwingnation.com/2008/12/11/another-great-winter-recipe/

And here's a recipe for German braised venison that sounds excellent:

http://www.grouprecipes.com/35529/german-braised-venison.html

#13 rightwingprof (Link) on 2008-12-11 13:26 (Reply)

From Mr. Free market: Venison and Mushroom Pie:
http://www.fmft.net/archives/003445.html#more

#14 Bird Dog on 2008-12-20 08:40 (Reply)

Jep,
par-boil your tree-rat then lightly flour and saute!

#15 Dave J on 2008-12-23 15:35 (Reply)

Last night was beautiful in Western Missouri. I was in my stand at 4:30 and saw nothing untill 6:30 when it was as if someone opened a deer gate up on the ridge. In a matter of under 10 minutes I had 6 does inside of 80 yards and a pretty 8 point Whitetail at 27 yards. The only other unusual visitors over the last 2 days was a awesome grey fox in his winter ready coat and one lone armadillo who was worming under my stand.

I enjoy this chutney with backstraps...

BLUEBERRY CHUTNEY
Try this chutney with roasted turkey, duck or goose,or venison.

4 cups Fresh blueberries, rinsed and stemmed
1 �2 cups fresh chopped apples
1 Medium Onion finely chopped
1 � cup Red wine vinegar
1/2 Cup Golden raisins
� cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon mustard seed
1Tablespoon Grated crystallized ginger
1/2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
Pinch salt
Pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Dried red pepper flakes

Place blueberries in 4 quart saucepan; add onion, vinegar, raisins, brown sugar, mustard seed, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and red pepper flakes.

Bring mixture to a boil; simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes, or until chutney is thick

#16 Rodger on 2009-10-25 17:06 (Reply)

The best venison I ever had is each time we are butchering a deer. After letting it age about a week, as we're cutting it up, we take the bits of the best cuts and marinate in Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper for about 10 minutes. Then slow cook on the grill till medium done. You wouldn't even know it was venison. Yumm!

#17 shinglhed on 2009-11-05 14:17 (Reply)

I can vension. That is, after butchering the deer I pack it into canning jars and run them through a pressure canner for 45 min at 10 lbs pressure. I do Quarts and Pints for us and do a few in jelly jars for my parents (who are older and don't eat much at one meal anymore).

It is so tender and juicy, it also takes away any gamey flavor that is sometimes in the meat. I just pack the meat into the jars add a little salt. No extra liquid, the meat itself will release its own juices during the processing.

If you drain the liquid and break the meat up with a fork, then add some BBQ sauce and heat through it makes great sandwiches (kind of like pulled pork), or leave the liquid in and make a gravy then add veggies and either potatoes, rice, or noodles it makes a great stew or casserole. It makes an awesome pot of chili. My husband eats the meat cold right out of the jar either alone or on a slice of bread, although this just does not seem appetizing to me.

Its very convenient in the summertime when its hot out, you can pop open a jar and make a meal that tastes like its been cooking all day without heating up the kitchen.

#18 Terri on 2010-03-07 15:46 (Reply)

Thai Elephant

1/4 elephant, diced.
500 lb garlic
500 lb onion
500 lb cumin
500 lb ginger
250 lb red pepper
125 lb cinnamon
1000 lb coriander

#19 rhhardin (Link) on 2014-03-08 19:27 (Reply)

For vegetarians, there's my encoignure loaf
http://rhhardin.blogspot.com/2005/12/encoignure-loaf.html

#20 rhhardin (Link) on 2014-03-08 19:29 (Reply)

Don't have a full recipe, lots of these sound good.
Venison in general though, I like to hit it with a bit of ground juniper berries and some coriander.

#21 bill in va on 2014-03-09 00:36 (Reply)

you don't worry about prions?

#22 peter on 2014-03-09 10:06 (Reply)

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Saturday, March 8. 2014

Re-post: Another request for your favorite venison recipes, please