Calling all Hunters - Venison recipes

SWMO wrote:
Wanderlost I have to smile at your signature, a Texan quoting an Indian who wants all beef left on the hoof?

I like to mess with people's minds...;)

Can't beat venison in your favorite spaghetti sauce - along with hot Italian Sausage, it's a winner!

Also, one of our favorite winter stews:

Venison Beer Stew

4 slices bacon
2 lbs. venison stew meat
1/4 cup flour
16 oz. canned tomatoes
12 oz. beer
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
2 potatoes cut in pieces
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 teaspoon red pepper
3 carrots cut in pieces
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 cup peas, still frozen
1 teaspoon sugar

Cook bacon till crisp: drain and save drippings. Crumble bacon and set aside. Coat venison with flour; brown in bacon grease. Add undrained tomatoes, beer, onion, beef granules, sugar, thyme and peppers. Bring to boil and simmer 1 1/4 hour. Add carrots, potatoes and celery; cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add frozen peas and stir in bacon. Let sit for a minute or two to allow peas to defrost and heat. Serve with Cornbread or Garlic Bread and enjoy.

Grind burger with 1lb bacon ends per 5lb venison. GrillMates Montreal seasoning on both sides as you grill to taste...yum!

Had some this week, jerky, and burgers out to grill for lunch tomorrow.

Archery started last week here in PA :)

Wanderlost I have to smile at your signature, a Texan quoting an Indian who wants all beef left on the hoof?

WLToo makes venison piccata. Basically, take a chicken piccata recipe and substitute venison pieces, and don't forget the capers.

Antelope piccata is better, but venison is good, too.

My favorite way to make sausage is to stock different sausage seasonings.

I just freeze cubes of venison... To prepare...cut pork fat into cubes and freeze....

The day before...take the venison and pork fat out of the freezer. Let them sit out at room temp to partially thaw...but must be firm. Run the cubes of meat thru the meat grinder...first on the coarse plate.... add spices...then run the mixture thru the fine plate...they can be stuffed into sausage casing or made into patties to pan fry or grill.

The advantage IS...you get to decide what kind of sausage you want. It beats having a overload of breakfast sausage...and no bratwurst, kielbasa, italian sausage, etc....for the rest of the year., You can even grind up so fatty beef and make plain old burgers if you want. Having packages of cubes...lets you decide what you want to do. Yes, it takes a bit longer to prepare vs just pulling out pre-made sausages and cooking...but I think it's worth it in the long run.

I did this one inside of a huge smoker...while we where cooking whole turkeys and pork loins for my Sister's wedding reception.

In a large aluminum foil roating pan... throw in:

1 venison leg
2 sliced onions
2 slice bell peppers
2 cans of Campbell's Garlic Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can of Beer...

Cook long and slow until bubbly and venison fall off the bone. Then take two forks and pull the meat apart to make shreds of meat.

Great served over rice, egg noodles...

Can add a twist by stirring in some heavy cream and a dash of dry sherry to taste to make it more goulash soup flavored.

Must add salt and pepper to taste... a little bland without it in my opinion...

i have lots of ideas...but my favorite is a recipe from a 1996 espisode of Cooking Right on Food TV.

Here goes:

ROAST LOIN OF VENISON WITH SUN-DRIED CHERRY SAUCE AND PARSNIP CHIPS

4lbs of bneless venison loin

Marinade:
3/4 cup of olive or walnut oil
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 tbs minced fresh garlic
1 tbs each minced fresh rosemary and thyme (2 tsp each if dried)
2 tsp crushed juniper berries
1 tsp salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Sun-dried Cherry Sauce recipe follows:::
Garnish: Deep fried parsnip chips and fresh thyme or rosemary sprigs

Remove fat and silver skin from loin. Whisk marinade ingredients together and marinate loin a maximum of 6 hours refrigerated. Turn occasionally.

Prepare sauce and keep warm. Quickly sear loin in large pan until nicely browned all over (4-5 minutes). Place on a rack in a roasting pan and roast to rare to medium rare (120-125 internal temp) Allow loin to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

At serving time: Spoon sauce onto warm plates. Slice venison into medallions and arrange on top of sauce. Garnish with parsnip chips and herb sprigs.

Yield 8 servings.. ( or two if it's two guys like me :) )

Sun-dried cherry and cabernet sauce:

1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
1/2 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms
1 tbs olive oil
6 cups rich meat or mushroom stock
1 tsp grated orange zest
2 cups Cabernet wine
1 tbs chopped fresh thyme (1 tsp if dried)
1/2 cup sun-dried cherries
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup Port (or to taste)
2 tbs cold butter, cut into bits (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sauté shallots and shiitakes in oil until very lightly browned. Add stock, zest, wine, and thyme and reduce to a light sauce consistency. Strain and return to pan. Add cherries, orange juice and Port and simmer 4-5 minutes longer.

Off heat, whisk in butter to thicken lightly (if used) and correct seasoning with salt and pepper. Keep Warm.

Yield: 8 servings...

I just typed that from a printout from 1996. It is not a cheap recipe to make...due to all the fresh herbs, sun-dried cherries, juniper berries, wine, etc... BUT...if there is ever a recipe that will turn a die hard venison hater into a die hard venison lover it's this one.

Enjoy...at least once...and you may find it's one of the best ways to celebrate a beautiful Venison tenderloin.

ALL the best! Good hunting!!

I always ground our deer with pork fat, except for the loin and some sliced for jerky. I always thought the grind made great grilled burgers. I wouldn't grind venison for jerky with fat though. We always ended up with short grass deer most of the time. Deer that eat corn or acorns are much better. I suspect there are some peanut eaters in OK that would be tasty.

To the jerky question. I've tried a lot of recipes I got off the net or from various sources before the net, but the best I found were the premixed from the Sausage Maker in Buffalo NY. You can find them on the net and they have several different mixes. I liked them because they were consistent and really not as expensive as mixing a large batch of spices. I used their regular mix on ground meat and it worked fine.

Soak in buttermilk overnite then fry or make sausage is the way i like it