Venison Recipe for a Varied Menu

Cooking Venison with a Basic Recipe Yields Many Different Meals

Dec 2, 2008
Scott Walker

Cook venison in one recipe to provide the basis for a range of delicious and savory eating. Make deer meat a versatile staple and expand the venison recipe repertoire.

After the best venison cuts are gone – the tenderloin, rack or saddle, the most tender roasts – many cooks who enjoy venison meat are at a loss for ways to use the remainder. Yet, a simple technique can yield many fine and varied meals starring venison that most cooks may never have imagined.

An Alternative to Canned Venison, Sausage and Jerky

Canned venison recipes abound and, while it can be tasty, it’s also a lot of hard, messy and hot work. Others, when butchering deer, keep the tender cuts whole but turn the rest of the meat into burger, sausage or jerky, limiting its uses at the table.

In contrast, this approach produces venison that falls apart at the touch of a fork. It can be used as a venison roast or can become a venison stew, a ragu in a rich sauce for pasta or polenta, soups, sandwiches, meat pies, casseroles, even sloppy joes. Its versatility is endless.

Braise to Make Even Tough Wild Venison Tender

With stock, aromatic vegetables and long cooking at low temperatures, even tough cuts like venison ribs, shanks, blade roasts, necks and briskets become moist and tender. Once the braise is done, it literally falls off the bone. Don’t be afraid to braise on the bone, because it lends richness and texture. Do remove all fat and silverskin before cooking.

Cut the braised venison into portions large enough for a single meal. Freeze each portion, with enough braising liquid and vegetables to cover the meat, in a preferred type of freezer container. When it’s time to prepare a meal, these portions thaw readily in the microwave without harming the texture or flavor of the venison.

The Most Versatile Venison Recipe

The braising liquid and vegetables make a savory base for sauce or gravy. Because the braise contains basic ingredients that provide layers of richness to complement the venison, no single herb, spice or other flavor competes for dominance. This makes the perfect base for adding flavor highlights as the mealtime recipe goes together. Any combination of flavoring ingredients appropriate to the recipe keeps the menu continually refreshed, and what once may have been the same old venison is transformed into different delight for each meal.

Basic Venison Braise

Ingredients:

3 to 5 lbs. of tough cuts such as venison ribs, shank and blade
3 to 5 oz. porcini mushrooms (1 oz. per lb. of venison)
3 medium to large onions, chopped
3 medium carrots, diced medium
3 ribs celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme or other preferred herb
2 cups dry red wine
10 – 12 cups reduced sodium chicken stock

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200F.
Brown venison well in olive oil in heavy roasting pan and reserve.
While venison browns, cover porcinis in boiling water to soften.
In the same roasting pan used to brown venison, saute vegetables until soft.
Drain and chop softened porcinis. Strain liquid and reserve.
Add browned venison to roasting pan. Add wine, porcini liquid and enough stock to cover the venison. Add the herbs. On stovetop, bring liquid just to boiling.
Cover pan and place in middle of oven. Braise at least 12 hours or until meat falls from bones. Deep, rich flavors develop with braises as long as 24 hours.
Remove from oven and cool. A portion or all of the braising vegetables may be pureed in a food processor to thicken liquid, if desired.
Freeze in meal-size portions.

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