Ok… A friend dropped off the following at my house:
Two packages of Sirloin Venison Steaks, 1 Vension chuck roast and one ground.
She has given me a recipe for Guinness stroganoff for the ground- but I need recipes for the roast and the steaks. I like venison, but my boyfriend will eat it but not be super happy about the gami-ness so any stellar venison recipes out there?
Thanks!
I usually make venison stew.
Start with stock/boullion. If you don’t have venison stock (you’d need bones and stuff like that to make it) you can start with beef stock/broth/bouillon.
Brown the venison - obviously this would be either ground or cubed meat.
I typically add
onion
carrots
celery
turnips
potatoes
parsley
mushrooms
I usually add vegetables at a 2:1 ratio to meat. So… one pound of meat with two pounds of vegetables. (Yes, I have a big stock pot).
Spices: black pepper, salt to taste, basil.
Optional: red wine
Now, venison tends to be very lean. So lean, in fact, that stew can wind up tasting like dishwater. You need some fats to make it taste better. So I add two to four tablespoons butter per pound of venison.
Simmer, simmer, simmer - hours of simmering. Great use for a slow cooker/crockpot. As venison is game meat you want it well done and well cooked in a moist environment to make it as tender as possible.
Serve with a whole wheat or rye bread.
It’s pretty basic, but it comes out pretty good
Tell the boyfriend he should either enjoy venison, or surrender his man card. Sorry, but that’s the rule. He can then feel free to eat quiche and start wearing dresses.
OK, this one looks kind of complicated, and takes some time. But it freezes/refrigerates so well that it’s better left-over! So it’s worth it!
6 slices thick-cut bacon
2-3lb venison roast
3C EACH beef stock (from a box is fine)
3C apple cider (please nothing pasteurized)
1/2C apple cider vinegar
2 large potatoes, cubed
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4 large carrots, sliced
2 crisp apples (like Gala), sliced
Salt
Pepper
2 sage leaves
1/2C apple cider (divided use)
2Tbsp corn starch
In a stock pot, brown bacon until crispy; remove to paper towels to drain.
Brown diced onion and celery in bacon fat. Remove.
Cube venison and season with salt and pepper; dredge in flour.
Brown seasoned and dredged venison in bacon fat.
Add beef stock, vinegar, and apple cider, as well as carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, bay leaves. Bring to a low boil, reduce to simmer.
Simmer for a number of hours, until “hard” veggies are softened and meat is tender.
Add more stock/cider (1:1) as necessary throughout stewing process.
Once hard veggies are tender, and meat is sufficiently tender, add apple slices, continue simmering until apples are tender.
Remove bay leaves.
Mix set-aside cider and corn starch. Stir slowly into stew to desired thickness.
Turn off heat.
Crumble bacon on top, or in individual bowls as desired.
IMHO, this should be served with some nice crusty bread!
I’ve always soaked venison in vinegar-and-water overnight to cut down on the gamey taste. But yeah, it’s perfectly suited to the slow cooker, be sure to add some fat.
For the steaks, chicken fry. Pound thin, coat with flour, fry. Serve with a milk (sawmill) gravy (with or without sausage, as you desire).
For the roast, I’d cut it up, and stew it.
Thanks to all for the recipes- I think I will try this for the roast, especially. Sounds fantastic!
I’ve no doubt that when done properly this works well, but the one time I was served venison the host mocked me for declining to have seconds, assuming that I was reluctant to eat “Bambi.” Politeness restrained me from saying that the overpowering vinegar taste nearly made me gag.
A lot of the taste of the venison depends upon the diet of the animal.
I’ve found that venison from areas where grain crops and soybeans are grown tend not to have any gamey flavor at all. Venison from an evergreen forrest can be almost inedible. For meat that you aren’t sure of the diet or know that it wasn’t grain fed, a marinade containing cider vinegar works well, as does a milk soak.
That said, one of my favorite things to do with ground venison is meatloaf. You’ll have to mix a bit of pork or beef with it for fat, but it usually doesn’t take more than 25% mixer. The meatloaf has flavor (unlike that made with ground round, IME) but isn’t greasy like meatloaf made with 70% lean ground beef.
The steaks make wonderful piccata and the roast can be used any way you would use a lean beef roast. When I do a venison pot roast, I usually lay a few strips of bacon over the top of the meat to add enough fat to keep it juicy.