venison

[carolyn.1]

Well I'm new at this with alot of questions that have gone unanswered for a while. YEAH! My husband is a BIG time hunter and we really enjoy venison. The meat itself is very low fat and usually with a roast it has to cook slowly or it will be so tough you can"t eat it.I have noticed that CL has very few recipes for it. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you

[SClementson]

Hi carolyn.1! You might try searching www.epicurious.com. (http://www.epicurious.com.) It draws from Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines (and some others). I know I've seen recipes for vension in either Gourmet or Bon Appetit. Sorry I can't be specific. Good luck!

Sarah

[venus]

carolyn--
I can relate. I tease my husband and call him the great white hunter, but the venison is great!

I had no idea how to cook it when we got together so I bought a book at Kmart :P called "Cooking Wild Game." That had a lot of the advice. I have a killer pot roast recipe from there if you want it. Amazon.com also has many, many good recipe books.

Some uses that I have found for venison:

-really, really good taco meat
-venison burgers
-venison sausage (I have recipes for this too, I think)
-shish kebobs
-marinate in Worchestershire and garlic and grill
-pan fried medallions

Hope this helps!

[Laura B]

My brother is a hunter and every winter we ate tons of venison that he brought home. Mom didn't have special recipes, she pretty much just subbed it in her beef recipes. It is GREAT in chili. Also, she would use it in her standard beef stew recipe, hamburgers, cube steak, etc. And if you get venison sausage, I have a really simple but fattening recipe for cheese sausage dip that I could give you (works with regular sausage but is better with venison sausage IMO).

[SueK]

Carolyn,
Venison sausage is great, and I think could be substituted for any other sausage dish. Of course, the best way I like it is to fry bacon, then take the bacon out and fry onions and the venision strips in the grease. Definitely not low fat, but very good! Venison jerky is great also. Obviously not a meal, but a great snack. Let me know if you'd like the recipe.

[Norma]

Venus, please post your killer pot roast recipe. We have elk. Thanks.

[MrsReber]

I would have to second the vote for venison jerky. My husband makes great jerky! And to think, I never even tried venison until I met him four years ago! He would always marinate it in some horrible concoction (some guy thing) that I hated. So one day he grilled it with strips of bacon on the top and it was really really good! Also, we went to his friend's house for a bbq and they had grilled venison roasts. The guy's father had it in the refrigerator for about 2 days and had injected the meat with a marinade. It was excellent and very tender.

We love the chop meat. I use it for everything- tacos, chili, meatballs, meatloaf. Hunting season actually started here in NJ near the beginning of September!! Long season this year. I think it ends in the middle of February! I'd love the sausage recipe, too. We haven't tried that yet. We're looking for a good breakfast sausage.

[venus]

Norma,

Okay, let me check the measurements. Elk is so good.

[carolyn.1]

I can't tell you how upset I was yesterday. I was on line from my work computer, I go home and my internet won't open at home. I was so looking forward to your answers.
Sarah, I will bring up the web site you gave me -Thx.
Venus-2 requests please! Killer Pot Roast & especially your sauage recipe.
Norma---ok, ELK? and where do you live---Heehee, we have no elk down here. Such interesting reading!!!

[carolyn.1]

Venus,
Roast looks fabulous! I will cook it this weekend. Especially since autumn weather is coming...It is suppose to be a chilly 77 degrees on saturday....burrrrrrr Heehee

Norma,
Is elk gamey? Do you have to soak it before cooking? I know that in different regions game tastes different. Up north deer are alot bigger (by at least 100lbs) than down here. And they eat apples, etc. where here they eat corn, soybean and their favorite diet is acorns. Which changes the taste of the meat.

[carolyn.1]

Venus, sorry its me again. While writing down the roast recipe, it says to heat oil in Dutch Oven--How much oil? thanks

[venus]

I'm so sorry! I use about a tablespoon and a half of olive oil. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/redface.gif

[carolyn.1]

Venus,
I assumed it was about that much oil. Thanks for letting me know. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Norma]

Carolyn,

Yes elk has a different flavor. I tend to use alot of garlic with it. I like to season it alot. Things like stews, meatloaf, soups, casseroles...work great.

I live in western Oregon. The venison I have had here tastes really good. My brother lives in eastern Oregon, and I don't care for the taste of it at all. I think they must eat the sagebrush. I know their diet has alot to do with the taste of the meat. But I certainly was surprised at the taste difference. I didn't think I liked venison until I had some that was from the western area.

[venus]

Here is the pot roast. I really hope this works for you guys! I will have to wait until tonight to post the sausage recipe. I don't remember the proportions right off hand.

Venison Pot Roast

This isn't strictly a pot roast, since it cooks in the oven

1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon thyme
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
salt to taste
1 venison roast, about 3-5 pounds
1 cup water
1 can French onion soup OR
1 packet Lipton's Onion Soup Mix or Golden Onion Soup Mix plus 1 ½ cups water
2 bay leaves
1 bag Shortcuts baby carrots
2 large onions, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 large turnips, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 ½ cups water
½ cup flour


Preheat the oven to 375.
In a shallow dish, combine the flour, marjoram, thyme, pepper and salt. Coat the roast with the flour mixture.
Heat the oil in a Dutch oven until hot but not smoking. Add the roast and brown on all sides. Add the water, French onion soup, bay leaves and any remaining flour mixture. Stir together and cook for a few minutes, until the liquid is beginning to bubble. Cover tightly and place in the oven. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Add the vegetables and ½ half-cup more water, if desired. Cook for approximately one more hour, until the vegetables are tender and the roast is tender. Remove the roast to a platter and let stand for about 10 minutes. Remove the vegetables using a slotted spoon, and place in a bowl or on the same platter.

Remove the bay leaf, if it hasn't come out with the veggies. Pour the pan juices into a pot. You can strain them to remove any onion pieces, if desired. In a separate dish, whisk together the flour and water until evenly blended. Place the pot of pan juices on the stove over medium heat. Add the flour and water mixture in a thin stream and whisk into the pan juices. Cook, stirring frequently, until the gravy thickens, about 10 minutes. Add more flour and water or just more water to adjust to your desired consistency.

Serve the roast, vegetables and gravy with mashed potatoes. Serves 6.

I do a few variations. If you use the Lipton's Soup Mix the recipe is very low fat, since venison is so lean to begin with. I sometimes add a second can of french onion soup, since I like lots of juices and my roasting pan seems to get too hot. If you have a nice Dutch oven or a stoneware roaster, this will work brilliantly with very little liquid. I sometimes put in different vegetables--potatoes, rutabaga, whateever sounds good. I imagine it would work well with yams too.

Please tell me what you think!

[Norma]

Carolyn,

Elk....Oregon. Our freezer is full of it...well only half full now. It's so low in fat. I use it like beef in recipes. Red meat...low fat. I just made a stew...so good.

[carolyn.1]

Hi Venus,
I made the venison roast this weekend, using your recipe--all I can say is Yummmmmmy1 My grown children came by Sunday for an unexpected visit and my 4lb. roast was gobbled up! Thank you so much. If you have a chance would you let me have your sauage recipe? Our hunting season is from Aug 15 to Dec 31 and I already have an abundance of meat.

[venus]

Carolyn! I'm so glad you enjoyed the pot roast! You've made me very happy. Where are you that your hunting season is so long? Here it starts sometime in November and ends in late December.

Here are two sausage recipes. All the measurements are as near as I can guess by looking at the recipe I modified. The original is in "Dressing and Cooking Wild Game" from the Hunting and Fishing Library. Can you tell it's my husbands book http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif I also found some good recipes by doing a search for sausage on www.Google.com (http://www.Google.com) The best site was something like www.soar.berkely.edu (http://www.soar.berkely.edu) but I cannot remember the exact address.

Spicy Chorizo Sausage

2 lbs boneless venison, cut into 1 inch cubes
3/4 pound beef fat, very cold, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano
dash cumin (I hate the taste of cumin, so you might want to add more)
1/4 cup vinegar

Mix together ingredients except vinegar. Pulse in a food processor until everything is chopped to a medium consistency and mixed together. Place in a bowl. Add the vinegar and refridgerate for at least half an hour to allow the flavors to blend. Fry or freeze as desired.

Italian Sausage

2 pounds boneless venison
3/4 pound beef fat
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 medium spanish onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
dash cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce

Mix together all ingredients. Pulse in a food processor until a medium consistency and everything is evenly mixed together. Form into patties and fry or use to make meatballs or pizza topping. Or freeze for later use.

I prefer the Chorizo recipe. I think it really compliments the venison taste better. My husband likes the Italian Sausage, but I think it's just because we used it to make meatballs with :P. I got beef fat from the butcher at my grocery store and he didn't charge me for it. All I had to do was ask. I think it is possible to make venison sausage using even less fat than this, but since venison is such a lean meat, you do need to add some to it http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif I have made chicken sausage using eggs to bind it, but I don't know if this would work with venison. I'll have to try it this season.

I hope these recipes work well for you!!!

[MrsReber]

Venus, I think I want to try these recipes too! Our hunting season in NJ started on September 11th (for fall bow) and it's not over until the middle of February (end of winter bow). Guess we're a little over run with deer, no? We've really been wanting to try some sausage and I know my husband wanted a breakfast sausage patty recipe. Do you think the Italian sausage would fall in that category? I think we need some better game cookbooks.

[carolyn.1]

Venus,
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I have seen sausage recipes before that I just didn't care for. I have to mix beef fat with venison when I grind it (just like ground beef), so this is not new for me. Venison has so little fat this is definitely required! As I know you are aware. Your recipes look yummy, all my favorite ingredients!! And I do like cumin alot. I live right outside Charleston, SC. The season is so long because we are overrun with deer. I especially like the Italian sausage and like MrsReber, do you think it would be tasty for breakfast?
you know what, I don't think I know how to spell sausage? I keep going back to correct it and it still doesn't look right--oh well

[heeter]

This recipe is full proof for vension with no gamey taste.

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar (loosely packed)
4-5 cloves of garlic minced
1 onion finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 vegetable oil
Venison cut up in 2-3 inch cubes

Marinate in a zip lock baggy and grill medium to med rare.

Another variation is to add bourbon and alittle dijon mustard, omit the ginger, also very good.

[venus]

Carolyn, I really hope you like these recipes. Let me know! Mrs R, I guess we're not so over run with deer in NY. You can bow hunt that early in the Adirondacks, but not in the rest of the state. It's good for me--the venison we do get is soooo much.

My book has a recipe for venison breakfast sausage in it, but I've never tried it. My hubby and I prefer bacon http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif I calls for

6 strips bacon
ginger
cinnimon
garlic

I don't remember the proportions right off--I'm at work and I don't have my cookbooks with me http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif

[Denise]

Hello! My boyfriend and I went hunting last weekend and got our first elk! I pan fried it and then covered with the port-wine mushroom sauce (cooking class article on sauces, July maybe?). It was fantastic! I'm sure it would also be great on venison. Then I took a venison roast out of the freezer, plunked it in the crockpot and poured 1/2 cup red wine over it. It cooked all night and was falling apart tender in the morning. Also had a great flavor!

[Susann]

Sara Moulton did her show on cooking game last night. If you go to www.foodtv.com (http://www.foodtv.com) and follow the links to her site, you may find some useful info.

[Norma]

Venus, I made your pot roast with elk Sunday, and it turned out very good. The house smelled wonderful while it was cooking. The gravy turned out perfect...just the right consistency for us. We had company for dinner and everyone thought it was delicious. I always dreaded trying to roast elk because it's so lean and it dries out so easily. Thanks bunches.

[carolyn.1]

Hi Everyone!
I haven't logged on for a few days, I actually let my work slide (while I was out with my BB friends) and had to get some things done.HeeHee.All you addicts out there KNOW what I'm talking about.
I will try the roast with the wine--sounds wonderful. Venison makes the best, tastiest gravy I have ever eaten.

Thank you again for your reply's and help.

[venus]

Norma,

I'm so glad it turned out well!