We’re back with some more deer venison. My buddy made a dynamite pork guisada back when I worked at my first real career – I thought, why not try it venison style. Looked it up and sure enough, I wasn’t the only one who decided to tread these waters. Giving credit to Hank Shaw for his recipe, but as I always do – I change some things and make it my own. This is the write-up on how I did it, the recipe on how I made it, but definitely go check his out as well!
For the first time in awhile, this was the only Mexican/Tex-Mex recipe I had on deck. I nearly ALWAYS have some taco/burrito variation at the ready, since it’s my favorite go-to. So when I saw Cinco de Mayo rolling around, I had to bump this one up. Sure, we’re a day late, but this was a killer cook!
Guisada is a mexican stew – tomatillos, peppers, onion – then let that meat soak it all up. You can eat it as is, wrap it in a tortilla.. make it into a taco.. It’s versatile, but more importantly – it’s so flavorful. Let’s do this!
The Prep Table
We’re going heavy with the poblanos, tame it down with the tomatillos – bunch of onion and garlic. We’re going to sear up the venison pretty simply, but the roasting up of these veggies on the GrillGrates is what’ll make this pop. I didn’t go crazy in blackening these, but I definitely wanted to get them cooked a little bit before the blend. How were we putting these on the grates?
Cubed these up like I did before. We weren’t going to add much seasoning since these were going to take on that guisada flavor.
Everything looking good, let’s get out to the RecTeq! I had it fired up to 450 with the GrillGrates to get some heat rolling for the veggies. The plan was to dial it back down for 300 for the rest of the cook.
The Process
This was the fun part. Blistering the peppers, getting everything cooked just a little bit. I think when I do this next time (Yes, definitely will be doing this again) – I’ll really get these cooked up and burnt. I was a bit timid, but after knowing how much the flavor just this little bit of cooked made it pop – going to do it hard next time.
Cook up the fleshy side of the tomatillos and added the garlic last. Kept the skin on the garlic and it just peeled off when done. Like I said, this was fun cooking these down, let’s look at the result.
Had the neighborhood smelling good after this. Brought into the kitchen and it was outstanding. What a beautiful fragrance that was given off. Had to waft this MrsForensicBBQ’s way as I know she’d appreciate this. It’s a shame it’s all going into the blender because this picture was outstanding!
After I pulled the veggies, I dialed the RecTeq back down to 300. I put some of the veggies into the food processor, splashed with some of that beef broth and rocked the puree for a little bit. Add a few more veg, another splash of broth and repeat. Kept this going until all the veggies were done.
So what I failed to snap a picture of is the sear on the venison. I got the dutch oven out, dropped a few tsp of ghee in the bottom and seared up the meats. I covered the bottom of the dutch oven with the meat, sprinkled on some cumin, pinch or two of salt and seared. Flipped and repeat. When it was cooked up, I dumped the result of the processor into the dutch oven and got her back onto the RecTeq.
I kept the lid off for about a half hour to try to get some of that wood smoke incorporated in there. (This grill needs cleaned something fierce. By the time you read this, hopefully Spring has finally sprung so I can get to the scraping.). We’re going to pop the lid on this thing and cook it down for about an hour, hour and a half. If you remember from my birria post, I let it reduce WAY too far. Wasn’t going to happen today.
The Result
Removed the lid to give y’all a little peak on how it’s looking. You can see the vibrant green has gone, and it’s reduced quite a bit – that meat starting to poke through.
Took a fork and stabbed some deer meat. My goodness, it was so tender and flavorful. To the buddy I referenced earlier – I think this one topped your pork guisada. It was so good. Decided to wrap some up in a tortilla, and it was delightful.
Thought to take an extra step and add some pico and cheese to try and taco-fy it. Wasn’t necessary, but if that’s your game – by all means. I preferred it either just as a stew or wrapped in a tortilla as is. If you like you some tex-mex and got some deer in the fridge/freezer – you’ll want to try this one. Chalk this up as a success, you’ll be seeing this one again!
The Recipe
Venison Carne Guisada
Ingredients
The Meat
- 1-2 Lbs Deer Venison 1 inch cubes
- 1 Tbsp Ghee
- 1 Tbsp Cumin to taste
- 1 Tbsp Salt to taste
The Stew
- 2 White Onions quartered
- 4 Cloves Garlic
- 1/2 Lb Tomatillos Halved
- 1 Qt Beef Broth
- 8 Poblano Peppers
Instructions
- Heat the RecTeq to 450 degrees with GrillGrates flat-side up. Wait 15 min after grill comes to temp and ready the poblano, onion, garlic, tomatillos
- Char vegetables on the GrillGrates however black as you want them. I cooked the poblanos hard, the onions not as much. To your taste. When all is charred, remove and dial the RecTeq down to 300.
- Heat Dutch oven over medium-high on the stove. Add ghee until bottom of the pot is coated. (Note: You can absolutely do this on the RecTeq as well. Since I was going to use the Dutch oven anyway, I wanted to keep the juices with the pot – but you do you).
- Add venison and sprinkle cumin/salt. I did these in two batches – put enough venison in to cover the bottom. Took the shaker of cumin over until dusted, and a pinch of salt. When seared, stir and sear the other side(s). Add cumin/salt as needed until all venison is seared.
- Food Processor: Add the poblano, onion, garlic, and tomatillos with about a 1/4 of the broth. Puree until a salsa-like consistency.
- Add the salsa to the Dutch oven with the remaining broth. Stir to combine. Place Dutch oven in the RecTeq smoke for about 15-30 minutes to grab a little smoke. Place the lid on and cook until reduced and stew consistency (Make sure your guisada is at a simmer intermittingly and is reducing).
- I let mine go for about an 1-1.5 hours and removed and placed into flour tortillas. Leftovers were just plated and eaten as is. Delicious recipe!