Time to defrost another mystery bag of deer. Quick recap: Doug delivered me a few freezer bags of gifted animal and then I open the bag and see what kind of cuts I get to play with. These aren’t the best trimmed pieces of meat, but who am I to complain about free food.
This particular weekend, we’re doing two recipes. This was my Saturday cook. I had originally planned this idea when I made the Guisada/Stroganoff, but it got put on the back burner. It shouldn’t have. This had such a great depth of flavor, it was a delight eating it all week. Recipe link below for the impatient, but come along for the ride and see what I did and why I did it.
The Prep Table
We’re going homestyle and familiar today. Anytime you got beef stock, carrot and celery, you know it’s going to be hearty and good. Like we do, we’re going to take it up a few notches.
This is what we got to play with today. Some pieces were kind of garbage, but for the most part, we got some good meat here. Let’s take out our Victorinox knife and trim these up. We’re going to cube up this meat for today’s cook. We’re going to quick-sear it and then add the goods, but I went a little heavy with the cubes in the last deer cooks. Let’s take it back a little bit.
We’re going to reduce our flavor and really compact that flavor. The idea is to get a quick sear on the deer (rhyme) and then really hit it with some good flavor. We aren’t serving a family here, so it’ll be a small concentrated amount that will impart the flavor in a good proportion. This was the start of the process, let’s really get into what we’re doing.
The Process
Garlic wine and thyme – such an earthy familiar flavor, I don’t think I could muck up this recipe if I tried. We’re going to burn off the booze, and really stick to the flavor. If you have any leftover wine (I did), feel free to imbibe (I did) while you’re making this cook. While this is reducing down – really concentrating that flavor – let’s get that sear on the venison.
Ain’t a whole lot special to this part. Since we’re going to use the dutch oven to finish it up, might as well use it to start. Throw some of your preferred oil in the bottom and get it ready for the sear. I’ve become a big fan of clarified butter (ghee) lately, so that’s what I went with today. Get some good sear on it.. but as anyone who’s ever cooked deer venison before has told you – don’t overcook it.
Now we start getting fun with it. The deer grabbed some color so let’s dump the veggie in there. Any good, familiar stew has the onion, carrot, celery in there and at least for me – it takes me back to childhood. Hearty. This screams hearty. Get it all mixed up, add our red wine mix in there and let it cook for a little bit.
The Result
You want that venison to shred, to be able to bit through it like butter. The carrots and celery aren’t quite mush – but they’re soft enough to enjoy. The “gravy” that has been made is an absolute delight that needs savored. Truth be told, it’s an easy recipe to make – not a bad thing – but for me it was reminiscent of childhood. I hated it then, but appreciate it so much more now. Let’s get it plated.
I’m no photographer – I’m a slave to what the iPhone provide. I get it, it looks like some burnt-ass deer, but I’m telling you it was a delicious savory bite. Don’t believe me?
Does that look burnt to you? It was so juicy, so flavorful. I pushed this recipe back a little bit because of its simplicity, but it was actually that simplicity that made it so great. I packed the leftovers up for lunches and enjoyed the hell out of it for days. I make some crazy ass cooks sometimes (BLT sushi idea anyone?) but this one is straight up down-home, easy, and good.
Hope you try this one! Leave a comment if you do and let me know how it turned out! Don’t forget our new e-mail system – sign up and get notified when we post something new! See you next week!
The Recipe
Red Wine Braised Venison
Ingredients
- 1 Lb Deer Venison 1" cubes
- 1.5 Cups Red Wine I used Cabernet Sauvignon
- 1 Tbsp Ghee
- 1 Cup Beef Stock
- 1 Onion Sliced
- 3 Celery Stalks Sliced
- 3 Carrots Sliced
Instructions
- Feel free to use the oven for this one, like most do – but for me, I fired up the RecTeq to 350f and got ready for the cook.
- In a small saucepan, go ahead and add that red Wine, garlic, and thyme. Bring it to a simmer, watch your liquid level and reduce by half.
- Get your dutch oven out and prepare to sear some deer. Throw some ghee in, coat the bottom and get a good sear on the venison. When it's good on colored, remove it while we're cooking the veggies.
- With the leftover ghee and deer liquid in the dutch oven, add in that carrot, celery, and onion and cook it down until onion translucent (5min).
- Go ahead and add the beef stock and our red wine reduction (obviously the deer as well) to our dutch oven – pop the lid on it – and put it in the oven (or RecTeq) for about 2 hours.
- Contrary to the "If you're looking, you ain't cooking" mantra, after the first hour, give it a peek every 20-30 minutes until it's where you want it – for me 2 hours. Shovel it onto a plate and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
I’d eat that