Venison

athlone M

Hi all,
A friend has just gave me some wild venison, i got alot of meat so i froze it.
Has anyone got any good recipies?

bonkey

What cuts do you have?

If you've got something that's suitable for stewing, I heartily recommend the traditional Swiss dish of pfeffer

For fillet etc., it works great as a steak or a roast, as long as you're very careful not to overcook it.

Alternately, to play a bit safe, sear it in a pan, wrap it in prosciutto, and then bake....or sear in the pan, wrap in bacon, then in puff pastry, then bake. Wrapping it in something will give you a bit more liquid retention, so you're less likely to dry it out.

Whatever way you cook it, deglaze your frying pan to make red-wine sauce...or mushroom and cream sauce...or port and cranberry sauce...or whiskey (and mead) and cream sauce.....

Venison stroganoff is also quite nice.

Oh...and spiced venison is the absolute bomb. It takes about 10 days to make (no, really), and involves getting yourhands on saltpetre (which isn't so easy, depending on where you live), but its fantastic as a cold meat.

waltersobchak

If you have a long piece of fillet, a venison wellington is phenomenal

tSubh Dearg

I would recommend soaking the venison overnight in buttermilk before cooking it. This mellows the game taste a little but mainly makes the meat incredibly tender when cooked.

It's also important when roasting it, to wrap it in bacon or something as venison is a very lean meat and it needs the extra fat from the bacon to keep it moist or it will dry out as bonkey mentioned.

foodaholic

Nice friend to have, yum yum

superficies

I am so jealous. Excellent friend!

Minder

A fillet of venison is perfect for roasting at a very low temperature - 60 to 65centigrade. Season with pepper only, flash fry in the pan to colour the outside, wrap in foil and greaseproof paper then put in the oven at 65c for an hour. Then take the meat out - pat dry, season again with both salt and pepper before pan frying for another couple of minutes. It doesn't need to rest - carve straight away.

Red meats are rare in the middlle at about 65c - the traditional method of roasting large joints at 18 or 19 minutes per 500g gives a rare centre but the rest is cooked to well done as you move away from the centre of the roast. At a low temperature the meat will be rare throughout - the pan frying gives the colour.

rsta

If you've got a couple of nice fillets, season them with oil and salt and pepper, then fry to your liking as you'd do a steak.

Also, you could do a venison stew. Cut into chunky pieces, toss in seasoned flour. Brown the meat in a frying pan, then put into a large pot. Add chopped veg, like carrots and parsnip and potatoes. Fill up with stock and red wine. Pop in a slow oven.

Venison is really tasty. Nice friend you've got!

briano.de.rhino

hi I have the same question.
i was the donatee of a large mass of venison. I thik its a haunch.wild from donegal. smells gamey. on the bag it was in was inscribed the word "roast" .
so what i gotta do is 1. defrost.
2 soak in buttermilk overnight.
3. roast in the oven.[but what recipe?]

i want to do it justice. i have never had or cooked venison before.the lady i got it off said to marinade it in red wine overnight.would u recommend red wine then or buttermilk for this.also, would i be better off chopping it into cubes for stew or raosting it like a joinnt?its pretty big and only 2 of us eating it. whats best to make some frozen meals from so i dont waste this meat?

thanks,

Brian.

niall_belfast

Ooh, venison.. lovely..

If you have venison steaks, they don't need the long-term cooking that other cuts require.

I like to marinade the venison in good olive oil, garlic, and juniper berries for 4 or 5 hours.. then sear the meat in a very hot griddle pan.

After I've taken the meat out to rest, adding a lot of blueberries and some aquavit to the pan, then reducing the heat until the fruit has broken down and the sauce has reduced makes a delicious sauce that compliments the game-y meat

CJhaughey

The taste of venison depends largely on the species and sex of deer.
For instance Sika venison is very mild compared with Red deer, even stags taken in the rut are very palatable unlike the rank Red stags at this time of the year.
The stags will basically ride themselves into a state of exhaustion and will be very lean and stringy at the end of the rut.
Early season venison is the best if you can get it, I gave away quite a bit of the first 3 that I took this year and anyone who got some marvelled at the taste compared with hung beef steaks.
Sirloins are small compared with Beef but are incomparable IMO.