2010 Cooking Club Week 29: Venison Stew

CJhaughey

I thought I would stick this one up as I like venison and there have been few game recipes so far.
Hands up its not exactly deer season right now but this will work well with beef as well or you can always buy farmed venison if you want.



Ingredients

1kg Venison diced (steaks are tender but most cuts work unless they are very tough and need lots of cooking)
4 juniper berries
Some Bay leaves
a little oil to brown the meat in
half a bottle of red wine (other half for cook;))
2 sprigs of Thyme
plain flour to dust the venison in
500ml Beef stock
1 whole star anise
2 smashed cloves of garlic ~ you can adjust to suit yourselves.
6 shallots
1 stick of cinnamon
Salt and pepper




Method

Mix flour salt and pepper and dredge the diced venison in it and add to a large hot oiled pan until it colours.
You want it to brown not stew so use a reasonably high heat and if necessary remove some to a bowl to allow the rest to cook.

When browned add the shallots cut in halves or quarters and let them start to soften as well.
Once the shallots are soft add the star anise, cinnamon stick, thyme, bay leaves and garlic stir in.

Deglaze pan with red wine and make sure all browning bits are dissolved, then add the beef stock, cover and cook for a further 1.5-2 hrs or until the meat is tender.
You may need longer if the cuts are gristly or have a lot of connective tissue like shin etc.
When the meat is almost done add the 4 juniper berries and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Thats all folks.
I like this with some mashed spuds and celeriac, kale steamed and pureed with a dash of nutmeg.

foodaholic

yummy, any recommendations where is a good place to get venison. I've only ever seen it in superquinn a few times. Cheers

Dinkie

I'm able to get it in my local butcher in Wexford... so I'm assuming a good butcher might stock it.

Think there is a butcher in Terenure that advertises in the window that he stocks unusual meats

CJhaughey

I know that some butchers specialize in wild and exotic meats, unfortunately I don't know of any that spring to mind. There is/was a place in Cashel that sells Venison but the name eludes me now.
Do you know anyone that shoots deer? There are a lot of deer shot in Ireland every year so chances are you may know someone that shoots and even if they shoot birds they may know someone who might have some venison handy.
Most shooters including myself are more than happy to let others try venison, I give a lot of meat away every season.

Little Alex

We made this tonight, CJ. As we couldn't get any venison at short notice we made it with beef.

Now, there is a tiny addition that we made... because there is star anise and cinnamon in the recipe it is tending towards a slightly sweet taste, but there is no sugar there to back it up. We added somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon of sugar and think that this made a big difference. Oh yeah, and we added some potato for the last 20 minutes or so.

We were very happy with the results!

We also want to try it with venison to see what it's like. For anyone in South Dublin, there's a butcher in Terenure village (Downey's) that specialises in all sorts of exotic meats and they would very likely have venison in stock.

This is what it ended up looking like:

CJhaughey

Glad you liked it Alex.
Thanks for the sugar tip.

Little Alex

No worries!

I've actually never tried venison before... keep thing of Bambi and all of that... :eek: :pac:

What does it taste like like? Off topic, maybe, but I had boar once in dr Schwiez (in Switzerland). Does it have a "strong" taste like boar?

CJhaughey

Little Alex wrote: »

No worries!

I've actually never tried venison before... keep thing of Bambi and all of that... :eek: :pac:

What does it taste like like? Off topic, maybe, but I had boar once in dr Schwiez (in Switzerland). Does it have a "strong" taste like boar?

Depends on the species and the time of year it is taken.
Red deer are stronger than Sika and at rut time Red stag is almost inedible to me.
Sika are to my mind the best eating by far of our deer species and are quite mild but still have a slightly gamey taste.

The Black Oil

Tesco had star anise and juniper berries so I'll give this a shot in the future. Will probably be with beef rather than venison.

Little Alex

If anyone is interested in trying this and doesn't have any hunter friends, I went into Downey's in Terenure and enquired about vension. They said it will be in season in September and they will have it in in a week or two. I was told the cut for roasting, for example, would cost about €16/kg. Is that a suitable one, CJ, or what should one ask for in particular?

CJhaughey

For a stew where you are long slow cooking it, I would personally use a cut like shin with a lot of connective tissue as it breaks down and becomes juicy.
So perhaps a cheaper cut would suffice if you are prepared to cook it longer?
Roasting cuts would be fine. My mouth is starting to water at the thought of some venison...

nice1franko

Making this tonight to have tomorrow. Got some frozen wild venison steaks from JC's in Swords, Co. Dub. Got the celeriac too but couldn't find Juniper berries anywhere but according to this a splash of gin will do instead. Looking forward to it tmrw

CJhaughey

How did you get on with this?
It's deer season now so you should be able to get fresh venison handy enough.

nice1franko

Yeah, it was really good. I was actually proud of it I have to say. Missus even loved it -though I didn't tell her it was venison til after she tasted it . Took a pic too will post up when I get a chance.

Next time I'll try it without the Star Anise though. I could taste it in there and not sure I liked it brought to the party... first time I used Star Anise was in Sparks' Chili and I wouldn't have even known it was even in there tbh. In fairness, it's fighting some seriously strong flavours in that dish e.g. a small bucket of chillis in adobo.

The celeriac mash was lovely too - used this recipe.

I made a beef n guinness stew at the same as this (stocking up the freezer for these cold winter nights) and noticed how thick the gravy was with the venison compared to the beef n Guinness which I usually thicken it up with a bit of cornflour or mash towards the end. I guess this must be because of the seasoned flour coating I gave the venison before browning... so going to try doing that to the next batch of beef n guinness too.

All in all, delighted with this recipe so thanks a lot. Defo one of my favs.

Seaneh

Little Alex wrote: »

If anyone is interested in trying this and doesn't have any hunter friends, I went into Downey's in Terenure and enquired about vension. They said it will be in season in September and they will have it in in a week or two. I was told the cut for roasting, for example, would cost about €16/kg. Is that a suitable one, CJ, or what should one ask for in particular?

I personally wouldn't stew loin, saddle or rack of venison, they have very little fat and almost no connective tissues and by the end of stewing would be extremely tasteless. I'd just stick with using stewing beef, lamb or mutton if you can't get neck or shoulder of venison, much cheaper and will taste much better.

Those other cuts are just not great for stewing. But buy a bit of loin and roast it and make a red wine & chocolate and chili sauce and try it out, you'll love it.

The Black Oil

Gave this a go without juniper berries and shallots, it was pretty good. Will try it again with them. Thanks OP

Seaneh

I cannot for the life of me find venison in Galway, the only places that are willing to order it for me (Diveley's and Tormey's) will only order loin and only if I order a whole loin or more.

Load of balls.

Going to give this a lash with some mutton shoulder during the week.

CJhaughey

I will be making this with mutton as well, unless I get a deer soon.
We had an accident with the chest freezer and everything that was in it was lost.
I could cry, Tuna, Bass, Venison, our own organic pork, terrines, etc etc.:(

Seaneh

CJhaughey wrote: »

I will be making this with mutton as well, unless I get a deer soon.
We had an accident with the chest freezer and everything that was in it was lost.
I could cry, Tuna, Bass, Venison, our own organic pork, terrines, etc etc.:(

Oh, wow, I would cry for sure.

*hugs*.

nice1franko

Pic of my effort...

...put a few carrots and mushrooms in too as you can see.

Sparks

Little Alex wrote: »

I've actually never tried venison before... keep thing of Bambi and all of that... :eek: :pac:

That's okay, it's not Bambi.




It was Bambi's mom that got shot in the cartoon, after all

Little Alex

I bought 1lb of diced stewing vension on Saturday with this dish in mind. It cost €4.30.

I'll be making this at some stage during the week and will update then!

Sparks wrote: »

That's okay, it's not Bambi.

It was Bambi's mom that got shot in the cartoon, after all

I still feel a bit guilty about it... I know chickens are "babies" too and all that, but still...

... it's all in the name of the Cooking Club and tasting everything!

---

Just made it now:



I really liked it. You know, if I was served it and I wasn't told it was vension I would have thought it was beef. It had the same "dry" mouthfeel after stewing... kind of hard to explain, but when meat is well stewed and meltingly tender, yet kind of stringy and saliva-robbingly dry... or is that my poor cooking skills? :pac: Anyway, it was yum. I didn't bother putting in any sugar this time.

I'll update again tomorrow after Mrs. Alex has tasted it. I'm on the graveyard shift again this week and have just tried it while she slumbers.

Oh yeah, and one last thing: I sieved the sauce just before serving so as to take out the junipers, cinnamon shreds and the star anise.

And one other last thing: like Franko I also added in some unwarranted veg (carrot and waxy potatoes). Next time, though, I will try this celeriac mash of yours.

Seaneh

I have some shoulder coming to me tomorrow thanks to one of the lads on the hunting forum so going to give this recipe a lash. Will post pics

campbellu

I have got free gifts of lots of different cuts of venison. The good news is that it is low in fat therefore no cholesterol issues. It does need the searing in high heat to carmelise and sweeten juices. I favour more lamb type recipes, adding tomatoes and tagine type spices, saying that I did a guinness stew which was very good. star anise or juniper work really well in a marinade. White wine is good as well as red. Shanks are fab as is leg.