The Thrill of the Experiment

I'm getting ready to head into the kitchen and start experimenting. I was watching an old episode of "After Hours" the other day, and the chef prepared a nut and bacon encrusted venison saddle. It looked amazing. And it looked like something I could simulate.

So, Rick just so happened to get a deer and preserve the saddle for me (the backstrap area with bone in). I've got a selection of raw pumpkin seeds, macadamia nuts, and sunflower seeds for the nut crust, some excellent bacon, and plenty of oil. We'll see how it goes.

I love experimenting like this. Sometimes I think I should go to cooking school and do this professionally!

I love irony... and bear

So, last weekend was Rick's hunt club's annual holiday party...always an interesting event. We decided to bring a venison roast crostini; meat and bread always goes over well with guys. I found a nice horseradish sauce recipe and cooked my little heart out.

The roast came out perfect. It was very rare, just this side of still raw. The way it should be. Rick sliced it thin and it was gorgeous. We tested the crostinis, and deemed them very yummy indeed.

Where is the irony you ask? Well, I had decided to assemble the little sandwiches at the party. So I laid everything out on the counter, where people were milling about. The roast was wrapped in paper, and I had unwrapped it to start assembling. Two men (brothers, I learned) where standing next to me and as I pulled out a piece of meat, one said to me: "aren't you going to cook that?" He was serious.

I said it was cooked, just rare. Both men were horrified. "Oh, we only eat well done meat. We don't like it live."

Okay, these are men who have been shooting deer for probably 40 years ~ more importantly, field dressing the deer. And they're grossed out by pink meat? Are you kidding?

It turned out there were several people who wouldn't touch the rare meat. I was astounded, especially since venison is best rare. Weird.

That may explain what the bear, mountain lion, antelope, carribou, and other venison roasts were all well, well done (although, apparently bear and mountain lion are like pork and chicken...they must be cooked through so you don't get sick).

For the record, bear remains my favorite game meat. The antelope and mountain lion were okay; I'd probably like them better prepared differently.

To Can or Not to Can

If you've been reading this blog, you may have noticed an exchange I've been been having with Sharon. Turns out Sharon cans a lot of food, and has convinced me that it is very easy to do and the meat is great.

I've never canned anything, and I've never had canned venison. But I'm game! I can see where it would be very handy, and I definitely have several recipes that would work well with canned meat. So, as soon as I get my hands on the right equipment, I'm going to give it a try.

I'll be following Sharon's guidance. She has a wonderful web site dedicated to canning, called SimplyCanning.com. Give it a visit if you have a hankering to can some of your meat.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm sitting here on my couch in my usual post-T-day stupor. We had a lovely day with Rick's cousins in Berryville. The amount of food was staggering! I guess that's what happens in a family of wonderful cooks.

Being completely off the hook for any of the dinner food items, we decided to contribute an appetizer. And what says "Thanksgiving" like queso? Yes, queso doesn't really say Thanksgiving, but I wanted to try the recipe and I knew this crowd would enjoy it. It was so easy, and so good. Sure, we didn't need the additional cream and cheese. But we didn't mind it either!

By the way, venison was on the menu at the first Thanksgiving feast. I doubt it was in queso form, but at least we contributed something traditional!

Venison con Queso

Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground venison, browned
oil,
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 poblano chile
2 serrano peppers
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 small onion, minced
2 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cups shredded Monterey jack
3/4 cup cream
Salt, to taste
Corn chips or flour tortillas

Directions:
Brown the venison in some oil and the chili powder. Set aside. Roast the poblano and Serrano peppers, then peel and remove stem and seeds. Slice peppers into thin strips. Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and garlic and saute just until the onion is transparent. Add the poblano strips, cheese and half-and-half and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cheese is creamy, about 5 minutes. Add browned venison. Season to taste with salt. Transfer to a heated chafing dish or slow cooker heating bowl and serve immediately, along with chips or tortillas.

The Rut is On

Watch out folks...the rut is on!

Yesterday in Maryland (Waldorf I think), a Buck jumped through the window at an elementary school. He then proceeded to run into the bathroom, where he caused much mayhem. After finally finding his way out of the school, he got hit by a school bus.

What caused this rampage?

Hormones.

The buck saw his reflection in the window and didn't like the reflection's bad attitude. So he attacked. Imagine his surprise when he was suddenly faced with a bunch of very small humans instead of his foe. So he ran to the bathroom, where he noticed the foe again in the mirrors. So he charged. And left a huge bloody mess behind. Dazed and confused, he ran out into the road.

That poor boy had a very rough day.

And the rut has only just begun. Be careful...the boys seem a little more feisty this year than usual. That may just be because I'm more attuned to the behavior of deer than I used to be. Nevertheless...hormones are running wild right now.

Hunting Season

It's hard to believe we're already almost two months into hunting season here (urban bow season in our area). Although, looking in my freezer it's easy to believe. I've got a lot or recipes to find for the winter. I'm very excited.

This year has been a little different. Rick has spent almost as much time taking the dog out to help retrieve as he has actually in the tree himself. The other day, she got two calls in one morning. That was one tired pooch (and hubby).

I hope all of you hunting widows enjoy the game this year too!

No Venison in the Freezer!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but we're almost out of venison. I can actually see the bottom of the freezer. I'm feeling a little panicked about this, although I know it's just a matter of days before the freezer is full again. After all, Rick got 20 deer last year. 20. That's a lot of meat. We probably gave half of it away. I'm sure he'll do the same this year and soon my freezer will be full. I hope so...I have a lot of recipes to test!

Enter a Recipe and Win a Cookbook!

I'm so excited to be working on the Hunting Widow's Guide to Great Venison Cooking. I want this cookbook to be valuable and have tons of recipes. However, if I wait until I cook all of them, this book will never get published. so I'm hoping my venison loving readers will submit recipes on the web site. As an enticement, I will randomly draw ten names of people who submit recipes and give them each a copy of the cookbook.

If you don't have venison recipes, any good beef or lamb recipe will work too!
Thanks.

Great Venison Cooking is live!

Over the past year, I've made a lot of venison. I'm having such a blast that I decided to build out an entire Venison Cooking web site. From now on, I'll be posting recipes on GreatVenisonCooking.com. The site also has cooking tips and a section for hunters on processing meat. You can also access this blog directly from the site!

This blog is going to become a catch all for whatever doesn't fit elsewhere on the site. As always, I welcome your comments. I really want my venison cooking site to be a great resource for you.

Venison cooking web site coming soon

Exciting news...I will soon be moving this blog over to a new web site. The site is in development, but hopefully it will make finding recipes easier, and make it easier for people to submit recipes. It will also have other useful information. That's been taking up most of my time, which is why I haven't posted anything here in a while. But don't worry...I've still been cooking! I'm hoping to launch the site in early September...just in time for the start of hunting season.

6:30 on a Saturday Morning

Yes, I'm really up this early on a Saturday morning in late January. I'm up cuz my hunter boy felt a need to go sit in a tree, but he wanted to have coffee with me first. In his defense, he doesn't usually wake me up; I told him too so I could get a start on my day.

I have a fear that he is getting addicted to the hunting. He's always been very reasonable, hunting only to fill the freezer and then opting to stay home most days. I was feeling very smug, considering many of his hunter friends are not so reasonable.

Alas, he's been hanging out with a truly rabid hunter. The result is our freezer is so full he's started giving meat away...he had to give away half of the meat he got Monday. But he's out there with the dawg again this morning. I'm cooking as fast as I can, but we don't even have room to store leftovers. I suppose there are worse problems than having too much food. I'm just wondering if this is only the beginning.

If you need some meat, let me know :)

Easiest Venison Roast Ever

Happy New Year! 2009 has started off well. Last night we had dinner for the family, which consisted of Salt Roast, then we treated 8 kids from age 2 to 13 to the junk food of their choice. They were in heaven, I realized how insane that was. Actually, the kids were great. It was a sober adult who broke my beautiful pottery platter that I got in Barcelona. Sigh.

This morning Rick took Gavin out to hunt. I just got a call that Gavin missed, but Rick got a deer. They're hanging out for another hour or so to see if the herd comes back. Better them than me. It is really cold out there. Meanwhile, I've got 4 children crashed out in the living room and no idea when they're going to wake up. It's very quiet and peaceful right now.

But I digress from the roast. My sister and I have been cooking beef roast this way for years. I got the idea in Spain, where one of the traditional dishes is to encrust fish in salt and cook it. The salt hardens, keeping the moisture inside the shell. The result is tender meat with a slightly salty flavor (warn your guests not to salt before tasting!). It's a little messy to clean up, but worth it. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture. Things were a little chaotic last night and I completely forgot.

Easiest Venison Roast Ever
4 to 6 pound boneless venison roast
5 pound bag course salt
water
meat thermometer

Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Pour the salt in a bowl and add water until the salt is moist. You don't want it dripping wet, you just need it wet enough to hold together a little when you cover the roast. Put the roast in a roasting pan and cover with the salt. Make sure the entire roast is covered with the salt mixture. Place on center rack and cook for 6 to 8 hours, until you get the internal temperature of how you like your meat (145 degrees for med-rare). Remove from oven and let sit. When you're ready to carve, you'll be able to chisel through the salt and move the roast to a cutting board.

You can cook it at higher temperatures for shorter periods, just follow the general roast cooking times. The salt casing will slow your cooking time, so make sure to use the meat thermometer. We cook at the lower temperature because the meat comes out more evenly cooked and you don't lose as much. Read this article for more on that subject.

One last thing: I get my coarse salt at the local international market. I've never seen large bags of coarse eating salt at a regular grocery store. You have to use the coarse salt; table salt won't work.

A Cold Fall Morning

Fall is here in Northern Virginia, at least this morning. I had planned to stay snuggled under the covers after Rick left to hunt this morning...that's what I usually do. But this morning the bed was to chilly without him there, so I woke early.

I wasn't too bummed about being up at 5:00. I figured I could do some writing while I sipped my coffee. But the fates had other plans. Rick called at 6:15 to say his sister needed a ride to the emergency room. It took a minute to register what he was saying because 1) I was afraid he was hurt or something, and initially relieved that he was okay and 2) he was whispering so I could barely hear him. But I poured the coffee in a travel mug, pulled on some sweats, and took off for my sister-in-law's place. She did, in fact, need a ride to the hospital, and she is completely fine now. So I'm back home now getting ready to peruse some cookbooks.

Another Friday Night on the Couch

It's mid-October and do I know where my husband is? Yes indeedy. Right about now he is settling into a tree-stand and hoping to get his fourth deer of the season. If he's successful, I'll probably be in bed when he gets home. If he sees nothing, then we'll be able to catch up tonight. Since he plans on spend the entire day tomorrow in the tree, I'm selfishly hoping he gets nothing tonight.

I am yet another hunting widow. Worse, I'm the widow of a bow hunter living in an urban area that has a serious deer over-population issue. Opening day was a month earlier than last year, and closing day is so far away I'm not sure it's going to actually happen.

My motto, though, is "when life hands you venison, make venison burgers." Hunting makes my hubby very happy. Eating good food makes me very happy. Venison is very good. So, I've decided to spend this hunting season finding the best venison recipes. Yum!

If you're a hunting widow and have a recipe to share, I'd love to see it. When I come across particularly good ones, I'll post them.