A couple of weeks ago, my roguishly handsome husband, Neil, fulfilled a long time goal of his: to learn how to hunt. He hired a guide and went out into the wilderness of Western Washington for his first black tail. One the second day of his hunt, he bagged a buck. That’s when the work truly began.
We spend an entire day cleaning, processing, and packaging the meat and were left with over 60 pounds of delicious, sustainable, responsibly harvested, game meat.
Then, I went buck wild in the kitchen.
What’s on the Menu:
Venison Osso Bucco Sunday Gravy
Scotch Eggs
Venison Burger
Chili Mac
Pan Seared Rosemary and Garlic Tenderloin
Marinaded Tenderloin
We Used Two Different Kinds of Venison for These Recipes
The Backstrap
The strip of meat on the outside of the ribs that suns down the back of the animal. It’s very tender and a delicious and large cut of meat
Ground Venison
We took the scraps from processing the deer and ground it with apple wood smoked bacon. We used a 80/20 venison to bacon ratio and couldn’t have been more pleased with the results.
Osso Bucco Sunday Gravy
Takes: 5-6 Hours
Makes: 48 oz of the best red sauce you’ve ever had
Mise: 4 28oz Cans of Whole Sane Marzano Tomatoes, 1 Whole Yellow Onion, 2 Carrots, 4 Cloves Garlic, Olive Oil, 1 Parmesan Rind, 2 Tbs Tomato Paste, 1/4 cup Dry Red Wine, 2 Fresh Roma Tomatoes, 1 Bunch of Basil, 1 Bunch of Fresh Oregano, 3 1.25 inch thick cuts of bone-in osso bucco (shin), 2 beef short ribs, 2 Italian sausages, water. *You do NOT need salt for this recipe. The sauce gets so concentrated I do not add any salt and only a little bit of pepper.
Sear Your Meat:
1. In a large Dutch oven, drizzle olive oil and turn to medium high heat. Then, Sear your Osso Bucco and Short Rib cuts on all sides. once golden all over, remove from pan and set aside.
Make Your Base:
2. Add chopped white onion to pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits of meat from the bottom of the pan. Once the onion begin to turn tranlscent (about 4 minutes), add in 4 cloves of chopped garlic and 1 Tbs of chopped fresh oregano. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Then, add 2 Tbs of Tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Deglaze your pan with the red wine, making sure to remove any left over bit from the bottom of the pan.
Getting it Simmering:
3. Add in all of your cans of tomatoes and use your wooden spoon to break up the whole tomatoes. Once those have been broken up, add your whole, peeled carrots, your parm rind, your seared meat, and your fresh tomatoes. Make sure all submerged materials are fully covered by tomatoes. Add water if needed. Bring to bubble and reduce to low heat. Let cook for 5 hours.
Note: The whole carrots are to add sweetness and control the acid in the concentrated tomatoes, the parm rind is to season the sauce, and the whole tomatoes act as a timer and a water release for the sauce. As they cook, they release their juice so the sauce doesn’t become over concentrated and you know your sauce is done when the fresh tomatoes are totally falling-apart cooked.
4. 30 Minutes before your 5 hours are up, add in your sausages wholes and submerge in sauce.
Finish:
5. When your sauce is done, remove your meat (making sure to separate your meat and the bones/inedible bits), carrots, and parm rind (if there’s any of it left).
6. Add in chopped fresh basil and oregano. Finish in a pan with fresh cooked pasta, pasta water, and butter. Serve with slow cooked meat and enjoy!
Scotch Eggs
Takes: 90 minutes
Makes: 6 Scotch Eggs
Mise: 1 lb ground Venison, 8 oz pork breakfast sausage, 2 Tbs Fresh Chopped Rosemary, 2 Tbs Fresh Chopped Sage, 1 Tbs Fresh Chopped Parsley, 1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs + 1 cup for breading, 1/3 cup half and half, salt, pepper, 6 high quality eggs + 2 for breading, whole grain or english mustard, 2 Tbs mayo, sharp cheddar cheese, gerkins, 5 cups of frying oil, 1 cup flour.
Soft Boil Your Eggs:
1. Add 6 eggs to a pot of room temp water. Bring to boil and boil for 5-6 minutes. Immediately plunge into ice water bath. Let rest in ice bath for 15 minutes. Then, peel under cold water. Return to ice water until assembly.
Make Your Sausage:
2. Add 1 lb ground venison, 8oz sausage, rosemary, sage, parsley, 1 Tbs Salt, 1/2 Tbs of pepper to bowl of standing mixer. Mix with a paddle attachment for about 2 minutes. Then, add in 1/3 cup of Italian bread crumbs and turn mixer back on. Slowly drizzle in half and half. Mix on medium for additional 3-4 minutes until mixture is completely combined.
Wrap Your Egg:
3. Take a soft boiled egg and soft pat dry. Then, take about 6oz of sausage mix and flatten in your hand. Place Egg in center of flattened sausage and gently encase egg in sausage. Add more sausage, if needed. Once it resembles a small dino egg, place on a plate and repeat with the rest of eggs and sausage. Place in fridge once done.
Prep to Fry:
4. Bring 5 cups of frying oil up to 375* in a high walled dutch oven or pot.
Bread:
5. Set up a breading station by adding 1 cup of flour to a cake pan, season with salt and pepper and mix, add 2 eggs and some half and half to a smaller, high walled, bowl, and finally add 1-2 cups of Italian bread crumbs into a second cake pan.
6. Take your sausage covered eggs and first dredge in flour, then dip into and cover with egg, and then place in italian bread crumbs and completely cover. Repeat with rest of eggs.
Fry and Serve:
7. Fry your scotch eggs in 375* oil, 3 at a time, for 7-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper once it’s out of the fryer.
8. Serve with white cheddar cheese, gerkins, and an aoili made out of equal parts of mustard and mayo.
Venison Burger
Takes: 30 minutes
Makes: 3 Large Burgers
Mise: 1 Lb 80/20 Ground Venison Mix, 3 slices white cheddar cheese, 1 yellow onion, 4 pieces of bacon, arugula sprouts, dill pickle slices, mustard, mayo, 3 Brioche buns
Make Your Fancy Toppings:
1. Pan fry bacon until crispy. Once done and bacon is removed, add in thinly sliced onion into bacon grease pan and cook until caramelized. Remove onions from pan, leaving any drippings in pan.
Make Burgers:
2. Form venison into 3 equal balls and shape into thick burger patties. Season top with salt and pepper.
3. Bring bacon/onion pan to medium high heat. Add drizzle of olive oil, if needed. Once hot, add burgers, seasoned side down. season top sides and cook for 3-4 minutes.
4. While burgers are cooking, toast your buns.
5. Flip burgers, add cheese slice, and cover with a lid. Let cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Assemble:
6. Spread mayo and mustard on toasted buns. Place pickles on bottom bun, followed by the burger. Layer with caramelized onions, bacon, sprouts, and top bun.
7. Devour.
Chili Mac
Takes: 60 minutes
Makes: Big Pot of Chili
Mise: 1 lb of 80/20 ground venison mix, 1 lb ground beef, 1 yellow onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 medium spiced peppers, like Poblano or Anaheim, 2 jalapenos, 2 Tbs of Tomato Paste, Chili Powder, Smoked Paprika, Sumac, Aleppo Pepper, Cumin, Cayenne, 1 Bottle Lager, 1 28oz Can Crushed Tomatoes, 16oz chicken stock, Salt, Pepper. Optional: Cheese, Sour Cream, Pasta.
Make Your Base:
1. In a large dutch oven, drizzle olive oil and begin to brown meat. Once mostly cooked, add diced yellow onion, chopped garlic, and pepper, reduce heat to medium, half cover with lid.
Note: this helps the vegetables release their water which helps you scraped the delicious bits off of the bottom of the pan and also begin to layer the flavors of the soup
Spice:
2. Once the onions are translucent and released the majority of their liquid, add in spices. This is mostly to taste but here’s what I use, in order of most amount added to least: Chili powder, Smoked Paprika, Cumin, Aleppo, Sumac, Cayenne. Stir in and cook with meat for 3-5 minutes. Then, add in 2 Tbs of tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Simmer:
3. Deglaze pan with bottle of lager. Add can of crushed tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Cook until reduces, thick, and perfect (30-60 minutes).
4. Serve as is or over pasta and topped with cheese and sour cream.
Seared Rosemary + Garlic Backstrap
Takes: 20 minutes
Makes: 2 Large Servings
Mise: 1/2 of back-strap, trimmed, salt, pepper, 3 Tbs butter, 2 rosemary sprigs, 2 cloves of garlic.
1. Bring back strap up to room temp. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a pan to medium high and drizzle with olive oil.
3. Sear meat on one side, cooking for 3-4 minutes, flip and sear on other side.
4. After 3 minutes, add butter, whole rosemary spring, and whole garlic cloves. Baste meat in butter until seared on all sides and internal temp is about 125*
5. Remove from heat and allow to rest for about 10 minutes. Slice and serve.
Marinated Backstrap
Takes: 12 hours inactive, 20 active
Makes: 2 Large servings
Mise: 1/2 Backstrap, Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Brown Sugar, Paprika, Cayene, Olive Oil, Soy Sauce, Whole Rosemary Springs, Whole Sage Sprigs, butter.
Marinade
1. In a Food Saver bag, add in back strap, heavy pinch of salt, pepper, garlic powder, brown sugar, paprika, cayenne pepper. Add in 2ish tbs of Olive oil, 1 Tbs Soy sauce, 2 sprigs of rosemary, and 2 sage sprigs. Roll meat into marinade until fully covered.
2. Remove air and vacuum seal. Set in fridge and let marinade overnight.
Prep:
3. For dinner the next day, remove from marinade and pat dry. Keep liquid. Season with Salt and Pepper and let come to room temp.
Cook:
4. Heat a pan to medium high and drizzle with olive oil.
5. Sear meat on one side, cooking for 3-4 minutes, flip and sear on other side. Sear on all sides and internal temp is about 125*
6. Remove from heat and allow to rest for about 10 minutes.
Sauce:
7. While your meat rests, Add your marinade to pan, on medium heat, and cook down by half. Finish with 1-2 Tbs of butter, season with salt and pepper.
8. Slice meat and serve with pan sauce.
Credit to Neil Martin for bagging this awesome animal and providing for much meat for the house
Credit to Steve Rinella’s incredible book, The Meateater: Fish and Game Cookbook, for providing so much guidance. Click below to buy:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399590072/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Credit to Drew Bennett for pun assistance