Great Venison Cooking

It’s a beautiful July 4 here in the Washington, DC area…we’re almost ready for our annual BBQ and venison roast. This year I’m making BBQ venison sandwiches and grilled roast in cider marinade. Yum! Rick wanted to roast a whole deer on a spit, but all we’ve got is a little portable backyard firepit, which just isn’t big enough…even for our puny Northern VA deer. Maybe next year.

What’s on your menu today? Hope you have a safe and fun 4th!

What fun! Today I got together with my two fabulous sisters–in–law for the cover shoot of my cookbook. Peggy took the pictures since she is the most talented amateur photographer I know (if she ever wanted to go pro, she could do it). Lynn has the beautiful kitchen, much nicer than mine, which really needs remodeling (maybe that’s what I’ll do with any money I make from the cookbook). Here are some of my favorites, although when my sister sits down to design the cover, she may well use one of the other 60 shots Peg got. I’m so lucky to have such talented family.

Susan grinds venison for burgers.

Susan loves grinding venison! What fun!

Susan butterflies a backstrap for stuffing and grilling.

My hound dog makes me laugh. Sometimes I realize I’ve spent 15 or 20 minutes just watching her. For instance, right now she’s curled by by side on the couch chasing something in her sleep. Hysterical.

Yesterday I was sitting out on my patio (which Rick just built and I love it), and this is what I was watching:

[flashvideo file=http://greatvenisoncooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/happyD.flv /]

I think the tail says it all. Life is great.

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.

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.

What fun! Today I got together with my two fabulous sisters–in–law for the cover shoot of my cookbook. Peggy took the pictures since she is the most talented amateur photographer I know (if she ever wanted to go pro, she could do it). Lynn has the beautiful kitchen, much nicer than mine, which really needs remodeling (maybe that’s what I’ll do with any money I make from the cookbook). Here are some of my favorites, although when my sister sits down to design the cover, she may well use one of the other 60 shots Peg got. I’m so lucky to have such talented family.

Susan grinds venison for burgers.

Susan loves grinding venison! What fun!

Susan butterflies a backstrap for stuffing and grilling.

Volume 1 of “The Hunting Widow’s Guide to Great Venison Cooking” is in the hands of it’s first reviewer. I’m getting very excited! I’ve been working so hard on this cookbook, and now it’s in process. The work has really just begun, but I fully expect to have it ready for sale by September 1…just in time for hunting season! Stay tuned for more updates.

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.

smoking venison on the grill is delicious

Smoked meat is so delicious! We love smoking venison. The only problem is we don’t have a smoker (that’s next years’ cooking purchase). No worries though. It turns out the gas grill works just fine for smoking.

Here’s how you do it: you need a gas grill with two or more individually controlled burners and you need a temperature gauge mounted in the lid…preferably marked in degrees. If your grill doesn’t have one, pick one up at any store that sells grill parts; it’s important that you know what the temperature inside the grill is. Ideally, your grill will be able to maintain a constant temperature of 225°. (Ours doesn’t so we have to watch the meat carefully.)

Turn on the left or back burner and heat the grill to 225°. Place hickory chips or other smoking wood in a bread pan and cover with water. Place the pan over the heated burner.

The key to smoking is indirect heat, so once the grill starts smoking, put the meat on the burner that is off. Smoke until meat is cooked through. Sausages take about 1 hour, a 2-lb roast takes about 3 hours. Use your meat thermometer to monitor the internal temperature.

We smoked a roast for Easter lunch, and it was heavenly! Rick made a sandwich and I made a salad.

Last night was the end of my French Cooking series at Cookology, a great recreational cooking school in Dulles Town Center. It was so much fun and I’m sad that it’s over. Why did I take a French cooking class when I cook so much venison? Because French cooking is a great foundation for everything. We learned the basics for sauces, soups, meat, salads, and other yummies. I learned how to hold a knife and how to chop vegetables (yes, I’ve done it wrong most of my life). I picked up lots of other tips too that are already making my home cooked meals better. It’s great. Now I need to apply these tips to my venison cooking. :) Right after I examine the schedule for the next class to take.

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!

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.

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!