primitives discuss venison stew

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11576949

Oh my.

Cairycat (483 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

Seasonings and vegetables for venison stew?

Someone gave my husband a couple of small packages of venison, about a half pound each. One is ground venison, one is something labeled "butterfly". My plan was to brown the ground meat, and cube the "butterfly" meat and brown it too. I was thinking of using celery and carrots and mushrooms, and of course onion and garlic, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about other vegetables, which herbs and seasonings, and what liquid might work well.

Hot diggety damn.

A primitive finally used the word, instead of its baby-talk version.

That's a "first" in the cooking and baking forum, for sure.

madrchsod (52,562 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

1. i`d use milk and brown the meat with olive oil.

i cooked (oven) a baby back deer roast and i used milk. killed the wild taste and with the combo of veggies i used made a kick ass gravy. dam that`s making me hungry

Cairycat (483 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

2. Thanks! I've used sour cream before in venison stew

when the venison was cooked in broth and sour cream added to the juices. I wonder if buttermilk would work, or a mixture of buttermilk and regular milk (so it wouldn't be too tangy).

Arkansas Granny (12,443 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

3. We made some venison stew not long ago. I like to use beef broth for the liquid.

For v*****s we used potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, onion, garlic and rutabaga. Parsnips and/or turnips would be good, also. We dumped in a package of frozen peas during the last few minutes of cooking. As far as herbs, I'm pretty sure we used rosemary, sage and thyme. I'm really bad (or good, depending how you look at it) about opening the spice drawer, sniffing the contents and adding a little bit of anything that smells like it would be good in the dish.

We've never had a problem with venison having a wild or gamy taste. You have to make sure that you remove any fat that might be on the meat before cooking. That seems to be what makes it gamy.

Cairycat (483 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

4. Thanks for the suggestions!

Had been thinking of turnips, and am glad to be reminded about peas.

I appreciate the ideas. Although, I figure, if we have some of the bread the 15-year-old has been baking, that will make up for most deficits the stew might have.

HopeHoops (28,556 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

5. Bay leaves and rosemary would fall in the "essential" category.

oneshooter (4,436 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

6. Venison has no edible fat on it. Thus you must add a source of fat or the meat will come out dry. I generally use salt pork or bacon. This also adds another flavor to the dish.

freshwest (8,018 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

8. I was told that red wine was needed to marinate both the venison and the cook.

One person told me if anyhing is wrong with the venison, the wine the cook drinks while waiting to see how the roast comes out, will take care of it. And it sounded funny at the time. Not that I take that approach to cooking, but FWIW...

[catsmtrods]

Yeah cut up that butterfly and boil it leather. Don't forget to add everything you can think of to hide that wild taste! Better yet just donate it to the food bank cause you don't deserve it. 

[JohnnyReb]

First step to a good venison stew is to kill a deer...after that, I'm done.