I love a good bowl of chili, and smoked venison chili is a great one. Deer chili is probably one of the most trusty recipes a lot of people who cook game keep around as it’s a great place to toss a couple pounds of ground or stew meat: just forget about it for a…
Venison
I love venison, and I cook a lot of it. My selection here is different hunting sites that specialize in it though: I work primarily with off-cuts, organs, cured meats, and things off the beaten path.
You can find backstrap recipes anywhere. If you're new here, make sure to try your hand at Venison Bacon. If you're adventurous, try some smoked kidneys or learn how to work with deer trotters.
Smoked Lamb or Venison Country Ham
Ever wondered how to make prosciutto? Or even something similar at home? It’s a great piece of pork charcuterie, but a difficult one to make well at home unless you have some serious patience. Back at Heartland restaurant in St. Paul when I worked under Chef Lenny Russo, if there was going to be prosciutto…
Smoked Venison Leg Roast
There’s not much better than a good piece of smoked meat, especially a smoked venison / deer leg roast. If you’re a long-time reader of this site you’ll know that I love charcuterie: sausages, salami, terrines and pates, as well as the cousins like whole muscle cures and brined chunks of meat like pastrami and…
Venison Fat Shmaltz
Wondering what to do with venison fat? Oh do I have a treat for you! There’s a huge misconception about venison/deer fat and it’s use in cooking. Basically, people think it tastes like chapstick, it’s gamey and horrible, too rich, or some other common unfortunate misunderstanding. If you’re here, you’re probably bambi fat-curious, so know…
Sicilian Venison Heart Sandwiches (Vastedda Palermitana)
Italian street food is truly some of the coolest out there, case in point: la Vastedda Palermitana. Also known as pani ca muesa or pane con la milza, this sandwich has a few names, all of which are probably more attractive than a descriptive English one. Why? Well, to be blunt, the Vastedda is a…
Smoked Venison Neck Pastrami
Pastrami made from venison neck was a great break from the usual pounded, stuffed roast-type recipes I typically do with my deer necks. You can slice it, you can dice it, boil it, put it on a sandwich, fry it up with eggs or stick it in your ear, it’s a great way to take…
Dry-Aging Meat and Game at Home
Got a special occasion coming up, or a holiday celebration? Hunter in your family shoot too many deer and you’re running out of space? If you like meat projects, dry-aging them is a good one to add to your repertoire. By now, most people have heard of dry-aged meat, and, if they haven’t tasted some…
Honey Mushroom Gulyas / Goulash
Honey Mushroom Goulash / Gulyas has been in the works for years over here, and I’m excited to finally share it with you. It’s without a doubt, one of the best things I’ve had with them, and, it’s pretty traditional, more or less. I know I’ll get some contentious comments about my creative liberties here,…
Venison Breast / Brisket with Mustard and Breadcrumbs
I eat a lot of meat, but I’m not much of a hunter. I know plenty about butchery and processing animals though, so when I got my first charity deer year, one of the first cuts I knew I would take out was the breast or brisket, which I’ve never, if rarely seen people mention…
Sochan with Venison Bacon, Ramps and Maple Vinegar
It’s Sochan season, and while I was reminded of it in a big way while hunting morels in a flood plain forest. There were lots of familiar plants (no morels), but most of all I was struck by the Rudbeckia laciniata / Sochan—it was everywhere I turned. The colonies seemed to go as far as…
Spring Venison Terrine with Ramp Leaves
When things are starting to pop up in the spring, my first instinct is to go out and start putting things up and preserving. If you’re like me, you probably have some other things that need to get cleaned out of the freezer too, first. Enter pates, terrines, and all the glorious charcuterie that you…
Dried Ramp Leaf Venison Jerky
I make sure to dehydrate plenty of ramp leaves when I can during the spring so I can use them in whatever I want during the year–if you have access to them, there just isn’t a reason not to. They’re mild, less aggressive than something like garlic powder, but still have enough kick to flavor…
Liver Ketchup
Liver ketchup is another piece of history I came across doing research on lamb and goat in an old Scottish book by An Comunn Gaidhealach (a seriously legit Scottish name) first published in 1907 under the title of The Feill Cookery Book. Like most of the old books I have, a lot of the recipes…