Smile win you say dat pardna

MY FAVORITE RECIPES:

Burger or Breakfast Sausage Patties: Fine grind 8 pounds of venison and 1 - 2 pounds of pork butt. Add 1 pound of pork to the 8 pounds of ground venison for burgers or add 2 pounds of pork if you want a "sausage" taste. Then, combine these with the following seasonings.

Soy sauce - 3 tblsp

Worcestershire sauce - 2 tsp

Black Pepper, fresh ground - 3 tsp

Salt - 4 tsp

Sugar - 4 tsp

Ginger - 2 tsp

Paprika - 2 tsp

Sage - 1 tsp

Mix the meat and ingredients well and store in the refrigerator overnight. Mold patties and freeze until use. Yum!

Bambi in a Blanket: This is a great finger-food and it's easy. Cut venison into small chunks (stew meat size, I like to have the chunks of venison about an inch and a half long and three quarter inches wide) and then wrap a short strip of bacon (about 1/3 to 1/2 the normal packaged length) around each one. Place the wrapped peices on a broiling pan (so that excess fat from the bacon can drain away) and bake in the oven at 350 F for one hour. This makes a nice snack for any occasion.

Pan Fry: Preheat your favorite skillet so that a drop of water spatters off instantly. Cover the bottom of the skillet with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle in about half a teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Cut a good cut of venison cross-grain to form medallions about three eighths inch thick. Place these in the skillet and sear on both sides for about one minute each side. Don't over cook. Drain the medallions on a plate with paper towels and serve. Great as finger-food or part of an entree.

Rack of Venison: NEW

Butchering the rack:

Remove tenderloins from the inside (along vertebral column, i.e., the backbone). Do not remove the backstrap, that's the meat you want in the rack. Using a bone saw or a reciprocating saw, cut about half the outer length of the ribs away. Cut across the vertebral column at the top and bottom of the rib cage. Place the rib cage on a solid cutting surface with the inside of the cage facing up. Take a good sharp, heavy cleaver and cut (break) through the base of the ribs next to the backbone. Use a sharp boning knife to cut the backstrap away from the backbone. Also remove any excess fat (tallow) and silver skin. Cut the racks to length (about 4-5 ribs each). Rinse with water to be sure that all bone chips are removed (nothing worse than a broken tooth). Freeze the racks or prepare as follows.

Marinating the Rack:

Spread two tablespoons of olive oil with two sliced cloves of garlic on the bottom of a dish or large bowl.
Liberally salt and pepper both sides of the rack.
Place the rack in the dish.
Place two more cloves of sliced garlic and four branches of rosemary over the top of the rack.
Pour three to four more tablespoons of olive oil over the rack.
Cover and marinate for two hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator.

Cooking the Rack:

In a hot oven proof (metal handled) frying pan place two tablespoons of olive oil. Sear both sides of the rack until the meat surface is a nice brown. Place the pan in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes depending on the size of the rack.

The Sauce:

Pour off any extra grease from the pan and place over high heat.
Add half a cup of red wine and cook down by half.
Add more rosemary and two branches from the marinade.
Add half to one cup of chicken stock (or more preferably, venison stock) and reduce again by half.
Re-season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste and strain.

 

Venison Summer Sausage: Buy the venison summer sausage spice mix from The Sausage Maker (1500 Clinton St., Buffalo, NY. 716-876-9583). Their spice mix is excellent. They are also a good source of casings of all types. Fibrous casings are great if you smoke the sausage yourself and they also have mahogany colored fibrous casing if you use liquid smoke instead.

Grind 8 pounds of venison and 2 pounds of pork butt with the 3/16th grinding plate and mix. Dissolve 1 level teaspoon of Instacure #1 (sodium nitrite, a curing agent) and 1-2 teaspoons of liquid smoke (unless you plan to actually smoke the sausage in a smoker oven) in 1 cup of water. Add this to the meat and mix. Add 8 ounces of the venison spice mix plus an extra 2 teaspoons of ground black pepper. Thoroughly mix the ingredients in a large bowl. You are now ready to stuff your casings. The Sausage Maker also sells a nice line of stuffers. Once you have the casings firmly stuffed, place your sausage in an oven at 160-170 until the sausage reaches an internal temperature of at least 152 F. Use a good meat thermometer to ensure this temperature is reached. Undercooking can lead to food poisoning. Also, if you overcook the sausage, some fat will render out and be trapped between the casing and the meat. This will not harm the sausage but it does detract from the appearance and taste. Once you have reached 152 F (just to be sure, I let it go until 155 F), immediately immerse or spray the sausages with cold water for about 10 minutes. Let them hang at room temperature to continue cooling and then refrigerate for 1 day before eating. This allows the sausage to "bloom." The sausage can be wrapped and frozen for storage.

Hint: For a nice mustard, mix 3 tablespoons of mustard powder with 2 ounces of beer. Use this along with a nice extra sharp cheddar cheese to enhance the flavor of the sausage.

Corned Venison: If you like corned beef, wait till you taste this. You can use any cut of meat but this is especially good for making the less tender cuts deliciously tender. Combine the following ingredients in a large bowl:

2 quarts of spring or distilled water

One half cup of canning or pickling salt

One half cup of tenderizing salt (e.g., Mortens)

3 tblsp sugar

2 tblsp mixed pickling spices (most grocery stores stock this).

2 bay leaves

8 whole black peppercorns

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

Dissolve the ingredients in a bowl and bring to a boil for 2 minutes, then cool. Submerse the meat and marinate for 7 - 10 days in the refrigerator (larger cuts of meat take longer to corn; you might want to inject the brine mix into the center area of the meat with a meat pump or syringe). Drain off the corning solution and wash with fresh water. Cover the meat with water and boil for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat and simmer for 4 hours. Serve hot or cold with your favorite garnishings. It doesn't get any better than this.

Canned Venison: This is the most convenient way to store meat and to prepare stew or a-la-king meat. It is also ridiculously easy. Cut the venison into cubes about one inch cubed. Pack the cubes into caning jars to about one half inch from the top. Add one tablespoon of salt (omit this if you are on a salt-free diet) to the top of the packed meat and place the lids on loosely. Do NOT tighten the lids yet. Place into a pressure cooker and cook for one hour under pressure. After one hour, turn off the heat and cool slowly. When the cooker has come to atmospheric pressure, remove the top and gently tighten the jar lids and let the jars cool gradually. Check to ensure that the jar lids have sealed . Any jars without sealed lids should be used right away or stored in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Venison Jerky: A great snack while out in the woods. Cut well trimmed cuts of venison with the grain about 1/8 th to 1/4 inch thick. Marinate for 2 days in a mixture of the following ingredients:

1 cup of soy sauce

1 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 bottle liquid smoke (4 oz)

2 tblsp Tobasco sauce (optional - if you like heat)

2 tsp onion powder

2/3 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp black pepper

Drain marinade with a colander and dry the strips in a dehydrator. You can also dry them on cookie sheets in an oven set on the lowest heat setting (150 F or less).

Easy to Chew Venison Jerky: NEW - This has become my favorite jerky. It is tender, it is easier to make and does not require premium meat; burger meat is fine. Try this:

2 - 2.5 lb fine ground venison

1 tblsp of salt

1 tsp. each of pepper and onion powder

3/4 tsp. of curing agent in 1/4 cup of water (Instacure #1 or Morten's curing or tenderizing salt)

1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce.

Knead the ingredients into the meat thoroughly. Line a 9 inch square cake pan with a generous amount of clear plastic wrap (e.g., Saran wrap) and pack the meat into it firmly to prevent air pockets. Fold the plastic wrap over the top of the meat so that it is completely enclosed. Place this into the refrigerator overnight and then place it into the freezer. When ready, place the meat back into the refrigerator again for 3-5 hours so that it begins to warm up but not thaw. You may now remove the meat from the cake pan, remove the plastic wrap, and use a meat slicer to cut the meat into 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick slices. Then dry these the same way as the regular jerky, i.e., in a dehydrator or the oven at below 150 F. You can eat this stuff even if you wear dentures!