Venison

EastneyEnder said:

My lovely butchers sold me (wish I could say it was on pain of torture but
it wasn't)... about 1.5 pounds of diced stewing venison today. Not something
they often have on offer, especially not at £1.99 GPB /pound.

Especially not when one of the butchers winks at you & calls you "sexpot" or
"darlin"... all part of my daily shopping experience & I wouldn't change it
for the world, even in these PC-benighted days. Specially as they don't do
stuff in kilos thank god.

I was going to fling it (the venison!!!) in a pot and make a casserole /
daube/ whatever but thought it deserved better as it's not daily fare here
in "Olde Portsmouthe".

I'm sure you all have some ideas, but how can I winkle them out of you? 😉
*in her bestest Carry On voice* tee hee

Ok, I'm not sure if this is what your are asking but I've been playing
around with venison. So far the cottage pie, chili, stew, and steaks
have gone over well.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

I'm sure you all have some ideas, but how can I winkle them out of you? 😉
*in her bestest Carry On voice* tee hee

I can highly recommend some bay leaf, diced apple and juniper berries.
Failing the juniper berries - a couple of double gins ...

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

EastneyEnder said:

My lovely butchers sold me (wish I could say it was on pain of torture
but
it wasn't)... about 1.5 pounds of diced stewing venison today. Not
something
they often have on offer, especially not at £1.99 GPB /pound.

Given my distaste for venison, anything spicy would work. A 'chilli"?
Also heavily marinating the venison in various strong liquors can
mitigated its 'gamy' flavours.

Unless you like that sort of thing and then you want to enhance it, in
which case i suggest (after 'butchering' the meat to appropriate, bite
sized pieces) sautéing it in butter with chopped garlic and sliced
onions. When the meat is uniformly 'browned' sprinkle a bit of flour,
or other thickening agent over the venison, onions and garlic and butter
and cook the flour a couple of minutes more, a slight 'crust' will form
in the bottom of your pan, but do not worry you then pour some beer over
it and stew till the meat is done.

Immediately when you put the beer in you stir the meat and onions to let
the beer absorb any stuck on bits of browned matter on the bottom of the
pan.

If you can figure out how to do this with potatoes its even better.

And if you cant, have a go at asking me.
---
JL

Quoted message said:

Especially not when one of the butchers winks at you & calls you
"sexpot" or
"darlin"... all part of my daily shopping experience & I wouldn't
change it
for the world, even in these PC-benighted days. Specially as they
don't do
stuff in kilos thank god.

I was going to fling it (the venison!!!) in a pot and make a casserole
/
daube/ whatever but thought it deserved better as it's not daily fare
here
in "Olde Portsmouthe".

I'm sure you all have some ideas, but how can I winkle them out of
you? 😉
*in her bestest Carry On voice* tee hee

--
Sue in Portsmouth,
"Old" Hampshire,
"Old" England, UK

EastneyEnder said:

My lovely butchers sold me (wish I could say it was on pain of torture but
it wasn't)... about 1.5 pounds of diced stewing venison today. Not something
they often have on offer, especially not at £1.99 GPB /pound.

Especially not when one of the butchers winks at you & calls you "sexpot" or
"darlin"... all part of my daily shopping experience & I wouldn't change it
for the world, even in these PC-benighted days. Specially as they don't do
stuff in kilos thank god.

I was going to fling it (the venison!!!) in a pot and make a casserole /
daube/ whatever but thought it deserved better as it's not daily fare here
in "Olde Portsmouthe".

I'm sure you all have some ideas, but how can I winkle them out of you? 😉
*in her bestest Carry On voice* tee hee

In the past I've cooked venison stew in red wine plus appropriate herbs,
flavoured to taste near the end of cooking with port and/or raspberry
jam and/or blackberry vinegar. Very nice, especially if made with a good
red (none of this 'cooking' wine; if you can't drink it, don't cook with
it! The most recent muntjac seemed likely to be a bit more delicate (I
hung it myself, so had some control); Some of that ended up in a stew
starting by browning onions with homemade salt pork (flavoured with
juniper and pepper), added thyme and a bay leaf. I don't think I added
any red wine, but the end result was a rich and delicious gravy strongly
flavoured with thyme. Lovely with dumplings.

Incidentally, I've always ended up spending ages picking deer hair out
of the packed venison stewing cuts; I don't know how so much gets in
there, but it's not nice and soft and relatively un-noticeable like cat
hair :-))

regards
sarah

--
Think of it as evolution in action.

Following up to EastneyEnder

Quoted message said:

I'm sure you all have some ideas, but how can I winkle them out of you? 😉
*in her bestest Carry On voice* tee hee

Most of the things I do with venison seem to involve chocolate
and a little chilli. Parsnips are often included and sometimes
black beans. I have a regular supply of venison sausages which
seem to go well with broad beans and some root vegetables.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

"EastneyEnder" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My lovely butchers sold me (wish I could say it was on pain of torture but
it wasn't)... about 1.5 pounds of diced stewing venison today. Not

something

Quoted message said:

they often have on offer, especially not at £1.99 GPB /pound.

My butcher is an all female one! No stimulating flirtations at all.
I haven't done a lot of stewy things, but my roast leg includes red wine,
allspice, elderberry jam and garlic, with lashings of bacon, so I should
think I'd include those things in a lighthanded way.

Following up to Judith Umbria

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My lovely butchers sold me (wish I could say it was on pain of torture but
it wasn't)... about 1.5 pounds of diced stewing venison today. Not

something

Quoted message said:

they often have on offer, especially not at £1.99 GPB /pound.

My butcher is an all female one!

That would be unusual in UK, cant think of an all female butcher,
off hand, not even a part female one!.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

The Reid said:

Following up to Judith Umbria

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My lovely butchers sold me (wish I could say it was on pain of torture but
it wasn't)... about 1.5 pounds of diced stewing venison today. Not

something

Quoted message said:

they often have on offer, especially not at £1.99 GPB /pound.

My butcher is an all female one!

That would be unusual in UK, cant think of an all female butcher,
off hand, not even a part female one!.

I don't want to know how you know that, I really don't.

regards
sarah

--
Think of it as evolution in action.

"sarah" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

EastneyEnder said:

My lovely butchers sold me (wish I could say it was on pain of torture
but
it wasn't)... about 1.5 pounds of diced stewing venison today. Not
something
they often have on offer, especially not at £1.99 GPB /pound.

Especially not when one of the butchers winks at you & calls you "sexpot"
or
"darlin"... all part of my daily shopping experience & I wouldn't change
it
for the world, even in these PC-benighted days. Specially as they don't
do
stuff in kilos thank god.

I was going to fling it (the venison!!!) in a pot and make a casserole /
daube/ whatever but thought it deserved better as it's not daily fare
here
in "Olde Portsmouthe".

I'm sure you all have some ideas, but how can I winkle them out of you?
😉
*in her bestest Carry On voice* tee hee

In the past I've cooked venison stew in red wine plus appropriate herbs,
flavoured to taste near the end of cooking with port and/or raspberry
jam and/or blackberry vinegar. Very nice, especially if made with a good
red (none of this 'cooking' wine; if you can't drink it, don't cook with
it! The most recent muntjac seemed likely to be a bit more delicate (I
hung it myself, so had some control); Some of that ended up in a stew
starting by browning onions with homemade salt pork (flavoured with
juniper and pepper), added thyme and a bay leaf. I don't think I added
any red wine, but the end result was a rich and delicious gravy strongly
flavoured with thyme. Lovely with dumplings.

Incidentally, I've always ended up spending ages picking deer hair out
of the packed venison stewing cuts; I don't know how so much gets in
there, but it's not nice and soft and relatively un-noticeable like cat
hair :-))

I knew that you love cats but you eat 'em too?:-)
Graham

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 08:35:44 +0000, The Reid
<[email hidden]> posted....

Quoted message said:

Following up to EastneyEnder

Quoted message said:

I'm sure you all have some ideas, but how can I winkle them out of you? 😉
*in her bestest Carry On voice* tee hee

Most of the things I do with venison seem to involve chocolate
and a little chilli. Parsnips are often included and sometimes
black beans. I have a regular supply of venison sausages which
seem to go well with broad beans and some root vegetables.

Do tell more. I love chicken mole, and hope to get some venison next
week. Your idea starts excellently, goes downhill slightly in the
middle and improves again towards the end (I detest parsnips).

Actually, thinking about your avowed preference for savoury over sweet
(elsewhere), I'm surprised at the parsnips. It's their excessive
sweetness I don't like. I don't like sweet potatoes for the same
reason, and carrots are not very well favoured here, either.

--

Peter

I'm an alien

graham said:

"sarah" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

[-]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Incidentally, I've always ended up spending ages picking deer hair out
of the packed venison stewing cuts; I don't know how so much gets in
there, but it's not nice and soft and relatively un-noticeable like cat
hair :-))

I knew that you love cats but you eat 'em too?:-)

Only the hair. That I know of!

regards
sarah

--
Think of it as evolution in action.

Peter Ward said:

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 08:35:44 +0000, The Reid
<[email hidden]> posted....

[-]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Most of the things I do with venison seem to involve chocolate
and a little chilli. Parsnips are often included and sometimes
black beans. I have a regular supply of venison sausages which
seem to go well with broad beans and some root vegetables.

Do tell more. I love chicken mole, and hope to get some venison next
week. Your idea starts excellently, goes downhill slightly in the
middle and improves again towards the end (I detest parsnips).

Actually, thinking about your avowed preference for savoury over sweet
(elsewhere), I'm surprised at the parsnips. It's their excessive
sweetness I don't like. I don't like sweet potatoes for the same
reason, and carrots are not very well favoured here, either.

I agree about the problem of sweetness in veg, although I find parsnips
bearable: I think the parsnip flavour is sufficiently strong to mute the
sweetness. Cooked carrots are definitely too sweet, especially if
additional sugar is added. We like them provided they're raw or nearly
so -- I put them in stir-fry, and we often have strips of raw carrot as
a vegetable with any meal. Especially macaroni-and-cheese, which is
served smoking hot straight from the oven with raw carrot and raw celery
sticks to be dipped into the cheesiest bits and eaten while waiting for
the dish to cool :-)

regards
sarah

--
Think of it as evolution in action.

The Reid said:

Most of the things I do with venison seem to involve chocolate
and a little chilli. Parsnips are often included and sometimes
black beans. I have a regular supply of venison sausages which
seem to go well with broad beans and some root vegetables.

Now I do like the sound of parsnips & black beans. Two of my favourites and
I hadn't thought of them, although I often put a can of beans into stews...
black-eyed for preference as they keep their shape and can still be picked
up for under 50p in some ethnic shops.... sometimes cannelini or rose-coco,
never red kidney beans:- there are just many better beans out there than the
ubiquitous red kidney.

I wish canned black beans were more common here; I've only ever seen them on
sale once at a Portuguese deli in Brixton. I don't mind cooking them from
scratch myself, although even the dried ones can be hard to spot sometimes,
but canned are handy and often just as good. I love the richness of colour
that black beans add to a dish.

Not sure about the chocolate and chilli though. I have had Hare in chocolate
sauce and wasn't convinced, and I prefer things like ginger for heat, having
had my tastebuds burned out by chilli once too often. For me, chilli heat
now tends to mask more subtle flavours.

Lentils - green, brown or Puy - canned or fresh, are my fave with hearty
sausages but I will give broad beans a go sometime. Thanks.
--
Sue in Portsmouth,
"Old" Hampshire,
"Old" England, UK

"EastneyEnder" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The Reid said:

Most of the things I do with venison seem to involve chocolate
and a little chilli. Parsnips are often included and sometimes
black beans. I have a regular supply of venison sausages which
seem to go well with broad beans and some root vegetables.

Now I do like the sound of parsnips & black beans. Two of my favourites
and
I hadn't thought of them, although I often put a can of beans into
stews...
black-eyed for preference as they keep their shape and can still be picked
up for under 50p in some ethnic shops.... sometimes cannelini or
rose-coco,
never red kidney beans:- there are just many better beans out there than
the
ubiquitous red kidney.

I wish canned black beans were more common here; I've only ever seen them
on
sale once at a Portuguese deli in Brixton. I don't mind cooking them from
scratch myself, although even the dried ones can be hard to spot
sometimes,
but canned are handy and often just as good. I love the richness of colour
that black beans add to a dish.

Not sure about the chocolate and chilli though. I have had Hare in
chocolate
sauce and wasn't convinced,

Rent the Mexican movie: "Like water for chocolate". It'll put a whole new
spin on your cooking:-)
Graham

Following up to sarah

Quoted message said:

I agree about the problem of sweetness in veg, although I find parsnips
bearable: I think the parsnip flavour is sufficiently strong to mute the
sweetness. Cooked carrots are definitely too sweet, especially if
additional sugar is added.

Why would anybody add sugar to carrots?

I have to ask the reverse question of you two. If you both like
desserts, how come you don't like sweet veg?
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

Following up to graham

Quoted message said:

Rent the Mexican movie: "Like water for chocolate". It'll put a whole new
spin on your cooking:-)

If you liked the film read the book too, if I understood the film
correctly, a different ending.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

Following up to EastneyEnder

Quoted message said:

Not sure about the chocolate and chilli though. I have had Hare in chocolate
sauce and wasn't convinced, and I prefer things like ginger for heat, having
had my tastebuds burned out by chilli once too often. For me, chilli heat
now tends to mask more subtle flavours.

subtlety is the thing. Think Italian use of chilli, not Indian. I
don't use a mass of chocolate either, its just in the background.

Not that I don't like a blazing curry now and again.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

In message <[email hidden]>, The Reid
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Following up to sarah

Quoted message said:

I agree about the problem of sweetness in veg, although I find parsnips
bearable: I think the parsnip flavour is sufficiently strong to mute the
sweetness. Cooked carrots are definitely too sweet, especially if
additional sugar is added.

Why would anybody add sugar to carrots?

To caramelize them. No-one here likes that, so I don't bother.

--
June Hughes

The Reid said:

Following up to sarah

Quoted message said:

I agree about the problem of sweetness in veg, although I find parsnips
bearable: I think the parsnip flavour is sufficiently strong to mute the
sweetness. Cooked carrots are definitely too sweet, especially if
additional sugar is added.

Why would anybody add sugar to carrots?

I have to ask the reverse question of you two. If you both like
desserts, how come you don't like sweet veg?

I like some sweet veg, but it's got to be something with flavour to
over-ride the sweetness. Cooked carrots are vaguely carroty, vaguely
sweet. Adding sugar makes it worse. Yuck. Put them in a carrot cake if
you want to eat sweet carrots. Parsnips taste more of parsnip than
sweet, so that's alright. Sweet potatoes are close to too bland, but I
like the flavour so that's alright -- and I don't add extra sugar.
Sweet-and-sour red cabbage is lovely; definitely sweet, but with vinegar
and spices. Same for venison in a vaguely sweet sauce. Sweetcorn is
sweet, but I like it with lots of salty butter for contrast.

regards
sarah

--
Think of it as evolution in action.