Healthful, toothsome venison the perfect substitute for beef

Someone was joking with me the other day about eating roadkill for dinner. They hit a deer and found some useful parts left. Where we live, the only predators deer have are earnest and patient bowhunters – and cars. Still, most of the deer meat in our freezer has been given to us by generous friends, though there was one night a few years ago when neighbors hit a deer, which was badly injured and had to be shot. We cut it up and divided the meat, and all of us shared a meal cooked from it.

Mainers share a hunting tradition with some other regions of the country. That tradition puts wild venison such as deer steaks and moose burger on our tables. Venison is low in fat and cholesterol compared to domesticated meat such as beef and pork, and if given enough time, can be cooked to be very tender and toothsome. Ground venison is good for chili and meat sauce for pasta, where its low fat content doesn’t pose a toughness problem. It is good marinated, grilled rare and thinly sliced.

The best part is that it is largely free. I suppose once the hunter amortizes the hunting equipment, takes into account the license fee, and totals whatever it costs to have the animal professionally butchered, if he doesn’t do it himself, deer meat costs something, but some hunters I know manage to bag more than they can use and are looking for homes for stray packages of steaks, or roasts, or burger. I greet it with open freezer doors.

One of my favorite things to do with venison is to make a stroganoff. I use a basic beef stroganoff recipe and substitute venison. I have used several different cuts with good results. It can be a pot roast, stewing meat or even steaks. I like onions, so I add a lot more of them than the original recipe calls for. Ditto for mushrooms. I prefer fresh mushrooms to canned, and a more flavorful sort such as portabella. This household’s granola orientation also means we are as likely to serve it over whole wheat or spinach noodles as over regular noodles.

Like many dishes of this sort, it is better the second day, so cook it up and use it for dinner another time. Boiled turnip is good with this dish, as is sauteed chard or spinach.

Looking for…

Many thanks for the watermelon pickle recipes. I bought one watermelon, but the rind was too thin to pickle. I will hold onto the recipes and see if I can find a nice thick rind on a watermelon next summer.

The apple dumpling recipe reminded Virginia Tozier of Enfield of something her husband’s grandmother Ethel used to make. Virginia wrote, “I know your apple dumplings must be good, but really, if you’re using pie crust, it’s just a funny-looking apple pie.” She recalled that Ethel used to make them with a “rich biscuit crust” that she rolled quite thin and that “acted almost like cloth.”

Now I have seen that term, “rich biscuit crust,” here and there in various historic sources, and I would love to have a recipe for it to share with you all. We could make a nice baked roly-poly pudding out of it with apples in it or even just some nice jam. Anyone?

Venison Stroganoff

Serves 8 over noodles

2 tablespoons olive oil

11/2-13/4 pounds venison, cut into strips

1 large onion, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

10-12 ounces mushrooms, sliced

1 cup beef broth or water

1/2 cup white wine

1 cup sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a heavy pot – a Dutch oven is ideal – over a high heat and quickly brown the venison. Remove it and reserve, then put the onions in the pot, reduce the heat to medium high and cook them until they are soft. Remove the onion and reserve it. Melt the butter in the pot and add the mushrooms. As soon as they are soft, put the meat and onions back into the pot, and add the broth and wine. Simmer over a low heat for an hour, add the sour cream, taste, and add salt and pepper as needed.