Yummmmm
Depending on where you live it is, or is nearly, hunting season. It’s man season!! Given that, I thought I would give you all a couple of excellent venison recipes (if you don’t have access to venison, beef would do nicely). The first is from a website called Deer Farms and it is the best venison recipe I have ever had.
Ingredients:
~ 1 – 1 1/2 lbs Venison Scallops (these are more commonly known as the loin) cut about 1 inch cubes (the recipe says to pound them to 1/4 thick. I don’t do that as I just don’t see the point)
~ salt and pepper
~ flour (I know! But I think these would be fine without it. It gives the meat a nice crust and thickens the sauce. The flavors would be much the same with out it, but the consistency would be much different)
~3 tbls butter
~ 1 tbls olive oil
~ 2 tbls finely chopped shallots
~ 1/2 dry white wine
~ 1/2 cup heavy cream (You may want to add more wine and cream as the sauce is delicious. It’s worth it to have extra)
~ Few drops of lemon juice
Directions:
Season the scallops with salt and pepper. Dip them in flour and shake off the excess. In a 10 inch skillet, melt the butter and oil over moderate heat. Brown the scallops on each side and then remove to a dish (A big mistake I aways make is to crowd the scallops in the pan. Don’t be afraid to cook them in separate batches if you need to. If you crowd them, they won’t brown as nicely). Pour off most of the oil, except for a thin film. Stir in the shallots and cooks for one minute, or less. Pour in the wine and bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Boil for two or three minutes until the wine has reduced by half. Reduce the heat, add the cream and simmer, stirring constantly, for three to five minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Taste and season with a few drops of lemon juice, salt and pepper. Return the scallops to the pan, basting with the sauce, and cook just long enough to heat the scallops through.
This pairs incredibly well with the roesti I posted in Man Food. Use the potatoes to sop up the extra gravy that you made. It is wonderful!
One of our other favorite venison recipes is to just make a big batch of chili. I love this Betty Crocker recipe as it is both easy and flavorful. I love chili but I have never had chili as good as it is with ground venison. It has the most amazing flavor. I told Maritus that if he gets more than one deer this year that I would like to take all the meat from one (minus the loins) and grind the whole thing just so we can make a boatload of chili. It really is that good.
To all the Great White hunters reading, may your mornings be cold, the barometer rising, and your skies gray. Good luck this year!
Mnmmm. My dad bagged an elk this year. Going home for xmas and stoked for eating it. He’s even offered to send me back to Chicago with some
Damn I love venison, but don’t hunt. That sounds delish!
Elk meat is good. My dad goes every couple of years. I prefer white tail to it as far as flavor goes, but elk is a ton of really good meat. This recipes calls for scallops, but I’ve used all different cuts of meat to make it. It’s too good to make only when we have the loins available.
Average Married Dad,
It really is a great dish. Beef or veal would be really good with it as well.
Nice.
I don’t think I’ve had white tail…. I grew up in Colorado, so majority of the deer hunting is mule dear or elk. I think we had antelope once? I couldn’t tell you how it tasted though
Leap,
Regarding chicken wing dip, I just consulted the back of my bottle of Franks RedHot and it’s 1/2 cup of Frank’s mixed with 1/3 butter. Toss it on the wings and your golden. I’ve never tried it, but really, you don’t need more than that.
Perfect timing Stingray. I’m about to go out to Target for some errands, I’ll grab some while there.
My husband is also a hunter. I’ll be trying your recipe because it sounds delicious. We usually make chili or venison smoked sausage.
hunting……
uh, YEAH. when? let’s go. i’ll grab muh gear.
My go to method for venison is to make stew. Stick it in the pressure cooker with some beef broth (real bone broth is essential here), 40 minutes later you have perfectly tender meat, no matter what went in. Take the meat out, reduce the liquid to a glaze. Insane meatiness.
Works well with beef too but the liquid typically has to be defatted or it just gets too rich in the reduction.
I love it when my man literally puts meat on the table. It never ceases to be sexy.
Phedre,
I have been wanting to try venison in a pressure cooker for a while now, but I don’t own one. That sounds so amazing. Guess what I asked for for Christmas? ;)
Seriously, it is the best kitchen tool ever. Perfect stew in 40 minutes, properly gelatinous bone broth in 2.5 h instead of 10. Beans in 12 minutes. AND, you don’t have to brown the meat before putting it in because the temperature gets high enough to cause Maillard reaction, so you get the flavour of browned meat automatically.
they are warning hunters about immediate field dressing and transport to refridgeration here due to temps in the high 50s and low 60s.
Yes. This is important. Thank you, Laura, for your comment and welcome!