Game: considered by many as a delicacy probably because of it's relative rarity and often difficulty in acquiring. Just a month ago, my dad had half-jokingly asked if I'd be interested in cooking venison if he ordered some online. This past weekend, I was getting reacclimated with the grim disparity between man and nature when we passed more than 4 deer carcasses on the highway just between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the West Virginia border. My brother even caught a snapshot of a beautiful male deer coasting the highway atop a SUV...probably the result of roadkill or game hunt. In any case, I never imagined I'd be asked how to cook venison, let alone having the actual meat in my hands!
On New Year's eve, a family friend gave us a small sliver of leg meat (shank??) that another friend had given to them. How it was obtained, how fresh, and through how many hands it passed (and slivers it lost on the way) I will never know. All I know was that I was pretty excited. Intuition screamed braising, especially when we confirmed that it was a lower grade cut with lots of muscle. The next question was Eastern or Western flavour; and with my recent braised lamb escapade, we conceded with Western.
I was again reminded of the beauty of cooking at home: I literally had everything I needed (or its equivalent) without needing to head to the store. My mom had habitually marinated the meat with bourbon, garlic, soy sauce (and maybe a couple other things) overnight. Luckily, that marinate could work with my idea. With the same theory in mind, I first browned the meat. I then browned onions and scraped off the brown meat bits (deglaze) with apple cider, chicken broth, water, and a little brandy. To all that, I added carrots, potatoes, radish, orange-flavoured dried cranberries, a little fresh ginger, black pepper, and sage. I wish I had bay leaves, but the only suitable replacement on hand was the sage. I left it in the oven covered for ~2.5 hours at 350°F (177°C). By then, the meat was tender but the flavour hadn't fully permeated the meat. Ideally, it should have been ~4-5 hours, but it was lunch time and the smell was driving our stomachs mad.
Overall, the venison tasted nice--very similar to pork actually. The flavour came out well, although bay leaves would have given greater body than the sage. I might have added a little too much apple cider and too little brandy. Plus, it would have been better to use either ground ginger or removable ginger slices to eliminate the occasional potent spiciness. Regardless, it turned out well for a first attempt. The next will be Eastern, unless, of course, we get a really nice tender section that solicits a faster technique. 
Thursday, January 3. 2008
New Year's Day Surprise
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It was fun trying to capture that photo while driving.
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Owenator
on
2008-12-23 22:08
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