Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I almost didn't get a picture of this



Venison in Sauce
Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook Copyright 2008

3-4 pound venison roast I used chops
½ cup vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. salt
Cold water
Oil
Large onion, sliced
Half a green pepper, sliced
2 ribs celery
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½-2 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ cup ketchup
1 cup tomato juice I used 6 oz

1. Combine vinegar, garlic cloves and 2 Tbsp. salt. Pour over venison. Add water until meat is covered. Marinate 6-8 hours.
2. Cut meat into pieces. Brown in oil in skillet. Place in slow cooker.
3. Mix remaining ingredients together; then pour into cooker. Stir in meat.
4. Cover. Cook on Low 8-10 hours.
5. Using two forks, pull them meat apart and then stir it through the sauce.
6. Serve on sandwich rolls, or over rice or pasta.
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I was so out of blogging mode that when I made this recipe I was halfway through my plate before I realized that I didn't get a picture. I took a picture of the leftovers. I was surprised there were any leftovers. This may have been the best venison recipe I've made. I really liked the celery flavor in this. It wasn't just good for a venison recipe, it was just plain good. You could use beef or pork in this recipe too of course.

I wasn't all that thrilled with my first Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook so I wasn't sure why I bought this version but I'm so glad I did. I think I'm 3-for-3 with this cookbook so far (Harvest Kielbasa, Machaca Beef and now this.) I think a bit more thought went into this book.

Question of the Day: Do you eat venison? I know I'm not the only one. I'm curious just how many of my readers have a hunter in the family or buy venison (my husband's best friend's in-laws own a venison farm and sell the meat locally but it's expensive.)

10 comments:

Annie Jones said...

We haven't had venison for about 3 years now. :( My husband is an unsuccessful hunter, but we know a man who owns a Christmas tree farm and has a license to take down deer any time of the year. The license limits how much meat he can eat, so he keeps a list of interested families who can come and field dress the deer when he shoots them. We need to get back on that list. The deer are usually fairly young, thus very mild in flavor. My husband processes them himself and is meticulous about it, further adding to the mild flavor.

I love venison in fajitas. They're the best I've ever had!

Anonymous said...

I have eaten venison, reluctantly. My fiance is an avid hunter, but I have never found a recipe that masks the 'wild' flavor of venison. I can't wait to give this one a try! He will be so proud that I actually want to cook venison! Thanks!

Jeff and Mandee said...

All the guys in my family are hunters, they go up every year. Most of the time it ends up just being "armed hiking" but the past two years my dad has gotten one. We have a venison roast in the freezer, I will have to try this!

Heather said...

My husband comes from a long line of fill-the-freezer-to-feed-the-family hunters (they ate ANYTHING, and I mean anything, they killed) and we haven't had it in ages as he doesn't get the chance to hunt these days, but we would eat it!

Rebel In Ontario said...

If my DH actually "got a deer" we would eat it :-)

Sara said...

My husband hunts, as does his brother. Between them we've had deer the past couple of years, and I haven't bought beef in many, many months. I like ground venison mixed with a little beef to give it body & cut any "gamey" flavor (1 lb. beef with 3 lbs. venison) and made a great stir-fry with backstraps last week - they were actually soft and very good (for some reason they're usually a little tough, but with good flavor).

The Cookbook Junkie said...

Anonymous,

Sometimes it's easier to mask the taste than others. Some deer just don't taste that good. The soak is very important. I've found buttermilk to be good for marinating venison too.

This recipe is good because the sauce goes all through the meat.

I should have mentioned that I made this a couple of days ahead of time so the meat really had time to absorb the flavor of the sauce.

B and the boys said...

Just a random question? Do your children find it odd that you take pictures of your food? Have they caught on that you put it on the computer and remind you? My kids will now say: You should take a picture of this for the blog mommy? Just wondering.

The Cookbook Junkie said...

That's the great thing about kids - they don't know what's normal so they don't think I'm strange - yet. The older one knows I take pictures of the food but he has no idea why.

Anonymous said...

Only rarely, when someone gives us some. I like it if it doesn't have that wild taste.

Jan