I guess sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't

Venison Paprika
301 Venison Recipes: The Ultimate Deer Hunter's Cookbook Copyright 1992

¼ cup shortening I used canola oil
2 pounds cubed venison
1 cup onion, sliced
1 small clove garlic, minced
¾ cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon dry mustard
1 ½ cups water
dash hot pepper

water and flour to thicken

Melt shortening in large skillet. Add meat, onion and garlic. Cook and stir until meat is brown and onion is tender. Stir in ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, paprika, mustard, hot pepper and 1 ½ cups water. Cover and simmer for 2 to 2 ½ hours. Blend flour and water, stir in gradually to meat mixture. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Serve over noodles.

Some of you may recall that weeks ago I really liked the venison from the latest deer my husband killed. Well, we ate it twice more (not in new recipes) and I found myself wondering if I had been secretly hypnotized and I had finally snapped out of it - I didn't care for it again. So this time I soaked this meat in salted water first, then buttermilk and hot sauce before making this dish. I also made this the night before we ate it for dinner, since it had such a long cooking time, and I think that helped the (good) flavors develop. I actually liked this a lot. My two-year old scarfed it down too.

The deer this meat came from is now staring down at me in my living room (my husband is an aspiring taxidermist) . It's a little unsettling.

Since I wasn't sure if I would be able to eat this, instead of noodles I made Alton Brown's Stove-Top Mac n Cheese, a recipe from the Ugly Binder, to go along with this. I've made this many, many times. Randi made it recently, if you want the recipe. You can also find it on the Food TV site too. I used all the odds and ends of cheese I had building up in the refrigerator. I suggest putting the recipe together and then just adding as much cheese as you think is necessary because personally I think it calls for more than it needs (and I love cheese!).

This cookbook is a sloppy collection of venison recipes, many quite similar, maybe some exactly the same. They were sent in to deer hunter magazines and collected from other sources. Many have the same name - there are several 'Venison Paprika' recipes, as well as several 'Venison Stroganoff' recipes, for instance. It doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence since I don't get the feeling that anyone tested these recipes, but it makes up for that with the sheer volume of recipes to chose from. I've learned to look for recipes with stronger flavors (or at least some sort of tomato base) because those seem to be the recipes I like to use venison in. This recipe would also be good with beef or pork.

Question of the Day: Are you going to be cooking anything this weekend?