Northern Hearty Venison Stew Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What cut of venison is best for stew? ›

Because stew meat is cut from muscles that do a lot of work during the deer's lifetime (like the neck & shoulder), it offers excellent flavor, but isn't suitable for fast cooking like searing, stir frying, or grilling.

Cooking Tips

As with all game, venison can become tough when overdone. Cook prime cuts like loin, haunch and saddle briefly on a high heat to medium-rare. Slow cook or casserole tougher parts like neck, shoulder and shank at a low temperature. Cover venison joints with pork fat or bacon.

"I've been making this stew for over 30 years. It can be made with either beef or venison. A friend of my daughter's really likes this stew. He even told me... "It's the best stew he's ever had!" Needless to say I was quite flattered by his compliment!"

Soaking it

Many hunters suggest soaking your game meat in vinegar. However, vinegar's acidity can often dry the meat, making it especially tough. Instead, try soaking the meat in milk or even buttermilk, which will produce better results with most wild animals, especially when dealing with backstraps.

the 'gamey' taste is usually from the tallow and silver skin. Trim off ALL of the white tallow that looks like fat and the silver skin all you want is good red meat. Next DO NOT over cook, medium rare to medium at most.

Cooks often find that the stronger flavor of wild game meat can make the meat difficult to season well. Herbs offer the perfect solution. Bay, juniper berries, rosemary, sage, savory, and sweet marjoram all pair well with venison, as well as many other wild game meats.

Large cuts of venison taste best when pot-roasted for several hours. If you have access to a crock pot, use any recipe for beef pot roast and you'll be pleasantly surprised. However, instead of cooking for two to four hours, venison may require substantially longer cooking time for the meat to become tender.

Soaking: The most common soaking liquids are buttermilk, saltwater, white milk, vinegar, lemon juice and lime juice. While some hunters swear by certain soaking methods to take the “gamey” flavor away or bleed the meat after processing, others don't find it all that helpful.

Like any meat , Deer meat to is tenderized by beating it, by marinating it with mild acids like lemon juice, sour curd, buttermilk, vinegar etc for minimum 4 hours . The fibers need to be cut across if you cut along the fibers the meat will be tough and chewy.

What does vinegar do to venison? ›

Marinades tenderize (soften muscle fibers) and enhance the flavor of venison. Marinades can add fat and calories to this lean cut of meat. Always be marinate meats in the refrigerator. Always include a high-acid liquid like lemon or tomato juice, vinegar or wine to soften the muscle fibers.

Soaking deer meat in milk or a marinade with acidic components like vinegar, wine, or citrus juice helps eliminate the gamey taste. Alternatively, brining the meat in a solution of water, salt, and sugar can also improve its flavor and tenderness.

The flour helps to thicken a stew as it cooks. Whisk a teaspoon of flour in a little cold water to make a slurry, then stir into the stew as it's cooking. Don't add dry flour directly to the stew as it may clump. After adding the slurry, bring the stew to boil.

“Bay, juniper berries, rosemary, sage, savory, and sweet marjoram all pair well with venison, as well as many other wild game meats.”

I just usually season the deer meat the same way I would season regular beef. For example, for tacos, I just throw in a little chili powder and ground cumin and cook like normal. Same with a roast – I just season with a little salt and pepper and cook like normal.

Next time you're shopping for stew beef, look at your options and see what cuts of meat will work best for your recipe. For example, chuck is a lean and tender cut of beef that works well in stew. However, if you would prefer a thicker and more flavorful stew, short ribs or oxtail may be better choices for you.

Here are some common ingredients found in a delicious venison stew: Venison: Venison is the star of the stew and provides a lean and tender meat base. It is usually cut into bite-sized pieces with the sinew removed. Aromatics: Onions, garlic, and sometimes shallots are used to create a fragrant base for the stew.

Backstraps are the large muscles that run parallel along both sides of a deer's spine and rest on top of the ribcage, whereas the tenderloins are much smaller, and are located inside the abdominal cavity underneath the backstrap and the spine.