Making sauteed venison medallions ... tasty!!!

Well, I never intended on this being a cooking blog, but I seem to be doing a lot of cooking lately, so why not document it? Perhaps someday someone may find these little jottings useful.

Anyway, This is one of the Debster's recipes, and it's pretty darn good! I did the prep work under her supervision, and she did the actual stove work.

Start with a chunk of venison. Any cut is fine; even the tougher pieces turn out OK. Prepping the meat is really the KEY to this dish. Using a very sharp knife slice the venison into medallions about three inches around, give or take. Smaller than the palm of your hand, at any rate. If there are smaller pieces, that's not a problem. The pieces should be no thicker than about a half inch. The thinner the better, especially for tougher cuts.

Once you have them sliced, lightly spritz them with a mixture of half water and half vinegar. Don't soak them, just enough to dampen a little. Sprinkle both sides with either seasoned salt or steak seasoning; this batch we used Lowery's Seasoned Salt.

raw meat ready for the skillet

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet, and add the meat. Keep the heat relatively low. As the meat begins to brown, add a few pats of butter on top and let it melt into the meat and oil.

sauteing in progress

The meat will cook quickly, about a minute and a half on each side. Thicker slices may take a bit longer. That's it. You're done. 

Finished product. Dig in!

Serve as is as a nice meaty snack, or saute mushrooms with them, and serve over a bed of rice or noodles. The drippings are the basis for an excellent gravy!

God bless y'all!

Ron and the Debster

Venison stew ... Oh boy!!!

Okay. I know it has been a very long time since my last blog post. I'm sorry about that. Things have been more than a little strange the last few months.

Anyway, last week, a friend of ours quite unexpectedly made us a fantastic gift of about fifty pounds of venison. Wow!!!! Trust me, it could NOT have come at a better time.

So, yesterday afternoon I made a mulligan-type stew from one piece of it.

I started with piece of meat, about a half-pound or a bit more, which I cut into small pieces.

About a half-pound of cubed venison

I then took those pieces and dredged them in flour.

Venison dredged in flour

I melted some butter, couple tablespoons maybe, in the bottom of my two-quart pot. (I wasn't making a big batch, but I still should have used a bigger pot.) I then browned the pieces of meat in the butter, stirring and turning constantly until evenly browned.

Floured venison browning in butter

I took a whole onion and a large stick of celery, diced them up finely, and sauteed them in butter until nice and soft. I added them to the pot along with the meat.

I added about a quart of water, two beef bullion cubes, a large pinch of Montreal Steak Seasoning, and about a tablespoon of rendered bacon fat, brought it to a boil, and then slowed it down to a slow simmer for about forty-five minutes.

While the meat was simmering, I took a large handful of fresh green beans, and snapped them into about one inch pieces. I peeled and chopped two large carrots. I also cut up about six very small potatoes. 

Vegetables waiting to be cut up

I then added the pile of veggies to the simmered meat, added a little more water, and brought the pot back to a slow simmer. I let it cook for about another half hour.

I took about a half-cup of broth and mixed it with about a couple heaping spoons of cornstarch, then stirred this thickening agent back into the pot. After a couple of minutes it had thickened up nicely, and was ready to go!

While I was busy with this, the Debster made a pot of bow-tie pasta. The venison stew served over the pasta was absolutely wonderful. I don't know if it was absolutely the best cooking I've ever done, but it comes close, for sure!

Note to self: When oiling my blade* after using it, I must be careful. Failure to do so can result in unplanned blood, fingers held under running water while wife grabs BIG bandaids and antiseptic cream.

As someone I know likes to say, a Mora knife never gets dull. It only gets less sharp.

*The blade is made of high-carbon steel, not stainless steel, and so if it isn't kept oiled, it will rust easily. I normally wipe on a light coat of vegetable oil, or, occasionally, a bit of butter or animal fat.

Cheers! Until the next time,

Ron and the Debster, signing off!