Nov 19th, 2024

Author: donich_admin

Venison

As will be apparent from other posts, I am a big fan of both natural (i.e not ultra-processed) and locally produced/seasonal food.

I’m trying to wean myself off things we can’t grow in UK, or more exactly, I am trying to buy the things we can grow in this country in the proper season when they are grown, rather than, for example, buying green beans imported from Brazil in the middle of winter.  Things like bananas, coffee and chocolate do not grow over here naturally and can’t be induced to without producing hugely unnatural for them, and I am certainly not giving them up, but in general I have been trying to get local stuff.

Specifically then, R and I have been eating a lot of venison as I have been trying to have as much protein as I can for bone healing after my operation.  It is a locally produced wild meat and the deer have to be culled to preserve the Scottish landscape.  It is also very lean and healthy.

The only trouble with venison is that until recently I didn’t think I liked it.  It has a bit of a “gamey” taste which takes a bit of getting used to, plus compared to beef it tends to be a bit tough.  I’ve overcome this two ways.

a)  For steaks, marinading it for 8 hours or so makes a huge difference to its taste and texture.

b) Braising venison works really well in the slow cooker, and using this method you can either keep the gamey taste with a traditional hunter’s pot, or mask it with chili or other spices.  For example, I have made a “Moroccan style” venison tagine and (today) a Jamaican style pepper pot.  Both were great – the meat was very tender and you wouldn’t have known it from beef.

So the next time we see one of these gentlemen in our garden he had better watch out or he will end up in the freezer before you can say “fruit tree”.  The picture is of a stag in our garden two years ago, and yes, he did destroy several fruit trees.