If you are not a fan of wild meat, you can still make a tender, juicy and almost ‘not gamy’ tasting roast from a deer. Hopefully Bambi hasn’t outlived all his peers and the meat was dressed by someone in the know. We were in luck; our son in-law brought him down and the rest was done with the help of his Italian dad. When it comes to butchering, our in-law is definitely in the know. So the roast we had was first class venison. I kept it in the fridge for 4-5 days, submerged in water with a bit of wine vinegar to get the gamy taste out of it. Then I rinsed it, patted it dry, spiked it with bacon, rubbed olive oil and herbs into it and in a fresh bowl doused it with red wine. Bambi’s remains were set in the fridge tenderizing for a couple of more days before we had him. Venison is dry, but don’t be tempted to keep on the fat. Early on I discovered that is what gives dear meat the gamy taste. Be sure to trim away all the fat and all the silver skin as you can manage.
Deer and moose meat benefits from bacon. It has been a long time since I had the opportunity to do up a large moose roast. Jim and his social worker colleagues once got a bull moose north of Prince George and we ended up with 250 pounds of a moose meat. Moose are huge beasts and an adult male can weigh up to 1500 pounds. Suffice to say we had meat for the year. I used to serve it to company and everyone thought they were eating roast beef. I would poke the meat with a sharp pairing knife all over and push chunks of bacon into the holes. The same can be done with deer meat even though it will not be mistaken for beef. Of course this was a rather small venison and rather than spiking it I opted for covering it with sliced bacon.
The other thing is don’t salt venison as you would salt a steak. This may seem like a contradiction, because indeed soaking it in a salt brine works rather well. Definitely avoid sprinkling salt over the meat before it goes into the oven or the fry pan. Venison is already lean and dries out quickly. You don’t want to turn it into shoe leather. Salt only in brine before cooking or afterwards at the table.
Deer and moose meat benefits from bacon. It has been a long time since I had the opportunity to do up a large moose roast. Jim and his social worker colleagues once got a bull moose north of Prince George and we ended up with 250 pounds of a moose meat. Moose are huge beasts and an adult male can weigh up to 1500 pounds. Suffice to say we had meat for the year. I used to serve it to company and everyone thought they were eating roast beef. I would poke the meat with a sharp pairing knife all over and push chunks of bacon into the holes. The same can be done with deer meat even though it will not be mistaken for beef. Of course this was a rather small venison and rather than spiking it I opted for covering it with sliced bacon.
The other thing is don’t salt venison as you would salt a steak. This may seem like a contradiction, because indeed soaking it in a salt brine works rather well. Definitely avoid sprinkling salt over the meat before it goes into the oven or the fry pan. Venison is already lean and dries out quickly. You don’t want to turn it into shoe leather. Salt only in brine before cooking or afterwards at the table.
VENISON
1/4 cup vinegarwater to submerge roast
2-1/2 lbs deer roast
1 cup red vine
2 Tbsp olive oil
sprinkling of rosemary, sage, savoury and sweet marjoram
1 cups red vine
1 large onion, sliced
1 carrot
1 parsnip
segment of rutabaga
a bit of broccoli
3 bay leaves
4 thick slices of bacon
• In a deep bowl submerge venison with vinegar water and place in the fridge for 4 days.
• Rinse meat and pat dry with paper towel.
• Rub olive oil onto the meat and roll it into a mixture of herbs.
• Place in a clean bowl and pour 1 cup of red vine on it.
• Wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days.
• Preheat the oven to 325F.
• Line the baking dish with sliced onions.
• Discard the marinade and place the venison on the sliced onions.
• Surround venison with chopped vegetables.
• Cover the top with slices of bacon.
• Add 1 cup of red vine to the baking dish and cover.
• Place covered dish in the oven and roast for 1-1/2 hours or until tender.
