Monday, November 2, 2020

Rosie Makes A Venison Stew.

 Today, the Hawthornes are having venison stew.  With slices of toasted and buttered cornbread to soak up the goodness.

 

Youngest Hawthorne is always coming home with something good to eat.  Sometimes it's shrimp.  Sometimes mahi mahi.  Sometimes tuna. Sometimes grouper.  Sometimes flounder.   Oh... and did I mention alligator? Anyhoos, he recently came home with a deer shoulder.  I forgot to shoot a picture of it, so here's one I snagged off a google search:

 ←Deer shoulder.

 ←Not Rosie's picture.

←Purloined picture.

 

 

Youngest Hawthorne
trimmed the silverskin off,
deboned it,
and chopped the meat.
 We ended up with about 4 pounds of meat.  I marinated the cubes overnight in a mixture of:
8 cloves smashed garlic
1/2 cup Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup brown sugar
 

   

  The next day, I drained the marinade, saving it, and chopped up some vegetables for the stew.

I have about 2 cups each chopped celery, carrots, and onion.










I'm going to sear the meat in hot oil before making the stew
but first I lightly dusted it in a mixture of:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 TB oregano
1 TB thyme

You can skip this step if you like and just go ahead and sear the naked meat,
but I like the crust it gives in addition to its thickening powers.

Heat a film of oil over medium high heat and sear the lightly dusted cubes in the hot oil.  Brown on all sides.  Don't try to sear all the meat at one time.  Just use about a cup or so of the cubes at a time.
Remove from pot.  Add in the next batch of meat to brown.

After browning all the cubes, deglaze the pot with beef stock, scraping up all the goody bits.  That's where all the flavor is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I was using both a skillet and a stock pot to sear the meat since I had so much.  This is the marinade going in to deglaze.

 

 Return the seared cubes to the stock pot and add in beef stock and the leftover marinade to cover.  I used 3 32-oz. boxes of beef stock.  You can use more stock if you like.  Depends on how thick or thin you want your stew and how much you want.

 

In addition to the onion, carrot, and celery, I'm using 3 potatoes, diced.

Deglazing liquid and those goodie bits go into the stock pot with the meat cubes.

Add in beef stock.
Potatoes in.

Carrots in.

Celery in.




Onions in.







Now, turn the heat to low, cover, and let it go at a bare simmer for about 3 hours.  Until the meat is tender.  Taste test and season with salt and pepper if needed.


















I had a batch of cornbread which I sliced, buttered, and toasted
which I served along side the stew.

Good for dunkin'!














 












If you like, you can make a cornmeal topping for the stew and bake it.
Fill an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with the cooked venison stew and ladle the cornmeal topping over top, smoothing it out evenly.

 Cornbread Topping:
Heat oven to 375°.

Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl:
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 TB flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp baking powder

Whisk together wet ingredients in smaller bowl:
1 egg
2 TB cream
1/4 skim milk
1 TB vegetable oil

(Instead of the cream and skim, you could use whole milk or buttermilk.  I never have whole milk on hand but I always have cream and skim, so I usually use some combination of the two.)

Add wet ingredients to dry, combining well.
Pour over top of venison stew.
Bake in a 375° oven for about 50 minutes, until cornbread is puffy, golden brown, and cooked through.


Enjoy!


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