Venison Stew Recipe

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Prep Time30

Cook Time1 30

Total Time2

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
3 pounds 11 ounces venison meat silver skin and tendons removed and cut up into 2 inch cubes. 2 large white onions, chopped
5 slices of bacon chopped up into pieces (there is little to no fat on venison so you need the bacon)
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 cup of crimini mushrooms sliced
1 cup white button mushrooms substitute Portobello, porcini or some other wild mushroom if available
2 cups red wine - I used a Syrah
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 /2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 dried bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1- tablespoon arrowroot or 2-¼ teaspoons cornstarch - to thicken ragout sauce if necessary (optional)

Instructions

Heat a frying pan or Dutch oven large enough to hold all the venison meat over medium high heat. When the pan is hot enough to sizzle water, add the butter and oil and then the venison. Sauté until the meat is well browned, being sure to stir occasionally so the meat doesn't burn. This should take about 5 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions, garlic, bacon and all the mushrooms. Cook for about 10 minutes again being sure to stir frequently. Mushrooms throw off a lot of liquid so when the vegetables begin to brown and all the liquids have evaporated; you are ready to transfer the meat and veggies to a large bowl.
If there is an accumulation of fat left in the pan, get rid of it. (I didn't find much fat at this point). Deglaze the pan with the red wine and use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up any brown bits (fond) from the bottom of the pan.
Add the meat and vegetables back to the pan. Add the sage, paprika, fresh thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil over high heat. Immediately reduce the heat to a low, cover and simmer for about an hour or until the venison is fully cooked and tender.
Before serving, remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaf from the pan. I didn't find the need to add a starch to thicken the ragout (liquids) but if you do, just whisk together the arrowroot or cornstarch with ¼ cup of red wine to prepare a thickener. Add it to the pan and simmer until the ragout thickens to your likening.
Taste and season with salt and pepper. We served it over noodles but you could serve it on rice or potatoes.
For those of you who have never enjoyed venison, be prepared for a surprise. It doesn't taste like beef, lamb or pork. It has a flavor entirely its own. It is a bit sweet and can taste kind of "mineraly."
This particular venison wasn't gamey at all and was very tasty. Having said that, if there is no way that you are going to eat venison ("I'm not eating Bambi!"), this recipe works just as well with beef stew meat. If you're at all on the fence about eating deer meat, though, I encourage you to seek out some wild or farm-raised venison and try this recipe. I think you will really enjoy it. My family certainly did.

Notes

I followed the directions exactly to this point and when I tasted a piece of the venison, I found the meat to be tough. My instincts told me to add a little beef stock and continue cooking for a while longer so the meat would break down and become more tender but I still wanted to know what had happened.

Lucky for me I have Chef Walter's phone number, so I just gave him a call. Not very often do I have the opportunity to call a chef and ask him how to make a recipe work, so I took full advantage! Walter was so cool about my contacting him and was more than happy to explain what went wrong and how to correct it.

Walter asked me if the meat was frozen and, if so, how did I defrost it. I explained it was frozen in a zip lock bag which turns out not to be the best way to freeze any meat. Bruce should have used his Food Saver.
Walter explained a home freezer can work like a dehumidifier and dry out whatever you are freezing. He suggested next time I should add the meat to a marinade of red wine and soft herbs like fresh rosemary or thyme while it is defrosting in the refrigerator overnight to "help bring moisture back to the meat."

But since I didn't know that, he agreed with me to add a little stock and let it cook 30 or more minutes until it broke down further and became nice and tender. I followed his directions and just like he said, the meat became tender and was delicious.