venison-msg - 1/15/08 Medieval and modern recipes for venison. NOTE: See also the files: meat-smoked-msg, organ-meats-msg, roast-meats-msg, sausages-msg, stews-bruets-msg, hunting-msg, butchering-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ Date: Wed, 08 Oct 1997 16:16:56 -0400 From: Aine of Wyvernwood <sybella at gte.net> Subject: Re: SC - Small Feasts <snip> Later as an adult, each yr for about 12 yrs, I had this running party at new yrs...many told that they came for my venison pot roast. As I lived in the High Country of Colorado where mule deer abound, sorta like rats on a wharf... much of my diet was game. I sear the venison on both sides, then roll in flour to make a light coating then sear again to sorta cook and bronw the flour...oh, before I drop the venison in the bit of hot olive oil, I added some crushed garlic about 2-3 cloves worth.... then the meat. Ater all that I add water to cover, then diced celery, onions salt peper and a couple of bay leaves, and simmer on very low for ages until the meat is fork tender. I serve it sliced with gravy over rice. the gravy can be thickened one of two ways....with cornstarch or roux. to make a roux you take a dry clean cast iron skillet on about medium heat.... add about 2 cups of flour...dry.... use a spatula or pancake turner to keep the flour moving, the object is to brown the flour to a medium brown evenly without burning. I only use a about 2 tablespoons to make the gravy, the rest can be saved in an airtight container in the fridge for later use.... I add a bit of oil and drop into the broth....the oil melts and keeps the flour from making lumpy gravy. I use this same recipe with a pork roast as well...but, since my kids think that garlic [which I love] is in the same category as poison...I only use a tiny bit... aine Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:09:35 -0500 From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com> Subject: SC - Fw: recipe for venison from one of my friends over in Steirbach...(actually the new Baroness as of 2 weeks from tomorrow) - -----Original Message----- Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 3:01 PM Subject: recipe for venison >Venison with Almonds > >6 servings > >1/2 c Crushed pineapple 2 c Cooked, cubed Elk or Deer >2 tb Margarine or butter 1/2 c Sliced celery >1 1/2 tb Cornstarch 1/2 c Slivered toasted almonds >1/2 c Pineapple juice 1 ts Salt >2 c Meat stock > > Brown pineapple in the margarine or butter for 5 minutes. Mix > cornstarch with pineapple juice. Add mixture and meat stock to the > browned pineapple. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until > thickened. Boil 2 minutes, then add meat, celery, almonds and salt. > Allow to heat through and serve with rice or chow mein noodles. Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:09:53 -0500 From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com> Subject: SC - Fw: more venison from one of my friends over in Steirbach...(actually the new Baroness as of 2 weeks from tomorrow) - -----Original Message----- Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 3:03 PM Subject: more venison >Roast Venison > >6 servings > > 4 lb Venison roast; 1 lg Onion (sliced) > -elk,moose,or deer) 1 cn Tomatoes (14 oz can) > 2 tb Flour MARINADE > 2 Cloves garlic (minced) 1/2 c Vinegar > 2 tb Brown sugar 2 Cloves garlic (minced) > 1 ts Prepared mustard 2 tb Salt > 1 tb Worcestershire sauce Cold water to cover meat > 1/4 c Vinegar or lemon juice > > Marinade the venison over night in the refrigerator. Season with > salt, roll in flour and brown in hot skillet. Place in crock-pot > cooker and add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low 10 to 12 > hours. MARINADE: Mix ingredients together in a bowl just large enough > to cover venison with water. No need to stir this marinade. Use for > "red" meats (including rabbits) or game birds. Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:10:11 -0500 From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com> Subject: SC - Fw: roast venison from one of my friends over in Steirbach...(actually the new Baroness as of 2 weeks from tomorrow) - -----Original Message----- Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 3:05 PM Subject: roast venison >Roast Leg of Venison, Unmarinated > > 10 servings > >10 Larding strips 1 1/2 - 2" 1 tb Powdered thyme >(about 1/4-1/2 lb salt pork) 3 tb Flour >6 lb Leg of venison Salt & pepper to taste >2 Cloves garlic, sliced thin 2 1/4 c Stock or beef broth >1/4 lb Butter, softened > >1. Lard the venison with the salt pork, adding the garlic slices after the > salt pork has been inserted. > >2. Rub all surfaces of the leg with soft butter and dust with the powdered >thyme. > >3. Put roast in uncovered roasting pan, add 1/2 cup liquid, and roast at 325F >for about two hours. Venison should be srved rare, but not bloody, so figure >about 16 minutes per pound. > >4. Turn off oven, open the door, and wave it open several times to reduce heat. >Place the roast in a metal pan and keep hot--don not roast anymore. > >5. In the roasting pan, combine flour and drippings, stirring in the stock. >Heat pan on stovetop and cook on high heat, stirring constantly, until gravy is >thickened to proper consistency. Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:10:31 -0500 From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com> Subject: SC - Fw: deer steaks from one of my friends over in Steirbach...(actually the new Baroness as of 2 weeks from tomorrow) - -----Original Message----- Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 3:06 PM Subject: deer steaks >Onion Buttered Deer Steak > >1 servings > >Butter sauce: > > 1/2 c Butter 1/2 ts Dry mustard > 1/4 c Minced onion 1/2 ts Freshly ground pepper > 2 ts Worcestershire or soy sauce > > In small saucepan, combine ingredients. Heat together until butter > melts. Broil 3 to 4 inches from heat for 10 to 12 minutes each side > for rare, 14 to 16 minutes for medium, brushing with butter mixture. Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:10:49 -0500 From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com> Subject: SC - Fw: easy venison roast from one of my friends over in Steirbach...(actually the new Baroness as of 2 weeks from tomorrow) - -----Original Message----- Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 3:09 PM Subject: easy venison roast >Easy Venison Roast >4 servings > >3 lb Chunk of venison roast >2 tb Liquid smoke >2 c Onion - 2 inch dice >3 tb (or more) Worchestershire > >3 tb (or more) Soy Sauce >2 c Potato - 2 inch dice >1 c Carrots - 2 inch dice >1 c mushrooms sliced >1/2 c Beef broth > Put a LARGE oven cooking bag in an oblong baking pan (so > that the bag fits inside the pan). To the bag, add the venison. Add > all liquids, then veggies around the meat. Put the 'shrooms on top of > everything else, then the spices on top of them. You want to have > about 1 inch of liquid in the bottom of the bag, so if you need more, > add a little water (or white wine!- white wine is very nice.) > > Seal bag. Poke several small holes in top of bag to let steam escape. > Bake at 300-325 for 3-1/2 hours. (If you chop the veggies big, they > won't overcook). Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 14:40:03 -0400 From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow) Subject: Re: SC - Subing???? >By chance does someone have a period recipe for Deer Stew/Roast <snip> From "Take a Thousand Eggs or More", v2 p. 464: Harleian MS. 4016, c. 1450 6 Venyson in broth. Take rybbes of venyson, and wassh hem faire in Water, And streyn the Water thorgh a Streynour into a faire potte, and cast [th]e Venyson thereto, parcely, Sauge, powder of peper, cloue[3], Maces, Vinegre, salt, And late hem boile til [th]ei be ynow, & serue it forth. 6 Venison in broth. Take ribs of venison, and wash them fair in Water, And strain the Water through a Strainer into a fair pot, and cast the Venison thereto, parsley, Sage, powder of pepper, cloves, Maces, Vinegar, salt, And let them boil till they are enough, & serve it forth. Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu renfrow at skylands.net Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing Recipes" Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 20:32:21 -0600 From: pndarvis at execpc.com Subject: Re: SC - Subing???? >Loose the dead goat, and no the juniper berries are for flavor[they help >cover a gamey taste if the deer has one] and you got a good recipe[though you >might try throwing in some red currents as well as the pine nuts if you like] >margali Actually I found that if you have a bit of venison you are worried about being gamey, we (meaning Kateryn and I) found a Middle Eastern recipe that is completely period that uses vegetable broth that has a strong onion base and rosemary for broiling the venison first. You then add the braised or broiled chunks with whole beans like large green beans and stewed tomatos, plus some more of the broth. we found simmering the venison with the broth mix added better flavor because of the meat juices being mixed in. It got rave reviews, but since I'm the vegetarian I only tasted the broth. Elisabeth the Terrible shari burnham Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 10:14:40 -0500 From: Haynes <"an1197 at arrownet.com" at mail.arrownet.com> Subject: Re: SC - venison Micaylah wrote: > And there may also be venison farms, <snip> There is an Deer Farming Organization that takes their venison seriously: try this URL: http://www.nadefa.org/ There are links to venison producers. Bill Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 09:18:13 -0700 From: Susan Fox-Davis <selene at earthlink.net> Subject: Re: SC - venison Here in the Barony of Angels, we get New Zealand farm venison from better butchers. Available in haunches, chops, chopped for stew and ground. One of my best 'improve' dishes has been 'Bambi Bourgignon,' a simple stew of venison, cheap red wine, onions and torn-up rye bread, those being what I had on hand for thickening. CHEAP jug wine is preferred over good drinkable stuff, its acid and tannin content having a tenderizing effect. > > >It used to be that raising deer, boar, bear, et al for the table was illegal in the USA. Why, I have no idea, as we have such a large and wonderful fish farm program for re-stocking lakes, streams, etc. Almost every state has something like that. >>> I don't know why either. Our local deer, the small mule deer, is said to be not particularly good eating. Selene Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 01:47:04 EST From: Mordonna22 at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Venison wulf at hilconet.com writes: > I have an odd request..I need some good medieval recipes for roasts > of venison. I am not picky about the method of cooking. Not Period, but I do have three ideas: Cover roast in bacon or suet, salt, pepper, parsley, and thyme. Wrap in aluminum foil. Roast over a slow fire. Cut into steaks (1/2 to 3/4 inch thick), hack meat with the open end of a coca cola bottle or the weapon of your choice until tenderized and about half as thick. Soak overnight in buttermilk. Add salt and pepper. Dredge in plain flour. Fry in hot oil or lard. Cut into small chunks and grind with an equal amount of beef suet. Add seasonings of your choice. Make patties and grill over an oak or hickory fire. Mordonna DuBois Kingdom of Atenveldt Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 03:17:44 EST From: korrin.daardain at juno.com (Korrin S DaArdain) Subject: Re: SC - Venison On Sun, 15 Nov 1998 19:48:15 +0000 wulf at hilconet.com writes: > I have an odd request..I need some good medieval recipes for >roasts of venison. I am not picky about the method of cooking...it can be on >spit, or in a conventional oven, but I am getting desperate for some >variety. This years hunting season is REALLY testing my knowledge of >game cooking (not that it was very large to begin with lol) and I >would really appreciate the assistance. > >Lady Elsbeth >Touen These are the only ones that I have that are medieval. Korrin S. DaArdain Kitchen Steward of Household Port Karr Kingdom of An Tir in the Society for Creative Anachronism. Korrin.DaArdain at Juno.com, (www.geocities.com/NapaValley/Vineyard/1709) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Broiled Venison The Medieval Cookbook by Maggie Black Chapter 7, "Courtly and Christmas Feasting" posted by Tiffany Hall-Graham The syde of a dere of hie grece. Wesch hem, do hem on a broch. Scotch hem ovyrtwarte & ayenne crosswyse in the maner of losyngys in the flesch syde. Rost hym; take redde wyn, poudyr of gynger, poudyr of pepyr & salt, and bast hit till hit be thorow. Have a chargeour undyrneth & kepe the fallyng, and bast hit therwith ayene. Then take hit of & smyte hit as thu lyst & serve hit forth. 6 x 1-cm/ 1/2-inch-thick slices venison fillet or haunch Bacon fat or lard for rubbing Pepper sauce for veal or venison to serve Basting Sauce: 350 ml/12 fl oz/1 1/2 cups red wine 3 tablespoons oil 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger 1/8 teaspoon Salt and 1/8 teaspoon Black pepper Venison fillet was the most prized cut. It might be scored in lozenge shapes with a knife point or parboiled and larded with salt pork before being spit-roasted whole. Modern farmed venison, however, seems to be tenderized better by being marinated. Combine all the basting sauce ingredients and soak the venison slices in the sauce for at least 2-3 hours; elderly meat will need longer. Pour off the sauce into a jug when you are ready to cook. Put the meat on a board and pat it dry, then nick the edges of the slices and rub them all over with the fat. Thread the slices on skewers or lay them on a greased grill grid. Heat the grill to medium-high and grill the meat like steak until medium-rare or well done, as you wish. (For well-done meat, reduce the temperature after searing both sides and cook slowly.) Baste the meat with the reserved basting sauce while cooking and turn it once using a fish slice; do not prod it with a fork. When done, transfer the slices to a warmed serving platter, and serve at once, with the hot Pepper Sauce in a sauce boat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stekys of Venson or Bef (Cinnamon Beef) From Halreian MS 279. Posted by Rudd Rayfield (RuddR at aol.com) Take venyson or Bef, & leche & gredyl it vp broun; (th)en take Vynegre & a litel verious, & a lytil Wyne, & putte pouder perpir (th)er-on y-now, and pouder Gyngere; & atte (th)e dressoure straw on pouder Canelle y-now, (th)at (th)e stekys be al y-helid (th)er-wyth, & but a litel Sawce; & (th)an serue it forth. (I substitute apple juice and cider vinegar for verjuice.) 2 pounds lean venison, beef, veal, or pork steaks 1 T wine vinegar 1 T cider vinegar 3 T unsweetened apple juice 1/4 C dry wine 1/4 tsp each black pepper and powdered ginger Cinnamon to taste Trim the steaks and cut them into thin strips about three inches long. Cook the meat through in a heavy frying pan, over medium heat, or in a broiler, or on a griddle or grill. In a bowl, combine the two kinds of vinegar, apple juice, wine, pepper and ginger. Place the meat on a serving dish, pour the sauce over it, and sprinkle it with cinnamon before serving. Serves four to six. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 15:54:51 -0600 From: "Diana Skaggs"<upsxdls at okway.okstate.edu> Subject: SC - Venison recipe OOP If the venison came from a young buck or doe, I've chunked or ground it and made "Deer Stroganof" 1# venison stew meat Flour, salt & pepper 1 Tbsp vegetable oil 1 bay leaf 1 large onion, chopped 4 oz can mushroom ends & pieces 2 cups beef stock 1/4 cup dry red wine 8 oz carton of sour cream Cooked rice or noodles Make a dredge of flour, salt & pepper. Heat the oil over medium heat. Dredge the venison in the flour mixture and fry in batches until just browned. In the same pan, cook the onion until translucent. Return meat to the pan, add a couple of tablespoons of the dredge to the pan and stir until browned. Add beef stock and red wine. Stir and cook until it begins to thicken and meat is cooked through. Remove the bay leaf. Add mushroom ends & pieces then sour cream. Heat, but don't boil. Serve over noodles or rice. Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 00:24:47 EST From: geneviamoas at juno.com Subject: Re: SC - Venison - OOP cookbook While it does not have Period recipes as such I have a cookbook entitled _The Complete Venison Cookbook_ by Harold W. Webster, Jr. ISBN 0-937552-70-4 (c)1996 Quail Ridge Press. It is over 400 pgs of recipes for Venison in all its incarnations and the good stuff that goes with it. Here is their recipe for (pg 107) Herbed Venison Round Roast in a Salt Crust. 1/3 cup olive oil 1/4 cup grated onion 1 tsp. garlic salt 1 tsp dried basil leaves 1/2 tsp. dried marjoram leaves 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves 1/4 tsp. black pepper 1 (2 1/2 to 3 lb.) venison round roast 1 (3 lb.) box Morton Coarse Kosher Salt 1 1/4 cups water Combine olive oil, onion, garlic salt, basil leaves,marjoram leaves, thyme leaves, and black pepper in a heavy 1-gallon plastic bag and mix well. Add venison roast and marinate in a refridgerate overnight. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil. Combine salt and water to make a thick paste. Pat 1 cup salt paste into a 1/2" thick rectangle in the bottom of the pan. Pat roast dry and insert a meat thermometer. Place roast on the salt layer; pack the remaining salt paste around the meat to well. Bake at 275 degrees until meat thermometer reads 140 degrees: 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Steam may cause the salt crust to crack slightly during the roasting. Remove the roast from the oven; let stand for 10 minutes. Remove and discard the calt crust. Serves 8 - 10. Loads of yummy looking recipes and no hunters... Heavy sigh.. Genevia Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 06:45:06 -0600 From: vjarmstrong at aristotle.net (Valoise Armstrong) Subject: Re: SC - Venison Lady Elsbeth wrote: > I have an odd request..I need some good medieval recipes for roasts >of venison. I am not picky about the method of cooking...it can be on >spit, or in a conventional oven, but I am getting desperate for some >variety. Not an odd request at all. Here are a couple of venison recipes from Sabina Welserin. You might also think about mincemeat pies. One of my first SCA cooking experiences was making mincemeat pies from scratch. IIRC (this was 15 years ago and my memory isn't what it used to be) the recipe called for moose or some such beast but, those being nonexistent in central Texas, we substituted beef. Best mincemeat I ever ate. I know I've seen recipes for game pies in German sources. I don't have time to look them up now, but if you like, I can do it this evening. Here are Sabina Welser's venison recipes: 7 To make a sauce in which to put a haunch of venison Lard it well and roast it and make a good sauce for it. Take Reinfal and stir cherry syrup into it, and fry Lebkuchen in fat and chop good sweet apples, almonds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, ginger, currants, pepper and raisins and let it all cook together. When you want to serve it, then pour the sauce over it. It is also for marinating a boar's head. Then cook it in two parts water and one third vinegar. The head of a pig is also made in this manner. 167 To make venison sausage Take the liver and the lungs from a red deer, also good roast meat and deer fat, bacon, spices, saffron, ginger and mace as well, chop it all together and cook the sausage in a suitable broth. Valoise Subject: venison Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 11:33:36 -0600 From: "Diana Skaggs"<upsxdls at okway.okstate.edu> To: <stefan at texas.net> Stefan, my husband hunts deer every year, with varying luck. We found out years ago that the butcher shops can not or will not process deer meat the way we like it. So, we cut and wrap our own. In the stroganof recipe, I use approx 1 pound of ground or chunked venison for 4 servings. A couple of deer cooking hints (if you don't already know). Cooking bones along with meat will make the resulting dish more gamey tasting. I have had better luck with thinly sliced venison cooked quickly. Of course, the age of the deer and what they've eaten also affects the flavor. Marinating the venison in milk or salt water will help remove some of the "wild" flavor. At 3 Kings, I made a venison stew that everyone loved. OOP, but easier than peeling vegetables all day! Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 22:07:13 EST From: LrdRas at aol.com Subject: SC - Elk recipe-OOP Deborah.Schumacher at iac.honeywell.com writes: << I had been hoping That the esteemed Ras would come forward with suggestions on the preparation of Elk , but I guess I was wrong. Zoe Valonin the spice trader ( does this make me a medieval spice girl???) >> Tsk! Tsk! Oh, ye of little faith! :-) This recipe was intended originally for venison but the only time I ever had elk given to me I used this recipe and it was WONDERFUL!!!!!:-) Enjoy. Marinated Elk Roast 5 lb elk roast 2 cups Dry red wine 4 ozs Olive oil 2 Bay leaves 4 cloves garlic, chopped 2 tsps Dry mustard 1 tsp Rosemary, crumbled 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Black pepper, coarsely ground 4 slices Bacon 3 T Flour 4 ozs Red currant jelly Place the roast in a deep bowl. Combine the wine, oil, bay leaves, garlic, mustard, rosemary, salt and papper, and pour over the elk. Cover with foil and refrigerate two days, turning the meat several times. Preheat oven to 435 deg F. Drain the elk and reserve the marinade. Place the meat on a rack in a shallow pan and cover with the bacon strips. Roast for 30 mins., basting several times with the reserved marinade, then reduce the heat to 350 deg F and continue to roast for another 40-60 mins. until interior temperature reaches 130 deg F (rare), 140 deg F (medium) or higher (well- done). Put the roast on a serving platter and keep warm. Set the roasting pan on a burner, add the flour to the pan drippings, and cook until it is browned. Strain the remaining marinade and stir into the pan, cooking until smooth and thickened. Add the currant jelly; cook only until the jelly is melted and blended with the sauce. Carve at the table the way you would a roast of lamb, with the gravy in a sauceboat. - The Fanny Farmer Cookbook (New Edition) Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 15:45:46 EST From: Aldyth at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Need venison advice! I have never had good luck with the taste of the broth when I used venison bones, so by and large I toss them after I butcher. I do roast the ribs though, if I have not stripped them down for jerky. Be careful giving the bones to your dogs, though. Venision is higher in protein then they may be used to, and it can have some nasty consequences to clean up, so to speak. Make sure you remove all visible fat before you package and freeze, or you can get the same gamey taste. Aldyth Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 20:38:09 -0500 From: "Alderton, Philippa" <phlip at morganco.net> Subject: Re: SC - Need venison advice! Definitely save those bones and use them for broth! The gamy taste which so many people object to actually comes from the fat, and while I like it, it is definitely an acquired taste. If you're not used to it, don't make a stock without roasting the bones first- roasting helps render more of the fat away, so the flavor in that direction isn't as strong, and you'll get more of the browned flavor. If you want to cook venison, remember it's a very lean meat, so you'll have to add extra fat- pork is the most common. Larding or barding help a lot with roasts- a ham hock or some fat back or bacon with soups and stews, and if you grind some up for burger, add some mayonaisse to your burgers or meatloaf- just add your normal ingredients, and the mayo to bring it up to the normal texture you'd want for beef burgers or loaves. Woodsy smelling spices are my favorites- I love adding juniper berries, sage, pepper, rosemary, and like that, though as usual, garlic and hot pepper always find a place..... Phlip Philippa Farrour Caer Frig Southeastern Ohio Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 21:46:07 EST From: LrdRas at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Need venison advice! JGedney at dictaphone.com writes: << (I hope you saved some of the innards... Venison heart, sliced thin, peppered, breaded, lightly fried in oil and then braised in red wine... yummm) >> The tongue is also good boiled and then sliced and served with blackberry jelly sauce or currant sauce. The testicles are also good eating if boiled, skinned and diced then served with a cameline sauce or as an ingredient in spaghetti sauce. Ras Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 08:08:04 EST From: WOLFMOMSCA at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Need venison advice! Take all the bones and leavings and put them in a covered roasting pan with enough apple cider & scotch to cover. Roast them at 250 degrees for a long, long time. Eventually, you'll end up with some really great juice. You can then use this juice to marinade beef. We did this at a feast once, and we fooled everyone. Even the seasoned hunters/venison gourmets thought they were eating roasted venison, when in actuality it was just roast beef, soaked in venison juice. Super stuff. Wolfmother Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 22:27:08 EST From: LrdRas at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Need venison advice! The best advice I know of to give to cooks regarding the preparation of venison is to NOT cook it to death. Cook it just EXACTLY as you would cook the corresponding beef cut. The longer you cook it the stronger it tastes. If you cook it like beef it is a wonderful food and LOW in cholesterol for those who really think such statistics have any real meaning. Ras Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 17:52:50 -0500 From: "B. M. Crumb" <kerelsen at ptd.net> Subject: Re: SC - Meat for 250 Steven Cowley wrote: > > Well its off to the races for me. Time for our baronial birthday feast > and revel. It also happens to be the investiture for a new baron and > baroness. You know the type...King and Queen, all of the baronial > cousins, etc. > > Historically, this has been a potluck event...no worries, just come, eat > and enjoy. And, oh by the way bring a period dish that feeds eight > people. Result, a potluck feast with quasi period food at best and fun > was had by all ;-) > > Well the new baron wanted a semi prepared feast (i.e. the barony > provides the meat and the populace brings potluck side dishes). "I > signed up for this? What was I thinking of?" Well, cooking that much > meat for that many people isn't a problem, a little bit of beef, poultry > for those who don't eat red meat and wahlah...dinner is served. > Everything will be cooked on site, the feast coordinator deals with the > cleanup and I am left with a dozen dutch ovens to clean (no small task > in and of itself, but no one touches my dutch ovens). > > Now for the dilemma. The new baron secured about 35 lbs. of venison (a > donation from a brother-in-law) and all of a sudden its a three meat > affair, venison, beef and peacock. Now, I have eaten venison a time or > two, but I have never cooked it. Is venison one of those meats that is > better if cooked on the rare side like beef or the well done side like > pork? Hmm...I guess I could chop it up, throw it all together in a pot > and make a stew <wicked smile>. > > But seriously, any suggestions would be a big help. > > Steffan of the Close Being that venison is a game meat, you should avoid rare due to the possibility of parasites. We usually do our steaks and roasts to medium... a bit of pink in the center is fine as long as you don't have "bloody" juices. Because the meat is so lean, "well done" is too dry. If by chance they've given you the tenderloin (it's a pair of muscles about 8-10 inches long and about an inch and a half to two inches in diameter, found on either side of the backbone behind the kidneys when you butcher deer), slice it into scallops and panfry with butter and a bit of garlic and black pepper... This is the absolutely most tender cut of venison in existence. :) If you are going to roast it, be sure to wrap the roasts in fatty bacon because otherwise the meat will be too dry. I'm not sure if it's a period method, but I've found that braising the meat, and cooking the liquid down to almost nothing, gets you very tender, moist meat plus a great deglaze to make a sauce. I usually put the meat on a warm platter and pour in a cup of apple cider (I'm told wine works well too but I don't do alcohol), dissolve the pan drippings, bring to a boil, and thicken with seived breadcrumbs and finely ground almonds. Season to taste with salt and pepper. The latter is not taken from any specific period source. I did the sauce based on some of the saucemaking techniques I've seen mentioned on this list. So it's more "peri-iod" rather than period. Bernadette Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 16:47:30 -0500 From: "Alderton, Philippa" <phlip at morganco.net> Subject: SC - Apicius Venison Sauce Recipes I just typed this in for a friend, and I thought some of you who don't have Apicius yet might like a copy. Flowers and Rosenbaum , Book VIII, section II 1. Ius in Cervum- Sauce for Venison Crush pepper, lovage, caraway, origan, celery-seed, asafoetida root, fennel-seed; pound well, pour on liquamen, wine, passum, a little oil. When it comes to the boil thicken with cornflour. Moisten the cooked stag inside and out, and serve. 2. In Platoneum- For Fallow Deer and for every kind of venison you can use the same sauce. 3. Aliter- Venison, Another Method Boil the stag, and roast lightly. Pound pepper, lovage, caraway, celery-seed; add honey, vinegar, liquamen, and oil. When hot thicken with cornflour and pour over the meat. 4. Ius in Cervo- Sauce for Venison. Pepper, lovage, Welsh onion, origan, pine-kernals, Jerico dates, honey, liquamen, mustard, vinegar, oil. 5. Cervinae Conditura- Sauce for Venison Pepper, cumin, herbs, parsley, onion, rue, honey, liquamen, mint, passum, caroenum, and a little oil. Thicken with cornflour when boiling. 6. Iura Ferventia in Cervo- Hot Sauce for Venison Pepper, lovage, parsley, cumin, toasted pine kernals or almonds. Add honey, vinegar, wine, a little oil, liquamen, and stir. 7. Embamma in Cervinum Assam- Sauce for Roast Venison Pepper, spikenard, bay-leaf, celery seed, dried onion, fresh rue, honey, vinegar, Liquamen: add Jerico dates, raisins, and oil. 8. Aliter in Cervum Assum Iura Ferventia- Hot Sauce for Roast Venison, Another Method Pepper, lovage, parsley, soaked <dried> damsons, wine, honey, vinegar, liquamen, a little oil. Stir with a bunch of leek and savory. Phlip Philippa Farrour Caer Frig Southeastern Ohio Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 14:01:45 +1000 From: Lorix <lorix at trump.net.au> Subject: Re: Subject: Re: SC - How do you know a dish was well liked or hated? <snip> Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin . From handwritten manuscript, Augsburg, 1553. ed.. by Hugo Stopp, trans. by Ulrike Giessmann. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitvtsverlag, 1980. http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html Wild game marinated in peppersauce (4) Boil fresh game in two parts water and one part wine, and when it is done, then cut it into pieces and lay it in a peppersauce. Let it simmer a while therein. Make [the sauce] so: Take rye bread, cut off the hard crust and cut the bread into pieces, as thick as a finger and as long as the loaf of bread is. Brown it over the fire, until it begins to blacken on both sides. Put it right away into cold water. Do not allow it to remain long therein. After that put it into a kettle, pour into it the broth in which the game was boiled, strain it through a cloth, finely chop onions and bacon, let it cook together, do not put too little in the peppersauce, season it well, let it simmer and put vinegar into it, then you have a good peppersauce. To make a sauce in which to put a haunch of venison (7) Lard it well and roast it and make a good sauce for it. Take Reinfal and stir cherry syrup into it, and fry Lebkuchen in fat and chop good sweet apples, almonds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, ginger, currants, pepper and raisins and let it all cook together. When you want to serve it, then pour the sauce over it. It is also for marinating a boar's head. Then cook it in two parts water and one third vinegar. The head of a pig is also made in this manner. How to cook a wild boar's head, also how to prepare a sauce for it (5) A wild boar's head should be boiled well in water and, when it is done, laid on a grate and basted with wine, then it will be thought to have been cooked in wine. Afterwards make a black or yellow sauce with it. First, when you would make a black sauce, you should heat up a little fat and brown a small spoonful of wheat flour in the fat and after that put good wine into it and good cherry syrup, so that it becomes black, and sugar, ginger, pepper, cloves and cinnamon, grapes, raisins and finely chopped almonds. And taste it, however it seems good to you, make it so. Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 18:21:06 -0400 From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net> Subject: Re: SC - Venison recipe request Actually there's a recipe in To the King's Taste...yeah I know, a lot of you don't like the book, but this is a good recipe...for Roo Broth: Take the lire of the deer other of the roo; parboile it on smale peces. Seeth it wel, half in water, and half in wyne. Take brede and bray it with the self broth, and drawe blode thereto and lat it seeth togedre with powdor-fort of gynger, other of cannel and macys, with a grete porcionn of vynegar, with raysons of courannte. Their redaction is: 3 Tbsp. bacon fat 1 medium onion, minced 2 # venison, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes 1/4 cup flour\ 1 1/2 cups boiling water or beef stock 1 1/2 cups red wine 2 tsp. finely minced fresh ginger or 1 tsp. powdered ginger 1 tbsp. (or more) vinegar 1/2 cup currants salt 1/2 cup bread crumbs (optional) fresh deer blood if available 1. Melt bacon fat in a large saucepan 2. Saute onion in fat until transparent 3. Dredge venison cubes in flour 4. Brown cubes in skillet, combining them with onions 5. Combine water or stock, wine, ginger, vinegar, currants and salt to taste. Stir to blend. 6. Pour liquid over meat. 7. Cover and simmer about 2 1/2 hours or until meat is tender. 8. Add bread crumbs to thicken, if desired. 9. If blood is available, remove pot from flame a few minutes before adding it, as it should not boil. The blood will thicken and flavor the sauce as well as darken the color. You could either use their redaction or do your own...your choice! Kiri Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 12:23:37 EDT From: ChannonM at aol.com Subject: SC - Platina- Venison in Pepper Sauce- KINDA LONG I've been a busy little beaver and was hoping to share with you all my recent recipe development. I am working with Platina, the Milham version and have below the original and a potential redaction. I just began the marinade that will sit till tomorrow, in anticipation I present to you the following; Hauviette Venison with pepper sauce Pepper sauce- (P)Make pepper sauce with whatever wild meat you want this way; put in a large bowl as much dry dark wine as water and wash the meat very well in it, then strain the liquid and add as much salt as the situation demands. Put the same liquid in a copper kettle on a fire. When the meat is cooked, take it out and divide it in dishes. Toast bits of bread on a grill. When they are toasted, let soften in vinegar. When they have soaked up enough vinegar, break them up well with a pound of raisins. The blood of the animal itself may be suitably added to it, or its ground up liver, if this can be done. Then mix this with its own juice and add a little condesed grape or condensed must with the vinegar in which you had soaked the bread. Afterwards pass all this together through a sieve. Put in a pot and sprinkle with pepper, cloves, and cinnamon as you want; boil in evenly for half an hour over the coals, stirring rather often with a beater or spoon. Finally, serve the meat, fried in lard and divided into dishes with the seasoned pepper sauce to your guests. It nourishes much and usefully, it nurtures the stomach , and it fattens the body; however, it harms bilious people and makes stone, more or less according to the composition of the ingredients themselves. - -------- As for this recipe, I haven't worked it out completely but here's my first sketch of how it will go Venison roast, fat removed cut into chunks deep red wine* Marinate roast in 1.5 cups wine, 1.5 cups water overnight Partially cook the venison in the marinade by simmering 10 minutes. Remove and set aside meat. Then, combine marinade with the following ingredients that have been blended in a food processor: 1 tsp salt 2/3 cup bread crumbs soaked in 1/2 cup red wine vinegar. 1 pound yellow Thompson raisins 1/2 cup boiled down must (boiled down 2/3 from original volume) Strain the sauce and add pepper (1/2 tsp), cloves (1/4 tsp), and cinnamon (1/2tsp) Cook over med heat for 20-30 minutes. Fry venison in bacon fat Serve meat with sauce. Wine used; 1996 Masi Campoforiorin Ripasso 13% alcohol Verona grape varieties, particulary Corvina, using the techniques of appassimento (semi drying of the grapes) and refermentation (submerged cap method- holding down the skins so that more air can get to the wine and the yeast in the skins can better react with the wine). Rich, full bodied, round and velvety,and has an aging potential of 10 to 15 years. This wine is a step down from the wine I had hoped to use, namely an Amarone, which is even fuller and more velvety, but at $25 bottle it was out of my price range for cooking. I thought about it, but when I realized that I may need two bottles, (I am cooking for 30 people as a gift), I made up my mind to use the Campoforiorin Ripasso The origin of this wine can be traced back to Roman passum (possibly an etymological origin for Repasso?) through a description of the method used to creat the wine by Columella. He gives two elaborate recipes for the preparation of passum (found in Flower and Rosenbaum' Apicius) _Mago gives the following directions how to make the best passum, and I have made it myself like this. Gather early grapes when they are fully ripe, removing muldy or damaged berries. Fix in the ground gorks or stakes 4 feet apart to support reeds and join them together with poles. Then place the reeds on top and spread your grapes in the sun, covering them a night so they do not get wet from the dew. Then, when the have dried, pick the berries off the stalks and put them in a cask or wine-jar and poor the best possible must over them so that the berries are completely covered. When sturated put them on the sixth day in a wicker basket and presss them in the wine press and extract the passum. Next tread the grape-skins, having added freshest must which you have made from other grapes that were lseft to dry in the sun for three days. Mix together and put the whole mash through the wine-press , and this passum of the second pressing put immediately in vessels which you seal so that it does not become too rough. Then, after 20 or 30 days, when it has ceased fermenting, strain it into other vessels, seal their lids with gypsum immediately, and cover with skins. If you wish to make passum from the 'bee' grapes gather the whole grapes, clear away damged berries , and throw them out. Then hang them up on poles. See to it that the poles are always in the sun. As soon as the berries are sufficiently shrivelled pick them off and put them without stalks in a vessel and tread them well with your feet. When you have made none layer of them sprinkle old wine on and tread another layer of grapes over it and sprinkle this also with wine. Do the same with a third layer and after having added wine, leave for five days. Then tread with your feet and press the grapes in a wicker basket. Some people prepare old rain-water for this boiling it down to a third of its volume , and then when they have made raisinns in the manner described above, they take the boiled-down rain-water instead of wine, doing everything else in a manner where there is plenty of wood, and in use it is even sweeter than the passum described above." Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 12:19:12 -0400 From: "Gaylin J. Walli" <gwalli at ptc.com> Subject: Re: SC - Platina- Venison in Pepper Sauce- KINDA LONG Hauviette wrote in part for her venison redaction: >Partially cook the venison in the marinade by simmering 10 minutes. and also >Fry venison in bacon fat I would consider carefully watching these cooking times. Venison cooks VERY fast. Overcooking will detract from your dish. Not having personally *boiled* the venison ahead of time, I can say that frying it will cook it soundly from a bloody raw steak in less than 4 minutes. Much longer than that and you have a tough cut or bambi has been out in the swamps sucking on frogs. :) I have tried recipes similar to this in the past and I've found that the initial cooking in the marinade was enough to cook the meat completely. I needed less than half of the 10 minutes and the frying lasted for a matter of seconds. It could have been the size of the chunks of meat in my case, but it all cooked VERY fast. jasmine Iasmin de Cordoba Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 16:50:47 EDT From: ChannonM at aol.com Subject: SC - Review; Venison in Pepper Sauce I won't repost the recipe but will say these things; 1. Cooking time way too long (like Iasmine says), next time I will follow the recipe (remember the mantra- "put your trust in the recipe, it will not lead you astray") and not marinade. Will cook only for a few minutes. 2. The cut of meat may have been wrong for this process. I had venison labelled "chops", which may have just been wrong for this recipe. Someone has kindly offered me some venison roast, which I will be tryiing out next. 3. The cubes of meat were too small. I had cut them 1" by 1". I will cut them to 3X3 next time. Seems like all the flavour was leached out by the boiling. 4. Use proper juice for sappa. Since I had not obtained the Valpolicella must, I was (oh, cooking gods, please forgive me) forced to use (at gunpoint, I swear) Welch's Concord Grape. It was too sugary, not enough flavour to it 5. This recipe was too sweet. Since Platina denotes the amount of raisins to use, I have to decrease the amount of sappa. This will need to be re-evaluated once I have the proper type of sappa to compare to the Welch's swill, I currently have in my refridgerator. 6. Spices were kinda insipid. Up the quantities a bit- more cloves 7. For the final frying of venison, have lots of pork fat rendered so that the meat can absorb some. Do not fry on as high heat. The crunchy portions did not compliment the consistency of the sauce. Next trial, I'll repost the results. If at first you don't succeed........feed it to your dog Hauviette From: "Weems, Lora" <Lora.Weems at ssa.gov> To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org> Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 10:33:59 -0600 Subject: [Sca-cooks] RE: Sca-cooks digest, deer recipes Food content: Took my first deer this Monday. I'd love to see some good venison recipes. Grif Try this favorite of my family: take the backstap (loin) and remove the silverskin (the sinew along the outside of the long muscle). (If you know anyone who does black-powder re-enactments or buckskinning, they would love you if you gave it to them) Butterfly the backstap, and fold it out until you have a piece of meat that is about 3/4" to 1" thick. (You can use a meat hammer or bottom of a heavy pot or skillet) Marinade overnight or longer in the fridge: port wine ginger garlic, mashed sage any other spices you are fond of that aren't too salty a little liquid smoke (If you have a vacuum sealer, you can vacuum marinade it, that is faster) Take 1 part each brown and wild rice, and cook it half done. You can use stock if you have it, water works ok. You can add mushrooms and/or nuts, if you want (pecans or walnuts) (and, if you don't mind cheating, or are in a hurry, use Uncle Bens', they have some really tasty seasoned rice mixes) Remove the meat from the marinade, and reserve the liquid. Spread the rice over the meat, and tie as you would a rolled roast. Place in a roasting pan on a rack. Cover the roast with fatty bacon (Or, if you can get it from the butcher, a sheet of beef fat). Cook, covered with foil, at low temp (250 F or so) until the rice is done. This usually takes about an hour or an hour and a half. Then, uncover and put under the broiler to crisp the bacon. For the sauce, take the reserved marinade and add an equal amount of stock or water. Season to taste, and reduce to however thick you want it. Slice the roast, and serve with the sauce. This is a Christmas favorite, and works well with deer, elk, moose and caribou. Leofwynn Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 16:31:54 -0800 (PST) From: Tomasia <taelyne at yahoo.com> Subject: [Sca-cooks] Venison Stock To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org According to "Food in England" by Dorothy Hartley To make a proper stock put the bones and trimmings of venison to boil with some shallot, and a small piece of nutmeg or mace. This is what I did this year with our venison when we processed it. I put it in a roaster covered with water and used nutmeg because I had no whole mace. I simmered it at 250 for about 24 hours. Then strained it. I froze some of the stock in ice cube trays and then measured out half cup to cup portions and froze it. The ice cubes are used when making pastry for say shepherds or meat pies for a really good added flavor to pastry. I use the larger portions when making things like stroganoff or venison tips instead of using beef base. Really adds good flavor to venison dishes since venison can be dry. Tomasia da Collivento Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:46:36 -0400 From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Game sources (bunny, venison) question To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org> On Oct 12, 2007, at 3:37 PM, Michael Gunter wrote: > I'd love to budget even small venison chops over frummenty with > powdre forte. But that's a dream right now. If it ever becomes an issue, Denver legs (basically top and bottom rounds, completely trimmed of all fat and connective tissue) are da bomb. Slice and pound as cutlets, you can serve a small amount cooked medium rare, and when there's almost no waste, not even to shrinkage in cooking, that price tends to look a _lot_ more attractive... Adamantius <the end> Edited by Mark S. Harris venison-msg Page 21 of 21