oh deer

I am still working through all the various cuts of venison a friend of my husband gave us. Over the weekend, I defrosted a roast and prepared that yesterday. I was able to find a recipe for a red wine braised venison roast that had simple ingredients that I felt would make for an appealing meal. 

The recipe called for red wine, garlic, thyme, onion, celery, carrots and beef stock. The recipe was for a 1 pound piece of meat and said to cut the roast into serving size pieces. I kept my roast whole. The roast was a little bit larger than a pound.  I didn’t use 1-1/2 cups of red wine that the recipe called for. I used half that amount along with  1 cup of beef stock and vegetables. I was hoping that those ingredients would yield sufficient pan juices at the end.

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The recipe said to cook the meat for 2-3 hours or until tender. I cooked my for for 2-1/2 hours. When I went to turn the roast after an hour,  the meat was starting to look almost done. I wished that I used my meat thermometer to get a reading as braising for as long as I did was too long. When I finally pulled the roast out, most of the liquid had cooked off. I wish now that I used the full amount of wine or add the difference in beef stock. The roast was a bit overcooked, but it was tender and flavorful. The vegetables were delicious and maintained a bit of chew. I have some bordelaise sauce in my freezer that I will defrost and serve over the leftover roast . Overall, a good meal despite the meat being overcooked.

I still have some backstrap in the freezer. Backstrap is the length of loin on the back of a deer. I’ll use my meat thermometer the next time so as to not over cook the venison.