VENISON (for various dishes)

  

This is mainly what we do with VENISON.  No matter WHAT kind of cut it is, it always ends up being tender.

Because the WHITETAIL deer around here feast on our rich alfalfa fields and also steal all the corn they could possibly want from our cornfields, there is very little (if any) "wild taste" to their meat.  If the deer in your area feast on things that contribute to a 'stronger/wild' taste, ... can you just add more onions (or ??) to balance that out?    IF you do not like 'wild', that is?

First, ...when cutting up our VENISON, we don't set any aside for grinding into 'hamburger', nor for making sausage (I DO like venison sausage, but, in spite of that, I prefer to avoid some of the 'meat treatments' that are added while making it-- and, besides that, making VENISON sausage can be very costly unless you do it on your own). 

For us, it does not matter WHICH CUT of VENISON I 'chunk up' (I even use the 'tougher' parts') because I've found that slow (low and long) cooking takes care of ANY toughness.  And,...WOW!,... does THIS make a home smell G-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-D!!!!!!

Again,...I cut/leave the meat in rather large chunks (2 pounds each?) before putting it into freezer bags and freezing.   By doing this, I don't deal with a freezer container of smaller pieces that are more easily 'freezer burned', etc.   Using a vacuum sealer works even BETTER to keep the VENISON very fresh-like!

By cutting/freezing the meat into large chunks, it makes 'putting a deer away' go very quickly!
  
When planning to make STEW, or STROGANOFF, or ???,  I take a 'chunk' from the freezer and let it defrost.   Next, I cut the meat into very little strips, or little cubes, depending on what I want to make with it.  (IF you start cutting it up when it's still a LITTLE frozen/frosty, you can even MORE easily slice/dice it into SMALL pieces.)

DIRECTIONS:

• Brown the small pieces of meat in a large pan with olive oil.
• Right away, at the start of browning the meat, add a whole onion (sliced), as many carrots (chunked) as you like, and a cup of chopped celery.  (Actually, add whatever vegetables and how much of the them YOU like!)
• Season with salt, pepper as you prefer.  You can add garlic and continue on for just a few minutes (do NOT allow garlic to burn!).
• When the meat is browned, move this combined mixture to a heavy dutch oven OR a slow-cooker (crock pot?).
• Pour two of 10 oz. cans of Cream of Mushroom soup (or one large) over the top.  
• Add three soup cans of water (I dump the water down along the edge so as not to disturb the thick soup layer on top).  Cover tightly.
• Get cooking!  When I use a slow-cooker (or crock pot), I start it on HIGH for about two hours and then turn to LOW for a few hours.  In the oven, I start it out at 300-degrees for about an hour and then turn it down to 250 for a few hours.  Testing for 'meat tenderness' is your best guide for deciding how long you continue.
• Serve OVER mashed potatoes, WITH baked potatoes, OVER biscuits, or OVER noodles.  (OR, ...about two hours before the end of your cooking time, add chunks of raw potatoes to the meat mixture in the cooking container and continue on.)