Venison!

Our friend Keith brought us venison yesterday, just when I was wondering what to cook for dinner! He brought us so much, Bill had to plug in the extra freezer. What a wonderful gift! Now Bill says he's lost his motivation to continue hunting, but since he's probably leaving soon, that activity was going to end soon anyway.

I never thought about venison, one way or another, until we lived in New York. For many people there, venison is the meat of choice, the taste of childhood, a reminder of lean times or sometimes just the tradition of autumn. Though Bill never shot a deer there, friends always shared packets of venison--wives of hunters gave it away when they were tired of eating it or when they needed freezer space.

At first, I was nervous. I had always heard that game meats were, well, gamy and strong tasting. I scoured specialty cookbooks, which suggested strong-flavored sauces, juniper berries and gin, vinegar and wine, medicinal-smelling aromatics. What a surprise when venison turned out to be like a fine aged steak, tender and flavorful, lean and delicious!

When our final project in culinary school was due, I elected to use farmed venison for one of my meal centerpieces and devised a recipe using homemade blackberry vinegar and blackberry jam as a base for a pan sauce. It was a hit with our diners (I remember my mom and dad came to that meal at the college, my final exam for the program--my dad chose the venison, to my surprise). My brother raved about it too, once when he came to visit and I served him what I call "The Other Dark Meat," using frozen blackberries and raspberries that time.

So now we have venison in Tennessee too. Last night, I cooked it like this, with just things I had on hand in the pantry:

Heat a large skillet and spray with non-stick coating. Lightly sear 1/2" thick pieces of venison for only 1-2 minutes per side, while pressing 1 or 2 garlic cloves into the skillet. Remove to a plate while making the sauce. Deglaze the skillet with a little red wine, sprinkle in a packet of onion soup mix (I had no beef broth or brown gravy powder, so I used this instead), add about 1/2 cup water, 1 Tablespoon of whole-grain mustard and 1/4 cup of blackberry jam. Bring to a gentle boil and reduce slightly to a sauce consistency. Taste for seasoning, adding salt & pepper. If the sweet-tart balance isn't right, adjust using sugar or acid (lemon juice or cider vinegar). When sauce is right, add back in the venison pieces and accumulated juices and turn in sauce to coat. Serve with roasted potatoes and vegetables.

It was delicious, better than I remembered.