Venison Taquitos

I won't insult you - today, at least - by offering up a venison taco recipe. My guess is, if you're capable of finding and reading this website on your own, following the rules on the box of Ortega should be no big deal.

But I have been wrong before.

Preferring the Taco Bell brand seasoning myself, I make venison tacos at least once a month. They're easy and delicious, and since it's just my wife and me eating them - for now - there's typically plenty of leftovers. If you run into similar situations and want to improve upon the Ol' Microwaved Taco Reheat, try making a batch of taquitos.

Generally speaking, we'll have 1/2 pound of leftover venison taco meat after dinner, so that's going to be our measuring point for this recipe which is enough for 12 -15 taquitos.

What you'll need:

1/2 Pound Ground Venison cooked in favorite brand of Taco Seasoning
15 Corn Tortillas
1 Can Enchilada Sauce
1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Sour Cream
Cilantro
Favorite Salsa
Any Variety of Hot Sauce that graces your fridge

Preheat an oven to 350-degrees. Taquitos are often fried in vegetable or peanut oils on the stovetop, and that's probably how God intended it; however, sin aside, I don't always feel like cleaning up stovetops after pops and sizzles of the oil. The baked method is easier, healthier, and the difference in taste is negligible.

Add one can of enchilada sauce in with the 1/2 pound of cooked ground venison. You may think that the enchilada sauce may seem like Mexican Overkill after the deer has been cooked in taco seasoning, but trust me, it's not. Add to this a half cup of the shredded cheese and mix well.

Meanwhile, you'll need to cook the tortillas to make them pliable. Again, you could cook them 10-15 seconds a side in a skillet on the stove; to save time and energy, it's far more efficient to wrap them in a paper towel and nuke in the microwave for 2 minutes.

Once everything is prepared, lightly grease a cookie sheet. To stuff the tortilla, place the venison mixture on the edge of the tortilla and roll tightly to the other end. Placing the meat in the middle and trying to fold it is a waste of messy time. Place seam-down on the greased sheet and finish your batch. Before tossing them in the oven, I like to give them a quick blast of spray butter.

Bake for 30 minutes and remove, covering the rows of taquitos with the remainder of the shredded cheese if you feel the need. I usually do - though not in the picture to the left. They will be piping hot and should be left to sit for a few minutes, and it's now that you can whip up the accoutrements.

I'm a straight-up hot sauce and salsa guy. Carolyn likes sour cream. Chopped cilantro and lime juice are popular garnishes for taquitos. Guacamole, if you're down with that.

Enjoy.

Country-Fried Venison

I love country-fried steak. I want it written as the Cause of Death in my obituary – not “Congestive Heart Failure” or “Myocardial Infarction.” “Country-Fried Steak.” I want people to know I crossed over Jordan on a slick of white gravy. Whether at a Cracker Barrel or a Greasy Spoon in the middle of nowhere, CFS is my go-to order breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Add some form of potato in there to mop up the goodness….Dig It!

It’s also easy to make, and cubed venison steak is the golden-fried ticket for a great home-cooked meal.

What you need:

2lbs. venison cubed steaks or about 8 steaks

Vigo Italian Breadcrumbs

Flour

3 Eggs

Garlic Salt

Canola Oil

Packet of White Gravy Mix

Defrost the cubed steaks in the sink with warm water. When thawed, drain the water and re-fill with cold water and ice cubes to draw out blood and any gamey taste. After 30 minutes or so, remove from the water and pat dry. Season steaks with Garlic Salt and set aside.

While the venison is thawing, set up a little prep station. In one shallow bowl, dump flour seasoned with garlic salt. In another bowl, beat the three eggs into a wash. And a third bowl will be used for the breadcrumbs – yes, this is fairly dish-intensive, and yes, you’ll probably be too full and suffering from gravy shakes after dinner to want to mess with it, so clean as you go. When the steaks are ready, press them into the flour, rinse through the egg, and press well into the breadcrumbs. Set aside the breaded cutlets while the oil heats.

There are two ways to go about frying the steaks. I prefer an electric deep fryer. Get the temperature to around 365 degrees and cook for about a minute or until golden brown. These thin cuts don’t require much more than that. The other option is pan-frying in a cast iron skillet. I suppose it is more traditional, but I always have trouble with loose breading burning and ruining the second and third batches of steaks. Heat about an inch of canola oil over medium heat and cook for a couple minutes, flipping the steaks once or twice.

For the gravy, I just buy the mix that comes in whatever packaging looks more Old-Timey. I suppose I could make the gravy from scratch – or the breadcrumbs for that matter – but for $0.99, who cares? It’s worth saving the time.

When everything is ready, slather the steaks with gravy and serve with mashed potatoes. A little A-1 never hurts, either.

So there you go, one of my favorites, Country-Fried Venison. The reason I’m sweaty, a little dizzy, and out of breath from typing this.

Roast Duck

The last time I roasted a duck, I stuffed the cavity of a mottled with apples and celery and onions, seasoned the skin, and basted it with melted butter every ten minutes or so. Turned out pretty tasty, as I recall.

72 hours later, I was in Bartow Hospital having my appendix removed.

Now, I don’t think there was any real correlation between the two. I actually believe the Grilled Chicken Sandwich I had the night prior to surgery at the local sports bar may have done me in. Or maybe it's because one night I slept on my stomach funny, who knows? It’s one of those chum markers of life – roast duck and appendectomy in the same week. Sticks with the brain.

That was in 2003. Why have I gone 9 years without tossing another bird in the oven other than the thin threat of internal surgery? Well, I didn’t really start duck hunting with any level of seriousness until a couple years ago, so supply was limited. When I did splash a few, I donated the corpses to others to cook (and clean). And the ones I did hold onto were typically woodies that ended up in breakfast sandwiches or pan-fried.

Last week a buddy arrived at the house with an assortment of packaged ducks for an intended cook-out. He was called to leave and left the ducks with me to do as I pleased. Well, he had an assortment of teal and pintail and mallards. I took one of the larger bone-in breasts and thought, “What the Hell?”

I cleaned the remainder of the feathers and detritus from the meat, patted dry and sprinkled with Old Bay Seasoning and Garlic Salt. After this, I wrapped the duck in bacon to keep it from drying out and to add flavor. I placed the bird on a roasting rack in pan filled with a 1/4-inch of water and set the oven for 350 degrees. 

The duck roasted for 50 minutes as the kitchen filled with that wonderful bacon aroma. I pulled the pan out of the oven and let it cool for ten minutes before carving the meat from the breast. I’m leery of over-cooking duck and was a little concerned I had – but it turned out just on the shy side of medium. Better, though, it was tender, almost enough so a fork could cut it.

Wild duck breast is typically going to possess a stronger taste than other gamebirds, but this was certainly not gamey – which says more to how it was handled in the field than anything. Duck lends itself to a variety of dipping sauces. I rinsed the bites of breast through sriracha and various BBQ sauces. Sticky Fingers Smokehouse Carolina Classic was my favorite.

Obviously, I have a small sample size to work from, and you’re welcome to take this with a grain of salt, but this should work with your larger ducks, mallards, pintails, whistlers, etc. If you have any roast duck recipes, please share; this was pretty easy and I was pleased with the results.

And I didn’t lose an appendix this time, either.

Gorgonzola Stuffed Venison Sliders

I’d assume if you can make a hamburger, you can make sliders. There’s just a slight change-up in the overall design and purpose of sliders. They’ve become rather popular in sports bars and at parties.

To wit, I was invited to a Daytona 500 get-together this last weekend. My plan called for venison burgers, but I couldn’t be certain how many people would show, and I couldn’t sacrifice 6 pounds of ground venison - it’s gotta last a few more months. So sliders were the answer - everyone gets a taste.

The trouble with venison burgers is they dry out quickly and fall apart. I have the butcher add beef fat to guard against the patties desiccating, but they still tend to crumble. Some folks prefer to add crumbled soda crackers or stale bread to their meat to combat this; I use Vigo Italian Breadcrumbs. They add more flavor, in my opinion.

1 lb. ground venison with beef fat added
½ cup Italian Bread Crumbs
3 tbs. Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbs. Garlic Salt
1 tsp. Dark Brown Sugar
Charbroil Seasoning
Potato Rolls
Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese
Land O’ Lakes Colby Jack slices

I work in the order listed. Start with half the bread crumbs and knead into the meat. Add the other half and repeat. Do the same with the Lea & Perrins. Then add the garlic salt and brown sugar. (Don’t overdo the brown sugar – it can really ruin the recipe.)

After it’s all well-blended, roll into 6-8 meatballs. They should be slightly bigger than a golfball. Take your thumb and push a hole into the meatball and stuff with a pinch of gorgonzola. Wrap the meat back around the cheese and flatten into a micro-patty and dust with charbroil seasoning.

However you grill them – charcoal or gas – don’t leave on too long. Overcooked venison is still overcooked venison no matter how you doctor it up. I prefer to cook hot and fast on gas – 3 minutes a side, at most.

Place the patties in small potato rolls and top with a slice of cheese. I like A-1 as a dipping sauce, but I guess you can ketchup and mustard it, if you prefer.

People like them – they didn’t last nearly as long as that race!

Enjoy!

Smothered Wild Pork Chops

With wild pork, sometimes, you just don’t know what you’re gonna get. Take a sow I shot back in March. Her shoulder roast turned into fantastic Mojo pork, but all attempts to make a meal of her backstraps or cube steaks have landed with a thud. Grilled or fried, I was not impressed. She was plenty fat, dropped where she stood, and was properly dressed and taken care of in a prompt manner. In the kitchen, I have marinated overnight and used a tenderizer mallet, but the meat has been tough, tough, tough.

Wild hogs will throw you for a loop. I have eaten backstraps from big boars that cut like butter after grilled and many others that would vacate a soup line at a homeless shelter. Sows aren’t much different. The younger – better tasting – ones don’t usually have much of a backstrap. The older ones can be chewy. And a wet sow? Forget it!

None of these are general rules for wild pork; I just find there are more problems cooking it than one runs across when dining on deer.

So how to cook the rest of this hog? I am brought back to slow-cooking – a crockpot can make an oak coffee table tender. But I had the processor cut chops for me out of her backstraps.

Despite my Southern upbringing and love for all things gravy, up until a couple of weeks ago I was unfamiliar with the concept of a smothered pork chop. I blame my mother – Yankee. I can still smell the aroma of that kitchen where the lady introduced me to them. I would have rolled in it, to be honest.

At once, I understood the benefits of cooking wild pork in this manner. Simmering meat in gravy is a fantastic way of tenderizing your meal, though a little tough on the ticker. I’ve fried pork chops for years. I have slathered gravy over fried pork chops for years. How the heck did I not think to combine the two in the pan? Idiot!

Anyway, it worked. So here is a simple recipe for Wild Hog Smothered Pork Chops. Depending on other recipes you find online, some variations include adding onion or mushrooms. I prefer to skip these and add more salt.

1 pound wild pork chops 1-inch thick
2/3 cup of flour
2 cups of water
1/3 cup canola oil
Kosher Salt
McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning

Pat pork chops dry and sprinkle with kosher salt. Then coat them with Montreal steak seasoning – the McCormick’s really comes though huge in the gravy. Coat chops in flour and set aside.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot and shimmering, add chops and brown on both sides, no more than a minute or two per side for these small cuts. Remove to a paper towel-covered plate.

Add water and scrape up the browned bits of flour in the pan with a spatula. Slowly add the remainder of the flour – about 1/3 of a cup – and stir until it thickens and begins to bubble. Shake some more salt in there, if you dare.

Reduce heat, and put the pork chops back in with the gravy, cover, and cook for at least 35 minutes – and going longer won’t hurt depending on how hungry you are.

But, as your house fills with the smell of pork chops simmering in homemade gravy, it’ll be a challenge lasting 20 minutes.

Enjoy.

Venison Parmesan

Now, before we start, know this - I am allergic to onions. I loathe mushrooms. And I am disgusted by slimy chunks of tomato. I strain even the most watery of spaghetti sauces to purge it of these offenders. So I’m not exactly an expert on what others may consider to be great-tasting – or authentic - Italian cuisine. I have, however, developed an easy recipe for Venison Parmesan that pleases me and most others who have tried it.

It’s worth a stab, promise.

4 Venison Cubed Steaks
Flour
2 Eggs
Italian Bread Crumbs
Canola Oil
8 slices Mozzarella Cheese
Grated Parmesan-Romano Cheese
1 box Linguine or Thin Spaghetti noodles
1 large jar Ragu spaghetti sauce
Salt, pepper, garlic salt
1 9X13 Aluminum Foil Tray
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Follow the instructions on the box of pasta – cook, drain, and set aside. Slowly heat spaghetti sauce and add half a cup of grated Parmesan-Romano cheese.

Soak cubed steaks in icy water for 30 minutes to an hour to eliminate blood and game taste. Pat dry and season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Toss in flour, dip in an egg wash, and then coat well with Italian bread crumbs.

Heat canola oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until the oil reaches 365 degrees - or there about. Cook each side of the steak until golden brown, about a minute and a half a side. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to soak up excess oil.

Place cooked linguine in an aluminum tray sprayed with Pam. Arrange fried cube steaks on the pasta and top each cutlet with two slices of mozzarella cheese. Add the jar of spaghetti sauce and complement with generous shakes of grated Parmesan-Romano cheese.

Cover with foil and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the mozzarella is melted and bubbly. The sauce bakes into the venison and brings the dish together.

When compared to fine Italian dining, this may be Chef-Boy-R-Dee, but it is quick, easy and a delicious recipe to try with venison.

And, of course, you can always goop it up with nasty vegetables and fungus!

Enjoy.

Oven Baked Wild Pork Chops

The Prize Pig for this recipe is a 90-120 lb. dry sow or young boar, preferably a fat one taken during the acorn drop or who frequents the local friendly corn feeder. Any smaller and you won’t have much of a pork chop. Bigger – well, who knows? Could be tougher, maybe not.

But let’s hypothesize that this size swine constitutes the majority of the wild hog harvest in these here parts. Makes up most of my feral hog body count. You could cut the backstraps out and have a lovely meal – most folks do. This is just another option that is a crowd and finicky-eater pleaser.

Take the dressed hog to the local butcher with the backstraps and tenderloins still attached to the carcass. I don’t have the tools necessary to make the clean cuts necessary for chops. I have tried with meat saws – it’s messy and I don’t recommend it. The meat man will have it sliced and wrapped in no time flat. The chops should be about an inch thick.

If you feel the swine smells a little gamey, soak it in milk for thirty minutes to an hour. This will subdue any unpalatable flavors. Trim fat and gristle. I realize this is sacrilege with store-bought pork, but trust me with the wild thing. It’s usually sinewy and gross.

Preheat oven to 425 and spray a baking sheet or broiler pan with Pam.

Season the chops with whatever spices you prefer - garlic salt, pepper, garlic pepper, paprika, garlic paprika. Most recently I used Penzey’s Chicago Steak Seasoning.

Dip the seasoned chops into an egg wash, then into Vigo Italian Breadcrumbs, coating well. Line on pan, place in oven, and cook 15 minutes or until done. Let sit for 10 minutes before eating

Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ is a fine complementary sauce. Sticky Fingers Carolina Style sauce is excellent, too. Eat with hands.

Not all wild hog belongs on a smoker or ground into sausage. Next time you pop a hog, give this a try.

Gator Tail

I had my first bite of gator when I was six or seven. It was the 80's. Times were free and loose back then. The restaurant owner was a pal of my folks, and he did that thing you do to kids to surprise and shock their fragile minds.

Try it. You’ll like it. Oh, by the way...dum dum dum dum...it’s Alligator! Ooooooohhhhhhhh...(Funny face. Pictures taken. Adults laugh. Timeless, precious moments at the expense of your child.)

As I got older, gator started popping up in the appetizer corner of menus at every Harbor Side Restaurant and Tiki Hut that catered to Yankees. But these bites were made about the same way one would cook up Crack Cocaine. Take a little bit of the real thing, mash it with a bunch of unwanted fillers, and sell it for ten bucks. (And don’t get me started on all the BS Chipotle Aioli dipping sauces, either.) Not good. Still isn’t good. I’ll never again request gator tail at a restaurant unless under a court order.

In my twenties, we’d have fish fries and Poker Nights. Gator AKA Prairie Scallops would mysteriously show up at these events. Oh, forbidden lizard - a rare and deviant treat that was enough cause to have a fish fry and Poker Night.

Now we hunt these things on the up-and-up and can’t get rid of the stuff. One gator tail, plus the meat from the jowls, legs, and elsewhere, gets a lot of mileage.

Problem is, no one I’ve met really sits down to an evening of gator. I’m sure there are Bayou-Americans out there who eat ‘em like chicken – Yard Lizard, ha! – but I am not this person. If my wife ever asked me what I was cooking for dinner on a given Tuesday and I responded “Gator” the papers would be in my hands in no time. And she likes gator tail.

All joking aside, I’m glad to have it even if it is difficult to incorporate into a cosmopolitan meal plan.

The meat is tough, but with an overnight milk bath or a few whacks with a tenderizer mallet, this is overcome easily. The most important thing to remember is to make sure all the fat is cut away from the meat. Year-old dirty sink sponges probably taste better.

To pan fry, take your beaten gator meat and dip in an egg wash, then pat into Vigo Italian breadcrumbs. Heat oil in a cast iron skillet to proper frying temp and cook until browned. Easy Peasy. Remove to paper towel-covered plate and dash with your favorite seasoning and a little Parmesan cheese. Dip in Frank’s Red Hot sauce, if you are a real man or woman. Or if you're feeling especially kooky, these nuggets are superb for a Gator Po' Boy. Just sayin'.

Gator is also excellent grilled. But that’s gonna have to wait for another day.

The Wood Duck Breakfast Sandwich

A hot wood duck shoot is heart-stopping action. Why not flip it into a hot heart-stopping breakfast?

OK Fellow Fatties, take your de-boned duck breast and soak in cold water or milk for 20-30 minutes to remove blood from the meat. Meanwhile, start a skillet of bacon and cook to your desired Level of Crispy. Dip the duck in flour and your favorite game seasoning. Fry in the bacon grease until the flour is browned and blood leaches out either side when pricked with a fork. Your aim here is to cook it about medium.

Set aside the bacon and duck, and crack an egg in the skillet. I go broken yolk and fried hard topped with salt, pepper, and shredded cheddar cheese, but to each his own.

Assemble duck, bacon, and egg on a toasted hamburger bun and top with copious shakes from a bottle of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.

Teal is a fair substitute if you lack the woodies. I suppose any duck would work, but woodies are the tastiest, in my opinion. If you're like me with little regard for your circulatory system, this is a delicioso sodium surprise in the camp and at home.

Enjoy.

Burgundy Venison Backstrap Chops

Some people claim venison should NEVER be marinated. If you cook it right, they say, it won’t taste gamey and come out tender without the additional accoutrements and fancy flavors. Ironically, these same people also tend to dump their venison in a pressure cooker with carrots and onions and beef stock and cook for hours on end until the meat, in vainglory defeat, is forced to give up its remaining flavor to the stew base and disintegrate.

This is usually followed by a, “Betcha never had venison THAT tender - cuts with a fork. Most people can’t tell the difference between my deer and beef.” Essentially, they’ve gone the long way in accomplishing the very same thing one can produce with a bottle from your grocer’s aisles.

Whatever. I like a good stew as much as the next person; I like to grill more, though. And I like to switch up some flavors in my life. I unapologetically marinate a lot of my venison, the premium cuts, too.

I won’t run down the list of all the marinades I’ve used simply because I’ll need to write another post one day about this and will want fresh material. So for today’s lesson, we’ll be working with Dr. Pete’s Burgundy Wine Marinade.

I discovered Dr. Pete’s in a little sporting goods store in Estill, SC a couple years back while on a turkey hunt. There was a decent selection of sauces available, but I’ve long wanted a respectable wine-based marinade of some variety. I’ve tried to make my own, but they always come out kinda bitter. Leave it to the Doctor, I say.

Now my prep work is the same as I do with most venison cuts: defrost, slice into steaks, hit with a tenderizer mallet, and soak in icy water for 30-45 minutes. This last step sucks a lot of the blood and any gamey taste out of the meat (does the same for fish). Then I place the steaks in the marinade and soak for six or more hours.

With grilled venison I like to cook hot and fast. This sears the meat and holds in the flavor. Get your grill up around 400 degrees and cook 1 ½ - 2 minutes a side for medium rare. I use some of the reserve from the bottle to toss with white rice. Dr. Pete’s also blends well with beef. It’s delightful.

Really, this is one of those sauces that enhances the natural flavor of venison. I think even the pickiest vension cook would enjoy it. Come to think of it, Dr. Pete's would be a fine base for a crockpot meal, if that's your cup of tea. Or soup.

Click here for more information on Dr. Pete’s.