One of my favorite recipes to enjoy the harvest is venison stew. I have many stew recipes and love them all. This venison stew recipe is a classic stew and is perfect for enjoying your harvest too. Often I utilize the trimmed meat from my deer carcass which amounts to several pounds of venison. This is meat trimmed from the ribs, neck, and anything remaining after processing the large cuts. You should consider trimming your deer carcass for excellent stew meat. I normally crack open a brew and bring out the fillet knife to meticulously trim my deer chucking the meat into a bowl. This is the meat I use quickly for a hearty venison stew. Here is my recipe. Enjoy the Harvest.
Venison Stew Recipe
One of the first things I do after harvesting a deer is to cook up a hearty venison stew. It is the perfect way to enjoy the harvest.
Ingredients For Venison Stew Recipe
- Cast Iron Dutch Oven
- 3 lb venison (cubed)
- 1 lb yukon gold potatoes (chunked unpeeled)
- 1 large yellow onion (chopped)
- 3 large carrots (chunked)
- 3 slices thick bacon (chopped)
- 2 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
- 1 pinch sea salt (to taste)
- 1 pinch black pepper (to taste)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 4 cups beef stock
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 tbsp parsley (chopped)
- 1 dash thyme
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 2 small bay leaf
- 1 splash dark beer (about 2 ounces)
Instructions For Cooking Stew
- In your stew pot or Dutch oven cook 3 slices of bacon. Remove bacon when crispy and set aside
- Pour bacon grease into a heatproof bowl. Return 2 Tbs. of the fat to the pot and heat over medium-high heat
- Season the venison stew meat with salt and pepper and cook until browned on all sides. About 5 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside
- Add another 2 tbsp. of bacon to the pot and heat over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens. About 5 minutes
- Stir in the butter and let it melt. Add a pour of your favorite beer. I like a dark beer and believe it makes a richer stew
- Sprinkle with the flour and stir well
- Gradually stir in the stock, and stir in the tomato paste, the 1 Tbs. parsley and the thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves. Return the venison to the pot and bring to a boil.
- Add potatoes and stir it all together
- Cover venison stew and place in the oven at 300 degrees. Cook for 1 1/2 hours. Or until meat is tender
- Sprinkle bacon crumbles on top of a bowl of venison stew
This venison stew recipe is a great way to enjoy the harvest. Often when in camp and I process the deer to get it on ice and will be camping a few more days I will cook this stew over the campfire. Enjoy this stew and be sure to sign up for my newsletter for new Enjoy The Harvest recipes.
Venison Stew In The Oldest Cookbook
A venison stew recipe is found in the oldest cookbook in the world. This cookbook is from 1700 BC and was written on clay tablets. I love researching food and its origin when I make a recipe. The cookbook comes from the fertile valley between Euphrates and Tigris in modern-day Iraq.
This collection of ancient recipes largely consists of stew recipes and includes broths made with beer. It also mentions the searing of meat. It is neat to see that ancient cooks were the ones to begin the steps that we take in our culinary practices today.
Another thing I learned from these ancient venison stew recipes was the blending and balancing of flavors. They mention the preparation of the broth by combining and cooking onion and garlic during the first step of the stew recipe.
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