* * *
Mark Kristen's Red Deer Farm in Bellville, Texas, raises majestic red deer, bred in England for centuries and extensively farmed in New Zealand. Kristen markets venison and also trains others in the business, which is likely to boom in the years ahead.
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Venison Scaloppine with Blackberry Sage Sauce
A Dean Fearing dish from Dallas's Mansion on Turtle Greek inspired this recipe, which pairs plump blackberries and thin scallops from the naturally tender upper hind leg.
SAUCE
1 pound blackberries, fresh or frozen
1½ cups fruity red wine
1½ cups unsalted game or beef stock
2 medium onions, chopped
10
to
12 fresh sage leaves or 1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1½ pounds venison scaloppine, cut against the grain in slices ⅓ inch thick
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon oil, preferably canola or corn
Fresh sage sprigs, optional, for garnish
Serves 4
If the venison is frozen, thaw it in red wine to keep the meat moist.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the blackberries, wine, stock, onion, sage, and salt. Simmer the mixture over low heat for 30 minutes, until the blackberries have disintegrated and the sauce has reduced somewhat. Strain the sauce, extracting as much liquid as possible from the solids, and return it to the saucepan. Taste it, and add as much of the sugar as necessary to offset the tartness of the berries without masking their pleasant tang. Continue cooking the sauce until it has reduced to about 1½ cups. Whisk the butter into the sauce. Refrigerate the sauce, covered, or keep it warm while preparing the venison.
Sprinkle the venison lightly with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet until it is almost smoking. Add the venison, and stir-fry it for a minute or two, searing the meat on all sides.
Ladle the sauce over the meat, and add sage leaves, if you like, for garnish. Serve the scaloppine immediately.
* * *
Hunters looking to improve the taste of their game can find good field tips in judith and Richard Morehead's The New Texas Wild Game Cookbook and in Mike Hughes's The Broken Arrow Ranch Cookbook.
* * *
Broken Arrow Ranch Venison Pot Roast
Mike Hughes's Broken Arrow Ranch has stimulated much of the current interest in wild game in Texas and across the country. Mike's knowledgeable assistant, Kathy Reeves, gave us this recipe, which works especiallg well with South Texas antelope. We prefer the meat cooked in a Crockpot, but you can use the oven, too.
1 3-pound venison chuck roast
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon oil, preferably corn or canola
1 large onion, sliced
¼ cup cider vinegar, preferably unrefined
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 14½-ounce can whole tomatoes with juice
Serves 6
Preheat the oven to 300° F, unless you're using a Crock-pot.
Rub the roast with a generous coating of salt and pepper, and dredge it in the flour. Warm the oil over medium-high heat, and brown the roast quickly.
Place the venison in a Dutch oven or heavy baking dish, or in the Crockpot. Add all the other ingredients, pouring the tomatoes in last.
Bake the meat 4 to 5 hours in the oven, or 12 to 13 hours in the Crockpot. The pot roast will be "falling apart" tender if it has cooked long enough.
Variation: To turn the pot roast into a one-dish meal, add big chunks of carrots and potatoes about two-thirds of the way through the cooking time.
* * *
A scuba diver, civil engineer, and founder of the world's largest underwater salvage and service company, Mike Hughes bought the six-thousand-acre Broken Arrow Ranch in the Texas Hill Country in 1982 to pursue a plan for the harvesting and marketing of nonnative wild game. Through the Texas Wild Game Cooperative, he now oversees the professional hunting and field dressing of exotic animals on over one hundred and fifty Texas ranches. The Broken Arrow Ranch sells much of the meat to fine restaurants but also offers it to individuals in some retail stores and by mail order. See "Mail-Order Sources" ([>]) for additional information.
* * *
* * *
Back in the 1930s, World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker was one of the first people to re-lease exotic game animals on Texas ranches for hunting purposes.
* * *
* * *
In the United States, native wild game species such as whitetail deer are public property and cannot be hunted or raised for profit. The venison sold in stores comes packaged from foreign countries, particularly New Zealand, or from American ranches where nonnative animals are farm-raised or hunted in the wild. A 1985 survey identified over one hundred twenty thousand exotic game animals on the loose in Texas, ranging from axis deer to South Texas antelope.
* * *
South Texas Venison Stew
This flavorful stew makes a value-minded meal out of venison, which can be expensive meat. It's another good dish for a Crockpot.
1 pound venison stew meat, cut in ½-inch chunks
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
½ teaspoon oregano, preferably Mexican
2 tablespoons oil, preferably canola or corn
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1½ cups unsalted game, beef, or chicken stock
½ cup dried apricots, diced
⅓ cup chili sauce, preferably homemade ([>])
1 14½-ounce can hominy or 2 cups cooked pozole
2 cups cooked black beans (canned beans are acceptable if they are rinsed before using)
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon minced cilantro plus more, optional, for garnish
Serves 4
Preheat the oven to 325° F, unless you're using a Crockpot.
Toss the venison cubes lightly with a mixture of the salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano. Warm the oil over medium-high heat, and brown the meat quickly. With a slotted spoon, remove the venison from the oil, and place it in a Crockpot, Dutch oven, or other heavy pot. Saute the onion, bell pepper, and garlic in the oil remaining in the pan until they have softened. Spoon the vegetables into the pot with the venison. Add the stock, apricots, and chili sauce, stir to combine, and cover the pot. Cook the stew in the Crockpot 10 to 12 hours or bake it 3 to 4 hours in the oven, until the venison is very tender.
During the last half-hour of cooking, mix the pozole and beans into the stew. Take the stew off the heat, and stir in the lime juice and the tablespoon of cilantro.
Serve the stew hot, with more cilantro, if you like.
* * *
Health considerations are one reason behind the increasing popularity of game. Venison contains about one-third the calories of beef and one-eighth the fat. Because of the low fat content, it freezes well, which is fortunate since you usually find it frozen at a meat market.
* * *
Llano Smothered Doves
Doves are seldom available commercially—unlike the other game we cover—but they are the favorite fall game bird of most Texas hunters. Their popularity has spawned hundreds of family recipes, some routine and some exceptional. This imaginative variation on typical smothered-dove dishes comes originally from the Ratliss family in Clano.
12 whole doves, dressed
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
¼ cup olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
&nbs
p; 1 garlic clove, minced
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
1 cup unsalted chicken stock
½ cup sherry
½ cup whipping cream
Dash of bitters
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Serves 4
Rub the doves with salt and pepper. Warm the olive oil over medium heat, and brown the doves well, turning them once. Transfer the doves to a plate.
To the hot oil, add the onion, garlic, and rosemary, and saute until the onion has softened. Return the doves to the skillet, and add the stock and sherry. Bring the liquid to a simmer, adjust the heat, and cover the skillet. Simmer the doves for 30 minutes.
Transfer the doves to a serving platter, and keep them warm. Pour the cream and bitters into the pan juices. Put the flour into a small bowl. Spoon a few tablespoons of the warm liquid into the flour, and then stir the flour mixture into the contents of the skillet. Bring the sauce to a boil, and cook it until it has slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Taste, and adjust the seasoning.
Pour the gravy over the doves, and serve them. White rice is a good accompaniment.
* * *
Technique Tip
Livers from small birds such as dove and quail make good additions to stocks, soups, and stews.
* * *
Chiltepin Doves
A pea-sized, orange-red chile with a sharp, searing heat, chiltepins grow wild in the dove country of south Texas. If you can't find them, substitute half the number of dried chiles pequins, a close relative.
12 whole doves, dressed
14 whole chiltepins
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper
12 slices slab bacon
1 cup chicken stock
Serves 4
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Place one chiltepin—a little goes a long way—in the cavity of each dove. Reserve the two remaining chiles. Rub salt and pepper into the skins of the birds. Wrap each dove with a strip of bacon, making sure that the breast is covered especially well. Secure the bacon with toothpicks.
Transfer the doves to a baking dish that will hold them snugly in a single layer. Pour the stock over the doves, and add the two remaining chiltepins to the dish. Cover the dish, and bake the birds for 1½ hours. Remove the lid, and continue baking 20 to 30 minutes, until the liquid has reduced a bit and the bacon has browned.
Transfer the doves to a platter, discarding the greasy cooking liquid. Let the doves sit for 5 to 10 minutes, and serve them. The chiltepins will have perfumed the doves from both inside and out. Caution diners who are not certified "pepper bellies" against eating the chile pods.
* * *
Texas children have made chiltepins an instrument of torturous amusement for generations, sneaking them into the candy of other kids, for example. Sometimes their mothers get even by washing out foul mouths with the tiny chiles, which are far more effective than soap at emblazoning a lesson.
* * *
Grilled Stuffed Doves
The grapes in this outdoor-grilled dish help keep the doves moist and add a surprise taste.
12 whole doves, dressed
Dry Rub for Game Birds ([>]), or salt and pepper to taste
24 seedless grapes, halved
6 slices slab bacon, halved
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon white wine Worcestershire sauce
Serves 4
Massage the dry rub or a mixture of salt and pepper into the skins of the birds. Place the doves in one or more large plastic bags, and allow them to sit in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or until the grill is ready.
Fire up enough charcoal to form a single layer beneath the doves. When the coals are covered in gray ash, spread them in the grill, and allow them to cool to a moderate heat.
Remove the doves from the refrigerator, and place four grape halves in the cavity of each bird. Place a half slice of bacon across the breast of each dove, securing the bacon with a toothpick.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan set on the grill. Add the garlic, and heat it through. Stir in the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce, and keep the mixture warm.
Baste the doves frequently with the butter mixture while grilling them. Turning them occasionally, cook them until the bacon is browned and lightly crisped, approximately 10 minutes. Serve the birds warm.
* * *
If you've had your fill of chili and barbecue cook-offs, you might want to try the Championship Dove Cook-Off in Coleman, Texas, in the heart of hunting country. Held during the fall season, it's open to anyone who brings three or more of their own doves to cook.
* * *
Dry Rub for Game Birds
This all-purpose blend of dry seasonings imparts extra flavor to dove, quail, pheasant, wild turkey, and other fowl in a variety of dishes. Adjust the ingredients to your own taste or to complement what you're cooking.
2 tablespoons pickling spice, crushed in a mortar and pestle or spice mill
1 tablespoon coarse-ground black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons white pepper
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6
to
8 juniper berries, crushed in a mortar and pestle or spice mill
Makes about ½ cap
Stir all the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Store the rub in a tightly closed jar. It keeps indefinitely but loses its potency over time.
* * *
Dallas bon vivant Diana Clark once shocked her Stanford University friends by cutting class to go duck hunting with her father. One incredulous professor thought her story was a Texas tall tale until she presented him with a plucked and dressed mallard drake packed in ice.
* * *
Pan-Fried Quail Picante
If you've eaten quail, it was probably fried, the most popular preparation of the bird in Texas, the rest of the country, and in northern Mexico as well. These are done border-style, with a spicy brown gravy.
8 quail, whole or split, about 6 to 7 ounces each
3 cups milk
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground dried red chile, preferably New Mexican or ancho
½ teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
Pinch of cinnamon
Oil, preferably corn or canola, for frying
3 cups unsalted chicken stock
Serves 4
Arrange the quail in a single layer in a shallow dish. Pour the milk over the birds, add the garlic, and soak the birds at least 1 hour, preferably 2 or 3 hours. Blot the quail lightly with paper towels to eliminate some of the surface moisture. Discard the milk.
In a shallow dish, combine the flour with the chile, cumin, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Dredge the quail in the seasoned flour. Reserve ¼ cup of the flour mixture.
Add enough oil to a cast-iron skillet to measure 1 inch in depth, and heat the oil to 350° F. Fry the quail for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until they are golden and crispy outside and juicy when you crack open the crust. Transfer the quail to a serving platter, and keep them warm.
Pour off all but ¼ cup of the oil through a strainer, and discard it. Return any cracklings from the strainer to the skillet. Warm the drippings over medium heat, and add the reserved seasoned flour, stirring well to avoid lumps. Pour in the stock, and simmer, stirring often, until the liquid has thickened into a rich brown gravy, about 3 minutes. Taste, and adjust the seasoning. Pour the gravy into a gravy boat.
Serve the quail immediately, and pass the gravy separately.
* * *
Farm-raised quail are becoming more common in American stores. Nan
cy Dierker's Southwest Texas Quail Farm, near Uvalde, one of the first operations of its kind in the state, raises a type of coturnix quail that is juicier than the native bobwhites. See "Mail-Order Sources" ([>]) for more information.
* * *
Fig-Filled Grilled Quail
Say this one three times fast.
8 whole quail, about 6 to 7 ounces each
1½
to
2 cups Molasses-Bacon Vinaigrette ([>])
4 fresh figs (or dried figs simmered in water until soft), halved
Serves 4
Combine the quail with the vinaigrette in a nonreactive dish. Cover the dish, and refrigerate it. Marinate the quail at least 4 hours, and up to 12, turning them occasionally.
Texas Home Cooking Page 24
