Scott Leysath - The Sporting Chefs Better Venison Cookbook

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To Janell, Jake and all my four-legged companions.

I may be out in the woods, but Ill always leave

a garlic scent trail behind.

This cookbook is a collection of my favorite venison recipes. These are kitchen-tested dishes Ive prepared many times the past few decades. They have proven to be popular, delicious and user-friendly. The ones with the shortest list of ingredients and instructions are typically the ones you will use most often. Please, use my recipes as an outline and a starting point. Eventually, you should leave the measuring spoons in the drawer and eyeball the ingredients. You can always adjust the seasonings at the end.

Ill assume that most of you have probably spent some time deer hunting and hopefully have shot and cooked a deer or two. Others might not have the desire to shoot a deer, but theyre stuck doing the cooking. If you want to know the proper way to field-dress a deer, there are several great resources, online and in print. This book wont help.

Food and cooking has never been more popular. For many years, there were only a handful of TV chefs. Graham Kerr, Julia Child, Justin Wilson and Jacques Ppin showed us how to cook beyond the casserole, meatloaf and pot roast. The TV Food Network (later, just Food Network) changed everything. Restaurant chefs became celebrities, and the public learned how to pronounce chipotle. Ive had the good fortune to be able to earn a decent living doing one of the things I love the most cooking fish and game. Without Emeril Lagasse, Id probably still be running restaurants and catering businesses.

Although most TV cooking shows look pretty much the same, I havent seen any indication they are on the decline. Many, usually with a competitive angle, have moved from cable to prime-time mainstream TV. Home cooks and pro chefs battle to see who can make the most of a pile of ingredients that most of us, including me, have never heard of. Im all for the pursuit of something new, but Id prefer to pursue a deer or turkey than the next food fad. Recipes that are simple to prepare, dont require a long list of obscure ingredients and, most important, taste really good will be in use long after herbal foams have evaporated. Molecular gastronomy is interesting, but Id rather go fishing.

Im not a foodie, but I am passionate about cooking, especially when it comes to anything with fur, fins or feathers. However, my favorite foods are those that dont require any cooking at all. Sashimi, homegrown tomatoes and chilled, briny oysters are good or theyre not. You cant dress up a bad oyster or raw piece of fish, nor should you try. Honestly, I get tired of eating most things and need to mix up my menus. Too much of a good thing, I suppose. I meet people who apparently dont get worn out on a short list of edible critters and claim to live solely on animals they have harvested themselves. At some point, they are going to need a few new recipes.

This book is a blend of flavorful and easy recipes that youll use all the time and others that are a bit more time-consuming. Although Im all for free-ranging, organic ingredients and naturally occurring plants and animals, the only thing thats truly free-range in this book is the venison. Im not trying to outchef anyone, just to provide recipes that I hope youll use again and again. Nothing makes me happier than a cookbook full of food stains, especially if the recipes are my own.

Ive had the opportunity to visit many hunting and fishing lodges and clubs. Im amused at the number of containers of meat tenderizers in the pantry. If you want your game to be tender, proper field care, aging, storage and cooking is the key, not something out of a bottle.

I use kosher salt or sea salt. Some of the recipes in this book list just salt. Use your own discretion, and season with salt to taste. If a recipe specifies a particular type of salt, such as kosher salt, and all you have is table salt, use about three-fourths of the quantity listed in the recipe. Fine-ground table salt is denser than kosher salt. In general, if you use table salt instead of kosher salt, use a little less. You can always add more. When incorporated into a recipe, I cant tell the difference between salts, but there is a distinct flavor and texture difference when sprinkled over a finished dish.

I dont have anything against injecting venison roasts with marinades. Many of my friends swear theres no better way to season a roast. It sounds a little goofy, but I prefer to marinade venison roasts after theyre cooked. When meat is uncooked, marinades wont penetrate much beyond the outside 1/4 inch. Jabbing them with a fork or hand tenderizer will help marinade work its way into the meat, but itll take a while to get there. When meat is hot and cooked, it is much more porous. Take a hot, slightly undercooked roast, and place it into the smallest cooler in which it will fit. Douse it with a room-temperature marinade, and give it a toss to coat. Keep the air space to a minimum. If necessary, place a layer of heavy-duty foil over the meat, and fold up a clean towel over the foil to help retain the heat. The hot meat will absorb the marinade much more readily than raw meat. Leave the roast in the marinade for an hour or so, and youll be amazed at how much more flavor is imparted to the meat. As tempting as it might be, do not open the lid of the cooler for at least 45 minutes. Allowing the heat to escape will cool off the meat, and the marinade cant do its job. I do the same thing with a wild or domestic turkey. After two hours in a cooler, the bird is still very hot and extremely moist.

Pepper isnt just pepper. Freshly ground pepper has more flavor. When a recipe calls for pepper, the choice is yours whether you use freshly ground or already ground pepper. I rarely use old pepper thats already ground.

Garlic out of a jar might be convenient, but it doesnt taste like freshly minced whole garlic cloves. If you must use it, double the quantity specified in a recipe.

Wipe venison dry before seasoning or cooking. Deer blood wont improve the flavor of the meat. Note how much bloody liquid runs out of a thawed piece of venison. Use two-ply paper or cloth towels to leach the liquid away from the meat. When dry, rub with a thin coating of olive oil and your favorite seasoning.