Blueberry Buttermilk pie
Ingredients
- 1 9 inch pie crust (graham cracker pre-made crust works well)
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- Dash of salt
Process
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Place blueberries evenly in pie crust.
- In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, and salt by whisking thoroughly
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour into the pie crust.
- Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown. It should still be somewhat soft in the center.
- Remove from the oven and cool on the counter top. Once cooled enough, place into the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to set.
Mongolian venison
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs flank steak (tenderized with a mallet and cut into strips)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ½ cup soy sauce (reduced sodium)
- ½ cup water
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (more if you want, less if you prefer)
- 3 stalks of green onions (julienned)
How to Prepare
- In a saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add water, soy sauce, brown sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer until thickened. This will take approximately 20 minutes.
- Thoroughly coat the flank steak strips with corn starch and let sit for 10 minutes.
- In a cast iron skillet, heat 1 cup vegetable oil and add beef. Cook for 3 minutes on each side or until well browned, flip and repeat on opposite side of steak.
- Remove the steak and set aside. Drain the skillet of excess oil. Return the steak to the skillet and add the sauce. Cook for 3 minutes on medium heat until the meat is well coated. Add the onions and red pepper flakes.
- Serve over rice.
Chef’s Note: You can use thinly sliced backstrap or tenderloin for this recipe. You can also add broccoli and snow peas if you wish.
Venison Osso Bucco
This recipe incorporates the most under used part of any deer…the shank. The shank is the part that exists below the knee of each leg of the deer. I typically freeze my shanks whole. When I am ready to cook them, I cut them into 2 inch section while partially frozen. This makes the cutting process much easier. I then wrap each section with butcher’s twine to keep the meat from falling off of the bone during the cooking process.
Four to eight venison shanks cut into 2” sections and wrapped with butcher’s twine
Flour to dredge shanks
Salt
Pepper
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
Guidry’s vegetable mix
2 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine
Enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of your dutch oven
2-3 dashes hot sauce
Seasoning to taste
Prepared starch of choice (pasta, grits, rice, or mashed potatoes)
Season your shanks with salt and pepper, then lightly coat your shanks in flour. Using the vegetable oil, brown all sides of your shanks in cast iron dutch oven. Once browned, transfer the meat onto a plate. Sauté your Guidry’s vegetable mix in the dutch oven. Once your vegetables are translucent, add the remaining ingredients to the dutch oven. Then add the browned shanks to the dutch oven. There should be just enough liquid to cover the shanks (if not, you can add water to cover). Cover and cook on low temperature for 3-4 hours, depending on the size of the shanks, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Carefully snip the butcher’s twine with a pair of scissors. Serve over your desired starch.
Bon appetite!
– Jason Thornton
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Venison Meat Pies
The Meat Pies in Natchitoches, LA are known throughout the south for their hand sized delicacy. So much so, that people from Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi will travel several hours to another state just to get their hands on some. Several years back, I was in a deer hunting lease just outside of Natchitoches. The hunting there was mediocre, but the food was outstanding. Me and a group of guys would travel to town between the morning and evening hunts to eat these things. Truthfully, I probably stayed in the lease longer than I should have, just because of the nearby pies. It didn’t take me long before I developed my own version of meat pies. But my pies would include venison instead of some old boring beef.
One of beautiful things about this dish is its simplicity. 8 ingredients and a hot oven are all that’s needed.
1 lb of ground venison (I really won’t be upset if you use beef…but why??)
1 small can of mushrooms (drained)
3 tsp of B-V Broth and Sauce (I find mine at Rouse’s)
¼ cup Guidry’s creole seasoning
1 box of puff pastry
Seasoning to taste
1 tbs of olive oil
1 tbs of flour
1 egg for egg wash
I first start by sautéing the Guidrys in olive oil. Once tender, add the mushrooms and cook for several minutes. Add your meat and cook until browned. Add your B-V and cook for several more minutes. It is important that you do not drain the liquid. Add your flour to thicken your filling. Remove it from heat to let it cool for 15 minutes or so. While this is cooling, take your puff pastry and gently roll it out with a rolling pin. Cut your pastry dough 4” squares. One sheet should provide you with appx 4 squares. Place the filling on one square and cover it with another. Seal them on the edges with a fork and paint the egg wash on the top so that it will brown. Place into a preheated 400 degree oven and cook for apx 15-20 or minutes or until browned.
This dish would be a great appetizer or as a main course, served alongside homemade onion rings and a good beer. If you find that you have too much stuffing at the end, save it to add to your scrambled eggs the next morning.
Bon Appetit
-Jason Thornton
Can’t get enough of the Edible Outdoors Cook? Follow me on Facebook and Instagram!
Smoked Venison Sausage Creole
This is a traditional Cajun dish that combines the complexities of smoked sausage and the rich flavors that you get from roux. This has been a family favorite of ours since I was a child and is a perfect meal to introduce anyone to wild game. The beauty of this dish is in its simplicity and doesn’t require much “kitchen” talent. Admittedly, I used a store bought roux for this recipe but you are welcome to make your own. The recipe calls for sliced sausage, if you were to put a julieanne slice on the sausage it would add extra visual appeal.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours
Special equipment: Cast iron dutch oven
Ingredients
2 lbs sliced smoked sausage (venison, elk, or bear)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can rotel
1 chopped bell pepper
1 chopped onion
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 cup water
1 tbsp of dark roux
Seasoning of choice
Serve with:
Rice
Preparation:
- In your dutch oven, brown your sausage in the vegetable oil on medium heat. Remove and set aside.
- Add chopped vegetable and rotel and cook until vegetables are tender.
- Replace the sausage and any juices back to the dutch oven.
- Stir in roux, tomato sauce, and garlic powder.
- Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Season to taste
Garnish with parsley and serve over rice with a side of French bread.
Chef’s note: This can also be mixed with scrambled eggs to serve for Sunday brunch.
Grits and Venison Grillades
This is one of those meals that sticks to your ribs, is easy to master, and gives you another way to use some of your prime cuts. Pork is traditionally used for this here in Cajun country and is served over grits but it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you served it over rice or even mashed potatoes. This just may be the original comfort food. It pairs well with wine or beer, depending on your mood. You may also want to keep a piece of French bread handy to mop up what is left on your plate.
Ingredients:
Grits prepared according to the package
1 lb of prime venison cut into cubes (for this recipe, backstrap was used)
1 onion (chopped finely)
1 bell pepper (chopped finely)
2 tbs cooking oil
1 tbs of flour mixed into warm water until completely dissolved
Your preferred seasoning (I like Tony Chacere’s original seasoning)
Vinegar (enough to cover your meat in a tall glass jar)
Preparation:
- Cube the backstrap into one inch pieces.
- Then put the cubes into a tall glass, cover the meat with white vinegar, and place into the refrigerator. This will help tenderize the meat. You will want to do this the night before you cook the dish.
- Drain the meat and dry with a paper towel.
- Season the meat to your specific taste.
- Brown the meat on all sides in cooking oil (I like to use a cast iron dutch oven for this dish.)
- Add onions and bell peppers and cook until translucent (8 to 10 minutes).
- Cover with water and let simmer for an hour. At this point, you will want to start on your grits, rice, or potatoes.
- Thicken by stirring in a tablespoon of flour.
- Season to taste
- Serve over your preferred starch and garnish with onion tops or parsley.
Serves 2 hungry hunters
Bon Appetite!
Smoked duck and oyster gumbo
Gumbo is the official cuisine of the state of Louisiana. The genesis of gumbo can be traced to several different cultures to include French, African, and Spanish. The base for every legitimate gumbo is its roux. This not only serves as a thickening agent for the dish but also gives it a deep rich flavor that is second to none. It is the perfect camp meal on a cold day. For this recipe, I made my own roux by combining equal parts vegetable oil and all-purpose flour. Cook it over low heat and stir constantly. You will have a roux that is the color of “chocolate pudding” in 45 minutes to an hour. Let cool. The key is to not be rushed in the process. If patience is not one of your virtues, a store bought roux will do just fine.
For this recipe, I used teal (both green-winged and blue-winged) that were harvested on a public land south Louisiana hunt in 2019. I find these little jet fighters of the duck world to be the tastiest. All in all, 15 of these speedy delicacies were harvested that morning. I was accompanied by great friends and the memories made that morning will stay with me for a lifetime. Several of the breasts didn’t make it past brunch that morning, as I love cooking fresh game that way. The rest were reserved specifically for this recipe.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes with a store bought roux
Cook time: 3 hours
Special Equipment: Stock pot
Ingredients:
12 teal breasts (can be substituted by equal amount of chicken)
1 pint of shucked oysters and oyster liquor (natural juices from the oyster)
1 onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 pint of shucked oysters and oyster liquor (natural juices from the oyster)
8 cups of water (homemade duck stock would be amazing)
¾ cup of dark roux
Seasoning of your choice
Onion tops or parsley for garnish
Serve with:
Rice
Meat Preparation:
- Season duck breasts according to your specific liking
- Smoke ducks on the Traeger at 225 degrees for 45 minutes (Signature Blend pellets)
Gumbo Preparation:
- Bring water to a gentle boil in stock pot
- Stir in roux until completely dissolved (15-20 minutes)
- Add onions, bell pepper, and garlic
- Add smoked ducks and cook for 45 minutes stirring occasionally
- Add oysters and liquor at the end being careful not to overcook the oysters
- Serve over rice and garnish with onion tops
Chef’s note: Gumbo is always better the next day. It also freezes very well.
