Hunting season is almost over here in Montana and as usual, my husband brought home a very large buck (175 pounds) he shot up on the mountain close to our home. Even though I cannot understand why anyone wants to get up at the crack of dawn to hunt a deer is beyond me, but alas I’m faced with hunting season every year and with the challenge of cooking deer meat. I don’t care for venison very much so I have to be creative if I’m going eat it at all. I’m not a big meat eater to begin with so venison can be extra hard to figure out.
Ossobucco is braised veal and was first created in Milan Italy in the 19th century. The word ossobucco means “hole in shank” or shank with bone. The shank is usually dredged in flour and herbs and then slow cooked. Since we only use the meat of the deer not the bones, I used a thick slice of deer steak for this recipe.
For this particular recipe I used bacon instead of pancetta. I live in a rural community and most folks around here haven’t heard of Ossobucco much less pancetta. Pancetta bacon has less fat than regular bacon, but this turned out very nice. I even liked deer cooked this way and for the most part I don’t care for venison at all, it’s my least favorite meat. Nevertheless, this was the best deer dish I think I’ve ever made and I’ve created a ton of them.
Make sure you soak your deer meat in milk at least an hour or two before beginning any deer recipe if you wish to take the “gamey, wild” flavor out of it. I use 2 percent milk and sometimes buttermilk.
You’ll need:
2 large deer steaks (about ½ inch thick or 1″ thick)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp of pepper
Four slices of bacon
Basil
Oregano
Sage
1 med onion chopped
1 carrot sliced
1 celery sliced
1 clove of garlic minced
2/3 cup of white dry wine
2/3 cup of canned chicken broth
2 tbsp. of tomato paste
Rub in basil, oregano and sage into the deer meat on both sides. Mix the flour with the salt andpepper in a shallow dish or bowl. Fry up the bacon “crisp” and set the bacon aside. Dredge the deer meat into the flour and fry it in the hot bacon fat. Combine all the vegetables and pour them over the meat in a baking dish, or in your crock pot. Pour the mix of wine/broth and tomato paste over the whole dish and then bake at 325 until meat is tender. OR crock on high for 2-3 hours. Serve with spaghetti noodles, or any pasta you like. Serves 4
