Africa Hunting Cooking : Your favourite venison dish

[Leadwood]

Hello Members

As a dedicated amateur chef and keen hunter, I would like to explore the many different game dishes that members cook up across the globe.
As a South African we obviously have a soft spot for biltong and droëwors [ dried sausage ], however I would be more interested in hearing and seeing the type of dishes that you guys prepare at home after the hunt using the meat from your animal.

I suggest a picture of the dish with a short description on preparation..........

I will start off proceedings with my family's all-time venison favourite [ provided that I do the cooking of course ].

VENISON CARPACCIO

# 2 top loins aka sirloins from med sized antelope / deer [ whitetail, impala, reedbuck, blesbuck etc ]

Trim off all silverskin.
Rub with olive oil and age in fridge for 1 week
Coat in finely crushed black pepper

Sear in butter/oil @ high heat all sides 3min max.
Set aside till room temp.....wrap tightly in foil and put in freezer

Take loins out 2 hours before mealtime, remove foil wrap
Once outer surface becomes slightly soft but centre still frozen start cutting very thin slices diagonally.
Arrange on big plate in circular fashion
Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice
Add capers [ after rinsing ]
Add grated or shaved parmigiano
Arrange handful of rocket leaves [ aragula ] in centre
Add 2 slices of grilled ciabatta or sourdough [ rubbed with olive oil before grilling

Serves 6 [ or me and my brother ]

 

[Flipper Dude]

I can’t narrow it to one. I like this backstrap if I’m feeling fancy

If I’m wanting comfort food, hard to beat fried steak and cream gravy.

 

[Josh P]

Waiting for the pofadder(?) posts. I’d try it from someone I trusted, after a cold beer and long day walking.

 

[glblanchard]

I killed an eland in South Africa. The trackers took a piece of small intestine about two feet long. turned it inside out and cleaned it thoroughly. Then back outside out and stuffed it with tenderloin, other parts, and a lot of spices. Cooked it on the braii. I almost made myself sick eating that sausage with fresh bread Elsie had just made! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Betterinthebush]

I can’t narrow it to one. I like this backstrap if I’m feeling fancyView attachment 723225

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If I’m wanting comfort food, hard to beat fried steak and cream gravy.

View attachment 723227
View attachment 723228
View attachment 723229

Love the cast iron.

 

[pilar]

Fried backstrap or center eye muscle fried , jerky
Chill, cowboy goulash, lasagna
Sausage, breakfast sausage

 

[Rumrunner]

Grilled Zebra steaks. Absolutely fantastic.

 

[Field28]

We need to keep this thread going throughout our deer season this year in the States. I'm always interested in something new!

 

[Leadwood]

@Rumrunner

Agree with you on zebra steaks.......arguably the most underrated meat in Africa.
I would rate zebra [ young stallion or mare...cleanly shot and field dressed ] third after springbuck and fallow deer.

Zebra Salami
70% zebra / 30 % pork / Black pepper / salt
Cured for 6 months

Be sure to remove all yellow fat hoewever.

 

[VertigoBE]

The best venison I ever had, was a slow cooked leg of Chinese Water Deer.

 

[Charlie64]

Here is an interesting one from my last SA hunt - buffalo balls, washed, sliced in thin strips and dredged in flour and then pan fried and here served with chutney as an appetizer. Also had them before in Zim. Strong muti !

 

[Hedge774]

Nyala tenderloin with mooshroom sauce was bliss. Also, even though not venison, buffalo tail with paprika curry. It was served with the amazing South African homney dish. Mmmm.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I love cooking wild game too. These are pan seared Sambar venison backstrap steaks (rested in dry aged beef fat), sunny side up fried eggs, thrice fried goose fat potato chips & Chimichurri sauce. I absolutely love Bearnaise sauce too, but have never been successful in making it at home. The sauce always keep breaking. But my daughter-in-law makes an amazing one.

Want to know the secret to a good steak ? Always use cast iron skillets. Stainless steel pans are for amateurs and non-stick teflon lined pans are for soy boys !

On my African Safaris, I always subsist predominantly on game meat.

My favorite dish of all time, would actually have to be a bowl of guinea fowl potjie with some warm toasted loaves of garlic bread and a cold African Castle Lager taken right out of the ice box.

I’m also a fan of impala liver. Either made into a pate and eaten over buttered toast or simply broiled over the brai with a little coarse salt.

Eland fillets are great, cooked like any beef fillet mignon recipe. As are the chops from sable, impala & gemsbok. Cape buffalo fillets are absolutely amazing, as is Cape buffalo tail…. but only if prepared by a very competent camp cook (the secret is to soak in lots of red wine).

The underbelly of hippopotamus is excellent when ground up and employed as a ragout sauce for pastas.

Elephant meat is coarse & quite tough. But their tail fat is quite delicious. It may be spread upon bread like butter. And also employed in any recipe which calls for sheep’s tail.

I know that it sounds peculiar, but in my humble field experiences… the finest African wild game steaks actually come from giraffe. The marbling is absolutely unrivaled.

I could go & on about my favorite wild game dishes. But that would make this post quite long & monotonous. If I had to name two African game meats which I will never touch again,,. it will have to be waterbuck and spurwing goose ! Absolutely beastly for the palate.

 

[Flipper Dude]

Next time your sauce breaks, try whisking in a little water. A tablespoon at a time. Usually does the trick

 

[mdwest]

If we are talking whitetail deer, I tend to be pretty lazy… I pull the back straps and tenderloins, and pretty much grind the rest of the entire deer…

As a result, I end up with A LOT of ground venison (between my wife and I we will take 4-6 deer most years)…

For ground whitetail probably my favorite recipe is the deer stuffed manicotti recipe from Steve Rinella on his meateater page:

Venison-Stuffed Manicotti

I used to serve a pasta dish similar to stuffed manicotti at a restaurant I worked at years ago. Ours was a cannelloni, a fresh pasta sheet wrapped around a filling, seared in butter until browned, and baked in homemade tomato sauce. The result is the same, a tubular-shaped pasta filled with...

www.themeateater.com

It’s easy to make.. and truly divine…

 

[Field28]

If we are talking whitetail deer, I tend to be pretty lazy… I pull the back straps and tenderloins, and pretty much grind the rest of the entire deer…

As a result, I end up with A LOT of ground venison (between my wife and I we will take 4-6 deer most years)…

For ground whitetail probably my favorite recipe is the deer stuffed manicotti recipe from Steve Rinella on his meateater page:

Venison-Stuffed Manicotti

I used to serve a pasta dish similar to stuffed manicotti at a restaurant I worked at years ago. Ours was a cannelloni, a fresh pasta sheet wrapped around a filling, seared in butter until browned, and baked in homemade tomato sauce. The result is the same, a tubular-shaped pasta filled with...

www.themeateater.com

It’s easy to make.. and truly divine…

Need to try that one!

 

[Field28]

Some of the best meat I've eaten in my life were backstraps and Tloins from a kudu calf.

Eastern Cape, after chasing kudu bulls all day we go to leave the property and notice an open gate. A kudu calf had run into the gate and broke it's neck. Our tracker dispatched the calf with a knife.
We had the tracker hang the loins for two days. Simply cooked on the braai, rare to medium rare. Think wild veal!

 

[Bandera]

Tenderloin. Mostly Whitetail.
Trim it.
Season it with Salt, Pepper and a bit of olive oill.
Smoke it on the smoker for about 2 1/2 hours.
Finish it to rare, to med rare. My wife will not eat rare meat.
Let stand for 10 minutes.

Slice to about 1/4” thick.

Serve over a bed of noodles. Top with a brown gravey.

Pretty simple.

 

[Leadwood]

Agree with you on guineafowl potjie/stew @Hunter-Habib.

My grandmother and mother used to make this for us the day after our shoot.
They always included a fat farmyard chicken hen with 4 guineas.
Brings back the memories as a young boy.....the Beretta was almost as tall as me then....!

My favourite venison steak remains eland cow......hunted in May to be in prime condition.
Head/ neck shot.....immediately bled and field dressed.
Remove entire T-bone head after 3 days and dry age for 30-60 days.
Cut thick T-bones approx 700g each.

Pan seared with butter in cast iron over open flames, flambé with good brandy, remove ......add 2 cups of mixed berries.....splash of balsamic vinegar and salt/ pepper....reduce till it thickens....add some cream and cook down.

Serve on bed of creamy polenta.

[ must be rare ]

 

[steve white]

Here is an interesting one from my last SA hunt - buffalo balls, washed, sliced in thin strips and dredged in flour and then pan fried and here served with chutney as an appetizer. Also had them before in Zim. Strong muti !

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Well, that's what I call not wasting anything!