We have heard many families say that while the hunter is excited to bring home a freezer full of meat, the cook is stumped with how to prepare it.  One of the benefits of deer hunting is enjoying venison and we are here to encourage and inspire – venison can add a whole repertoire of dishes to your family menu!

This week we’ve got a delicious stew that is simple and yummy.  Melt in your mouth venison vegetable stew.  Serve it with Southern Cornbread for the perfect winter meal!

Venison Country Stew
2 pounds of lean venison, cut into bite size morsels
1/2 cup flour
salt, pepper
3 slices of bacon
4 medium potatoes
8 carrots
2 onions
4 celery stalks with leaves
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup red wine

Here’s How: 
Place cubed and trimmed venison in a ziplock bag with flour, salt and pepper.  Shake until well coated.  Cook bacon in a large pan, remove bacon and keep the drippings in the pan.  Brown the floured and seasoned meat in bacon drippings.  You are not trying to cook the meat at this point – only browning the floured sides of each piece.  Transfer meat to greased dutch oven.  To drippings left in the pan, add 2 Tablespoons of flour; brown while scraping to get all of the salt, pepper that was remaining in the pan.  Pour 2 cups water into pan and slowly bring to a boil while stirring to create a gravy for the stew.  Pour gravy over venison, cover and cook at 325 degrees in the dutch oven for 1 hour.  Chop, peel and prepare vegetables.  After stew has cooked for one hour add vegetables, garlic and wine to the dutch oven and gently stir them in.  Add more salt and pepper to stew.  Cover and cook for an additional 2 hours.  More water can be added if additional gravy is needed.
Serves 6.

post and pictures by Sunshine