I have returned! The beginning of autumn is a time that I like to spend outside after the cabin fever of late summer, so that's one of the main reasons that I've been gone. Today, I have a real treat for you: a special venison stir fry recipe! This was a dodgy experiment that turned out almost perfect. Then again, what are experiments for?
I don't always measure my ingredients before starting an experiment such as this, because I like to taste food as I'm preparing it - even when it's still raw. Bear with me here. I started with approximately half a kilogram (little over a pound, I didn't bother to weigh it) of meat that I suspect I carved from the thigh of this doe, which I shot last year:
(Bloody image orientation never seems to be preserved on this site)
I then cut it up into mini-steaks and other small chunks before covering it in meat tenderiser and marinating it in a mixture of:
Red wine vinegar
Cabernet Sauvignon
Juice of half a large lemon
Honey
General Tso's sauce:
(Again with rotating my pictures?!)
Honestly, this was the best thing I ever found in the "international" section of my local grocery store. One of my favourite "comfort foods" is spaghetti with this stuff and peanut sauce.
Now then, I honestly have no idea how much of each of the above ingredients I used, so you'll just have to add small amounts of each until you have a combination that tastes good. My mother (who played the part of guinea pig for this experiment) told me to leave out the honey and General Tso's sauce, as it was a bit too sweet for her taste. Not enough to ruin it, clearly, as she ate every last bite. I, however, had no complaints. But wait, we're not done yet!
Once the meat begins to soak, start cooking rice. When the rice is done, proceed to the next step. For this, you will need:
1.5 finely chopped shallots (I used one, plus another that was roughly half as large as normal)
4 finely chopped garlic cloves
You should have this:
I like to put a little olive oil in the pan, turn it up to HIGH, and when tiny bubbles start to appear at the bottom of the spreading oil pool, I will then turn it down to LOW and dump the shallots and garlic in. This is not required, of course, it's just my method.
Add some cooking wine to the pan and turn it to MEDIUM, stirring it until either you run out of liquid or the garlic begins to turn brown. Garlic will brown long before the shallots will, so that's your cue to turn the heat down. Don't touch the knob, just splash it with some soy sauce. After adding the soy sauce, dump the meat in, along with all the marinade:
Cook until well enough for your taste. If you like your meat practically raw, as I do, then you need only heat it until it bubbles, then flip the meat and cook for another two minutes. If you like your meat medium or medium rare, then you will need to cut into it regularly and check its progress. Anyone who has ever cooked venison will tell you that it is extremely finicky, and one of the most difficult meats to cook. The margin of error is much smaller here than with beef or lamb.
Once the meat is cooked, remove the pan from heat and pour the contents over bowls of rice. You may need to use a spoon to coax the shallots out. The result should look something like this:
You should have plenty of sauce to flavour an entire pot of rice, as this recipe leaves a lot of liquid.
Anyway, the verdict? Next time, I will leave out the honey, and possibly the General Tso's sauce, but add more wine. Otherwise, it's a winner.