Roast Venison Lunch Meat
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
Roast Venison Lunch Meat
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
Have some leftover roast venison? There are probably more versions of this recipe than stars in the sky. Even on a clear night.
Why? Because it’s easy and goes on crackers, toast, or in your pocket--as a sandwich to take hunting. The meat can be any big game animal: deer, elk, antelope, moose, caribou, even bison, if that’s what you have in the freezer. Then if you have never tried dry roasting game (or not done it successfully) check out the short tutorial that follows.
One more thing. If you have more than ½ pound of leftover meat, these spice mixes are easily multiplied.
#1: The Traditional, Improved
For 8 ounces cooked venison
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sweet relish
2 tablespoons bottled yellow mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
#2 Easy Tex-Mex
For 8 ounces cooked venison
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons McCormick Taco Seasoning Mix
2-3 teaspoons Chipotle Tabasco Sauce (or to taste)
Preparation for both spice mixes:
1. Chop the cooked venison into chunks, toss into a food processor and rip it to shreds. 2. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl until well blended and add it to the processor with the meat.
3. Process the meat and your choice of spice mix together for a second or two so it all looks uniform in color, but not much more.
4. Return that to the bowl, cover and chill for several hours. Now, you can use your sandwich spread on crackers, toast and in sandwiches--including adding it to grilled cheese sandwiches.
Dry Roasting
Generally, dry roasting requires a more tender piece of meat than wet roasting--
but since we’re going to dry roast and THEN purée the meat, don’t waste the tender stuff on this. As for flavor, these two spice mixes are pretty stout, so you can use moderately gamy meat. (Don’t go crazy in that direction though, ‘cause even cumin and chili powder won’t hide a really rank buck. And while we’re on that, gamy flavors tend to concentrate in the fat, sinew and connective tissue so trim that before cooking.) So, how long to cook it? Take a ruler, and stand it up behind the thawed and oven-ready roast. How ‘tall’ is it? That’s what determines cooking time. (Not weight, or overall size.)
An ‘average’ deer roast is about 2” high, some more, some less. In a 325ºF oven, a 2” high roast will be about medium rare in about an hour. (All these ‘abouts’ are a bit of a fudge factor. This is what happens in my gas oven, in Townsend, at 3500 feet above sea level. Just use a meat thermometer, stop cooking at 135ºF or so: for this recipe a little more isn’t going to hurt anything.) We roast a lot at our house both in the oven and indirectly on the grill, so I added a Roasting Table to Slice of the Wild: 100 Venison Recipes Wild Game cookbook. (I keep a copy of that page scotch-taped inside a cupboard by the stove. And a 6” ruler with the meat thermometer.)
Once the roast is done, and pretty cool, place it in the fridge, covered with foil. Chill for a few hours and it’s ready to chop, purée, mix—and eat.
Eileen’s Slice of the Wild also has 40 pages of illustrated how-to game care and butchering tips from bullet to fork because it’s never just about the recipes, is it? Find it at https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273.
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Eileen Clark
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Photo Credits: Eileen Clark
