venison – H Lamar Thomas' Blog

November 12, 2010

Bison, Boar And Georgia Deer With Dumpling Squash And Sweet Root Beer

BISON, BOAR AND GEORGIA DEER

WITH DUMPLING SQUASH AND SWEET ROOT BEER

There are so many beautiful things here in Georgia that it is hard to pin down a few and say “that’s what it is” that makes life here so fine. I have to say that in late Fall (some call it Winter) it is the pines, the rhododendrons, pecans, fresh venison, thick skinned squashes, sweet potatoes, morning fog, and…oh well, I guess it is all those things and more that defines what is Georgia in December. This column is for those of you with a hunter in the family. If there is not one then you can find these meats online or in specialty grocery stores. The venison, boar and bison that you can buy commercial are all of course raised on ranches. We can only sell meats that have been inspected. The only non-inspected hunted species that we can sell in restaurants and grocery stores is fish and shell fish.

Venison, boar and bison that you buy are semi-wild. We call them game meats because that is what hunting on large estates (pre 20th century) was once considered, game. Gaminess, or more pronounced flavors were desired back then which was acquired both by the age of the animal and by how long it was hung to cure. Hunting is now sport. What will it be 25 years from now?

Today our tastes have become more attuned to less pronounced flavors than what was once desired. The diet for hogs and sows that are left to go wild on the ranch is regulated the same way that it is for red deer and American Buffalo or bison. This hold true as well for our beef and lamb. Corn feed has a lot to do with flavors for beef. Beef cattle that are allowed to eat hay and grass and are not fed corn and weight gaining feeds in the stockyards have a flavor that is perceived as slightly wild. After 30 years of corn fed beef I became bored with the one flavor germane to American bred cattle. If I want it to taste like butter or corn then I will add butter or corn, and then of course vary the types of meat. Near wild game meats and fowl have flavor. The food you eat tastes like what it eats. It continues to be true that you are what you eat eats. Fattier meats are more tender by the very fact that fat/oils do tenderize the muscle. The more we learn about our foods the more we learn how to cook them so that the flavors and textures compliment one another.

The Fall to Winter fruits that we have available match up to our inherent sense of taste of what goes together. Fuyu persimmons, dried cranberries, oranges, kumquats, pomegranates, apples, blackberries, aged cheeses, rice, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds and winter squashes are all perfect with our game meats. I like Georgia venison so much because of their diet this time of year, pecans. The famous Blackfoot (Serrano/Iberian) pig of Spain is famously delicious for the same reason except that they eat acorns. Virginia ham was once prized because of their diet of peanuts. Variety is good. Yes it is the spice of life and spice is good as well, so spice up and roll out the cutting boards we are doing what is natural in this time of year: eating. The more we buy the good foods the more they will produce to meet demand, and in the long run equals lower price.

From the edge of extinction to holding on enough to be raised on ranches the American Bison is one incredible animal. The flavor is what beef should taste like, full, robust and lean. For some reason most of what can be found in stores is always ground or sirloin (if you are lucky). I would like to buy bison ribs or bison T-Bone one day, now that would be a grocery store treat. The interesting meats should be made more available in butcher shops in areas that show support for near wild game meats. Restaurants can offer just about anything, but sometimes it is nice to cook the cool stuff at home. You can substitute any of our recipe meats with lamb, ostrich, Berkshire pork and ground hormone free grass fed beef.

BISON BURGERS

Our burgers will be mixed with gorgonzola cheese, cranberries. An easy root beer ketchup on whole wheat toast with hickory bacon and a small wild greens salad. Ground bison and sirloin are the only forms I have found it in grocery stores. Great, and I mean GREAT things about bison: Sustainable, low cholesterol, high in iron and protein, lean, grass fed, NO growth hormones, slightly sweeter than current corn fed beef and still has rich flavor. There are still people that think sustainable and grass fed are bad words but let me tell you, they are the only words we should be using today in terms of our red and white meat production. It is expensive. You can always mix with grass fed beef to balance the costs if you are on a budget.

Grilled or cooked in an iron skillet will work for this burger.

ROOT BEER KETCHUP (you can substitute Malta, Coca Cola or Dr. Pepper)

4 ounces root beer or ginger beer

6 ounces Heinz Ketchup

1 teaspoon Chipotle Mustard

Combine and simmer in sauce pan on low until it again thickens. Frequently stir as it cooks so that it does not burn and most of all so that the ingredients combine. When it is the texture again of ketchup remove from heat and set aside. This will keep in refrigerator for months.

BACON

8 slices maple bacon, thick cut

Cook crisp. Drain and keep warm while burger cooks.

BURGERS

1 pound ground bison

1/3 teaspoon ground sea salt

1 clove garlic, crushed

¼ cup white onion, minced

2 ounces gorgonzola, crumbles

Gently combine and pat into four 4 ounce square patties. Grill to desired temperature.

While they cook you can set up the plates:

4 teaspoons Root beer ketchup, one teaspoon per burger

8 slices whole wheat toast

8 slices grape tomato

4 leaves romaine

SALAD

2 ounces wild greens

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

½ teaspoon peach bitters

1/3 teaspoon soy sauce

4 figs, quartered

Mix in bowl when you are ready to eat. Divide between four plates.

Arrange all of the parts and leave the sandwich open faced.

This is the kind of burger that calls out for russet potato french fries or even sweet potato fries, yucca chips, boniato chips and even Southern Dukes Mayonnaise potato salad. Beer. Have a beer or high quality root beer with this sandwich.

BOAR SAUSAGE

Roasted dumpling squash stuffed with ground sage boar sausage and brown rice, blackberries and almonds. What can be said about Berkshire pork that does not get the ring in the nose and is allowed to roam the ranch and go semi wild? Sow or boar, both are delicious. Meaty, fatty, slight smoky taste and enough grain to have firm texture. I like boar chops. Boar sausage is what most of us have if you hunt them in the wild. If you have them in restaurants or specialty butcher shops you can get the loin, chops or hams as well as in sausage form.

Our recipe here puts to use the best of the season. Dumpling squash are fantastic receptacles for roasting. Nutty and sweet, firm, yellow meat and beautiful green and cream striped skin. Don’t try to eat the skins of winter squashes, they are all too thick and are perfect as they are for leaving on and roasting. You can also remove the skin and make french fries out of winter squashes like pumpkins, butternut, acorn, turban and dumpling. We will make garlic mashed potatoes out of butternut squash in the recipe for venison.

Follow all sanitation when working with boar. Wear latex gloves and always add this last to your mixtures.

Cook the brown rice early and let it cool.

2 dumpling squash cut in half and seeded

4 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon in each squash

Set aside in roasting pan.

STUFFING

1 cup brown rice, cooked with chicken stock

10 ounces boar, ground

5 ounces Jimmy Dean sage whole hog sausage

1/3 cup almonds, chopped

½ cup white onion, diced

1 ounce pickled peppers, diced

½ cup apple, diced

½ teaspoon oregano, fresh, chopped

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup Italian style bread crumbs

1 pint blackberries, fresh

Combine all ingredients except the blackberries and meat. Put the ground sausage and boar into a mixing bowl and gently mix. Let it rest a minute, then add the blackberries taking care not to crush them.

Divide between the four halves of squash. Add just enough water to the roasting pan to cover the bottom half of the squash. Roast 30 minutes at 350 degrees. The internal temperature of the stuffing will be 165 degrees.

If you want to add anything to this comforting harvest dish it would be a poached egg on the top of each stuffed squash. And again, this is a dish that calls for a beer or ale, full red table wine, sour mash, hot tea, hot Dr. Pepper with lemon or as simple as a glass of sparkling water with cranberry juice.

VENISON

Venison shoulder chops marinated in pomegranate juice and Dale’s sauce, with pomegranate seeds, fuyu persimmons, and whipped red potatoes and butternut squash. Again, this is for the home with a hunter or buy through upscale butcher.

Shoulder chops can be tough but they are flavorful which is why this is our cut of choice for this dish. Ask them to cut it into primal cuts for you if it is wild venison. It is just a waste to grind it all into sausage. You can also use Maggi Seasoning Sauce if you do not have Dale’s on hand. If you are gluten intolerant then use wheat free tamari.

Pomegranates are easy to seed. Lightly hit the bottom end on the counter and then cut it open over a glass bowl. Push your fingers into the back of the skin towards the seeds so that they gently pop out. Then separate the seeds from the thick pulp and skin. You cannot eat the pulp and skin. Only the seeds, eat only the seeds. Remember the story of Persephone in Greek mythology? She was kidnapped by Hades and she was bound to return to hell for six months every year because she mistakenly ate pomegranate seeds. The fruit also represents fertility and hope. Hope because even after the coldest of seasons Spring is near.

Fertility because of the abundance of seeds. Pomegranates are high in antioxidants as well.

The Fuyu persimmon is native to Japan and Korea. It is similar to our native persimmons of the South except that they do hold longer and are easier to commercially farm. The taste is close to that of Anjou pears and limes, the meat is soft not hard.

Try to find a ricer to use for making your garlic butternut and red potatoes. There are hand held ones that are perfect for smooth and well mixed mashed potatoes. If not then use a slotted spoon or electric mixer. The flavor is everything that triggers food memories of childhood Christmas. Why? Because of the allspice and maple syrup in the mix.

MARINADE AND GRILL

4, 5 ounce venison chops

1 cup almond milk

1 tablespoon Dale’s or Maggi

4 ounces pomegranate juice

1 tablespoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon coarse black pepper

Combine the marinade ingredients so that it is smooth. It may look a bit coddled but that is OK. Add the chops and cover. Let marinade at least 2 hours.

Do not marinade over 6 hours as the meat will start “cooking” after that because of the acidity in the marinade.

Grill or broil until cooked to desired temperature.

4 teaspoons pomegranate seeds

2 persimmons cut into 8 slices

Divide seeds and fruit over the four chops.

MASHED

1 pound red potatoes cut in half

1 pound butternut squash pulp, no seeds or skin

3 quarts water

1 tablespoon salt

1 clove garlic, minced

Combine in large pot and boil for 20 minutes until firm but soft enough to mash. Strain. Press the squash and potato through the ricer into a metal bowl.

Add:

1 teaspoon allspice, ground

3 tablespoons maple syrup

3 ounces unsalted butter

Whip together until well incorporated and smooth. Keep warm while the venison is cooking.

Spoon the mashed onto each plate next to the chop. Garnish with baby lettuce greens.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all, be good to each other, to family and friends, and even better to those who are not.

Sometimes a smile equals

All the people

We can and cannot count

In these long winter hours.

To hold a hope

And set free a dream,

Watching ice melt

Watching fires around the lake,

Something really is always

Glistening here,

Blue shadows,

Silver clouds,

Bells ring in dreams

And a cynic tries to steal

With dollars

What their heart

Cannot create,

To this reach we pull away,

Try again with a hymn

Of redemption and peace,

Sit down to the table

With love, with bread,

Push away the fear,

Listen again for prayers to peace,

This is the day

We were living for,

Today is the day

All hearts embrace.

September 8, 2010February 3, 2011

Between The Sea And The Chattahoochee (eating lean)

BETWEEN THE SEA AND THE CHATTHOOCHEE
(how to eat lean in the Autumn times)

Our Autumn adventure begins with those things that come into season when the first chill nights arrive. Watch the color of the leaves turn and you know it is time for wild Georgia deer (or farmed New Zealand or Texas). From Georgia ranches like Harris Ranch we have grass fed beef flank steak. The sea is always offering something in each season so if pole caught mahi mahi is not available see what else is from the wild or from the farms. All of these recipes are quite healthy and lean. Venison “Denver” leg steaks with turkey sausage, spiced peanuts and local blackberries with honey-rosemary olive oil. Grass fed beef flank seared with caramelized onions, Maytag bleu cheese, thin sliced apple on chicory greens and acorn squash. Atlantic mahi mahi grilled with roasted garlic aioli, jalapeno, raspberries, rum and pumpkin fries. If there is a wild boar hunter in your family or if you can buy it then by all means include wild baor/sow on your post frost Autumn table.
Today we shop, cook and dine in ways far beyond those of our parents and grandparents. They may have drank a beer, sweet tea or glass of wine with their dinner but the expectation was never that it be a beer brewed up the road, a wine from the West Coast, new age cocktails or tea arriving in hundreds of flavors. Mine had Liptons Orange Pekoe tea, Pabst Blue Ribbon, moonshine and very refined wines of France or on the border at Alsace-Lorraine. Today we are aware, very aware that our meals can be best paired with a boutique beer or herb and roasted tea from flower to white to green and black, with any combination of spirits and mixed drinks, and of course with wines from any place in the world. Pair your foods with beverages reflecting the ingredients, the tastes, the general aroma and appeal of your meal.
Since Autumn invites a host of seasonal memories it is always fun to invoke what has passed, what was before and then to create what is yet to be. Food is as alive as you and I, the dishes we prepare help to define who we are at the table, with guests and family. Food reflects our vision of the world. Some embrace and some set up boundaries. The adventurous cook is constantly studying all things taste and combination both with boundaries and without boundaries. Perfection often arrives by way of repetition. I am justifiably interested in the way our foods are produced, raised, farmed, harvested and hunted. Create the memories with a love of the world and all it has to offer.
Every now and then it is important to reevaluate what “sustainable” means. The overall effort of serving sustainable, something I have been doing for over 15 years is to seek variety. If we eat the same fish over and over, if we fish the same trenches or reefs over and over eventually the snapper/flounder/grouper post office will run dry. Just because something is in abundance today (re passenger pigeons of last century) does not guarantee that without management it will be there tomorrow. Harvest is not greater than reproduction and there is little to no impact on local ecosystem: Sustainable.
As consumers we should be involved in proper food source management for ALL of our foods as well as in protecting blue fin tuna and orange roughy, Chilean sea bass (Patagonian toothfish), Atlantic cod, red snapper, shark, imported swordfish, grouper, monkfish, imported caviar and skate. All of these are all long over fished and on a short list for threatened. Easy solution is to simply lay off of these fish for a few years. Easy kill is to continue on our present path. Check out Seafood Choices Alliance, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Seafood Watch, Blue Ocean Institute, the Marine Stewardship Council and of course Clean Fish (through Inland Seafood) and anything Honolulu Fish out of Hawaii. All of which can be found online or by phone within a days reach of UPS or your home.
I use a lot of fish that are caught by sport boats. Yes, when you see that “moby” marlin or redfish hanging in those sport boat photos the next step is often off to a middleman and then to a chef (such as myself!) and on to your plate.
The ways of keeping the last hunted wild protein (seafood) around are many, the ways to destroy are few: overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction. It is not a matter of left or right. It is a matter of how do we feed our enormous population and maintain healthy farmland and waters. There are many fresh water farmed fish and shellfish that are life and health friendly operated such as tilapia, catfish, oysters, clams, mussels, striped bass, arctic char, rainbow trout, white sturgeon and agria (red fish, a member of the drum family) that help us to keep some menu variety. The rest of our strong stock is all wild caught from healthy fisheries like wreckfish, black cod, stone crab, Pacific halibut, albacore, pink shrimp, pole/troll caught mahi mahi, Alaskan salmon, pole/troll caught Hawaiian big eye, yellow fin and skipjack tuna. Imagine, all wild caught.
My career and that of all involved in the seafood industry depends on diverse seafood and reasonable prices. It is implausible to figure a future without wild seafood. So what do we do? Be wise shepherds of our land and waters. Keep it clean and keep it diverse. Every mammal matters and every cetacean matters, every fish and every shellfish, fowl, every fruit and vegetable, they all really do matter in this, our own vast and hurried span of life and time. It is our only earth.
Long ago we learned that if the same plant is grown in the same soil for too long without diversity then the soil becomes infertile. The same holds for our waters.
VENISON
Venison “Denver” leg steaks with mergheza sausage (beef and lamb), spiced peanuts and local blackberries with honey-rosemary olive oil.
Any thoughts about venison always arrive at how lean it is and how different it tastes from county to county, state to state. I like Georgia deer the best because it is less acidic or gamey than deer I have had from elsewhere in the South. Some say it is because of the pecans. Could be. The restaurant industry is dependent upon New Zealand and Texas venison. Both are quite delicious and are very stable in their flavor and texture profiles. Look for venison that is deep red, almost the color of a Romane Conte vintage wine.
The most economical cut is the Denver leg. This is the leg bone removed and the meat already broken down into sections. When cutting your meat do it so that it best resembles a cut of beef filet mignon, round and thick. There will be a few stray pieces of meat so set those aside to use for a pasta dish or to grind with sausage. People generally take this lean and healthy mean and grind it with pork sausage, a tactic that I have never really liked but do understand why people do it.
VENISON
4, 5 ounce venison steaks, shaped into round
2 ounces Worcestershire sauce
1 ounce Tiger Sauce
4 ounces red wine or black grape juice
1 tablespoon pickling spice
Combine and marinade venison for 5 hours.
SPICED PEANUTS
¼ cup shelled and hulled peanuts
½ teaspoon wasabi powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon butter
Mix with peanuts and toast in 300 degree oven for 10 minutes.

ROSEMARY HONEY
1 small stalk rosemary
3 ounces local honey
3 ounces Spanish extra virgin olive oil
Combine and warm in pan on low heat for 8 minutes. Remove rosemary.
8 ounces mergheza sausage (a mix of lamb and beef)
Cook sausage on grill. Set aside.
20 blackberries

Grill venison to desired temperature. While venison is cooking the last turn brush the olive oil honey over the meat. Paint the bottom of four plates with the olive oil honey. Place one steak on each plate. 2 ounces of sausage with each steak. Garnish by placing peanuts and blackberries on top of venison.
This is the kind of meal that is great with a fruit and spinach salad, yeast rolls and grilled corn on the cob.
BEEF
Grass fed beef flank seared with caramelized onions, Maytag bleu cheese, thin sliced apple on chicory greens and acorn squash.
People who are unfamiliar with the distinct flavor of grass fed meats are quite surprised by how once fatty meats are now lean and still taste great. That is the thing about grass fed, hormone free meats. They taste like the land around us smells, at least here on the border of woods, river and open pastures. There are many ranches in the South that are grass fed. Harris Ranch is one of the better and more established. The real add ons to beef happen in the stockyard and that’s where grass fed takes the advantage in that nothing is done to the meat as far as changing their diet. What it lives on is what you get. Grassy, fresh and lean.
Flank steak is good for searing and thin sliced. Very lean, very flavorful and easy to prepare. Maytag blue cheese is produced in Iowa in caves and made by hand as it has been done since the late 1800s by the very family that makes Maytag appliances. The herd of Holsteins were favorites of the Maytag family and it turned out that their milk was perfect for making this rich and sweet, best of America blue cheeses. Go for the gold every now and then. Treat yourself and your dining mates to something they will swear is British or Danish. Maytag blue cheese is another in a long line of great American cheese. The first in that line is Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes, California. Find these cheeses and splurge on their goodness.
MARINADE
24 ounces flank steak
1 1/2 cups apple juice
4 ounces Dale’s steak marinade
1 onion, sliced
Combine and marinade 6 hours minimum.

3 onions, thin sliced
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
½ poblano pepper, very thin sliced
2 ounces corn oil
Combine and place in small pan. Cover. Roast for 45 minutes in 375 degree oven. Remove and leave covered. Let stand for one hour.
1 (16 ounces peeled) acorn squash, diced
1 teaspoon butter
1 tablespoon sourwood honey
1/3 teaspoon granulated sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
Combine and cook in 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove. Cover and reserve till dinner. If longer than 30 minutes then reheat in oven.
1 gala apple thin sliced into 16 slices
10 ounces autumn chicory and sweet lettuces
1/3 cup crumbled Maytag blue cheese
4 ounces fig balsamic vinegar
Sear flank steaks in iron skillet. Remove and thin slice against the grain. Divide lettuces and caramelized onions between four plates. Place 4 slices flank on each salad. Set slices of apple between the steak slices. Garnish with blue cheese. Eat and drink an autumn pale ale with this great beef and cheese salad entrée.
MAHI MAHI
Atlantic mahi mahi grilled with roasted garlic aioli, jalapeno, raspberries, rum and pumpkin fries.
It seems that when the full moon is up more than werewolves prowl. Beyond the moors of Northeast Georgia and across the boiling hot piedmont region of South Carolina lies Charleston Harbor and beyond there when the moon rises the surface of the ocean comes alive with feeding sea creatures. Lucky for us this includes mahi mahi. Long a sport fish and for many a good luck symbol the mahi mahi is a staple fish for many tables in the South. Great on the grill and great sautéed mahi mahi is fine with any high heat preparation. I have poached it in extra virgin olive oil to great success. Poached in olive oil? Yes! Keep the oil at 120 degrees and lower the fish into the oil and cook for 15 minutes. Perfection. It is not oily. In fact it is simply moist, velvety and cooked to the same temperature as the oil. Poaching is not frying.
Pumpkin fries! Yes anything can be fried. Peel, seed and cut into classic french fry sizes. Put in cold water bath and leave in refrigerator over night. This will help them to crisp when it is their time for the oil.
Roasted garlic aioli makes for a very rich fish. Brush it onto the fillets while they are grilling. This version of aioli does not contain egg. Originally back in the pre Caesar days of the Etruscans they made aioli simply by mashing the roasted garlic and olive oil into a paste. All the other stuff (eggs) came later with the French. We will use rum instead of lemon juice to thin out our aioli.
October is a great time for blackberries and raspberries. Use them in all the places that you can from salads and entrees to desserts and teas. The jalapeno is there just for the flavor and the heat. Jalapeno is a nice addition to this smooth entrée.
AIOLI
6 cloves garlic roasted
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 ounces dark rum
1/3 teaspoon pink sea salt
1/3 teaspoon fine ground black pepper
Roast garlic wrapped in aluminum foil in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove and place in blender. Turn blender on and slowly add the olive oil, then the rum. Set aside till time to cook.
GRILL FISH
4, 6 ounce fillets mahi mahi, skin off
Hot grill. Grill fillets for 5 minutes each side; more if you like it cooked well done.
FRY
20 french fry cuts pumpkin
2 cups frying oil like peanut or corn
Fry in oil at 350 degrees for five minutes. Remove from oil. Place in 300 degree oven and bake for 10 minutes.

OTHER
12 slices jalapeno
20 raspberries, large, ripe

Remove mahi mahi from grill. Paint one more time with the aioli. Arrange pumpkin fries in criss cross pattern on plate. Set fillet next to potato. Garnish with raw jalapeno slices and raspberries. Grilled squashes would be perfect with this crisp dish.

Have a great time this Fall. When you are not cooking at home please go out to eat and enjoy the Autumn flavors offered by our beautiful South. Especially at my new home, “Chef Lamar’s Iron Grill”!

SIGNS
A voice soliciting sunrise,
She throws back a cup of sweet Kenya coffee,
Offers crumbs to the cardinals on the back porch,
She watches as they flit away, hunting,
Crunching seeds, scratching mulch,
Rousing the six o’clock yard dogs
From their dreaming running across the fields,
Waking me with barks, chirps and laughter.
Seems a whole zoo is loose out here today.
Seems a Rothko sunrise, layered, the way the leaves
Crank out the colors one by one into the other,
The Autumn palate goes hazy,
And there is no blues before this sunrise,
It’s all a shout of raw sienna rock and roll.
Bacon on the stove top,
Buttermilk biscuits in the oven,
Cold orange juice and a kiss so sweet
It seems that wars really were fought for her.
A kiss at dawn so sweet that the world is at peace.
The world rests in her arms the way it should.
And I am more a man just by being so blessed;
Blessed to be with her on this brisk October morning.

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