Venison Stew

My husband goes to hunt camp each year not for the actual hunting as he doesn't hunt but for the guys get away.  They always have a great time.  Any catch is split amongst the guys wanting venison so that's a nice bonus for me.  Venison is a lean red meat that can be used in place of beef for most dishes.  What little fat there is has a poor mouth feel so it is best to serve venison piping hot as well as add a bit of other fat to the dish.  Usually pork fat (eg. bacon, ground pork) is added to venison dishes.

One of our friends is an avid hunter to the point he and his wife very, very seldom ever eat domestic meat.  He hunts large and small game but as far as I know he doesn't fish which is a bit odd but hey, I fish and don't hunt.    Anyway, he always brings us wild game (eg. moose, deer, goose, turkey) ready for cooking or brings dishes he has prepared with wild game.  Now this hunter knows how to cook wild game!

Last Saturday night we had a get together and he brought a slow cooker full of venison stew.  It was absolutely delicious.  Being rather curious I listened for comments, chuckling a little under my breath at hearing him tell another guest that there was no recipe "I just cooked it".  You know some of the best meals come from just cooking it!  From appearances the stew was a simple on consisting of venison, mushrooms, carrots, onions and potatoes in a rich gravy but this stew had a secret ingredient that gave it a bit of pizzazz.  The secret ingredient, well not so secret anymore was hot peppers!  He didn't specify what hot peppers but I suspect red jalapeno.  The hot peppers added an amazing flavour without overpowering heat.  I will be experimenting adding hot peppers to my stew once my garden starts producing.  I think hot banana peppers would work nicely so this should be an interesting experiment!