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French venison stew - recipes from France

As a country with a long established hunting tradition, venison is a very popular meat in France. Often the deer are simply being hunted in an attempt to restrict their numbers - in our own region of France the hunters fail each year to kill their alloted quota of deer and the population continues to escalate. However, our local 'hunt dinner' often features venison stew!

Ingredients

Venison (up to 4 pounds)

Equal quantities of olive oil, port and wine for marinade (few tablespoons of each)

Flour

3 tablespoons bacon fat

1 1/2 cups hot water

1 cup wine, dry red

1 teaspoon mixed thyme, basil, marjoram

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 onion, large

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon coarse red pepper

3 carrots, scraped/quartered

3 potatoes, scraped/quartered

Recipe

• Cut the venison into bite-size pieces
• Marinade the venison overnight in a mixture of port, red wine and olive oil
• Dry the venison pieces, and roll the in the flour
• Brown in bacon fat, then add the wine, herbs, onions, salt and pepper.
• Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer two hours.
• Add carrots and potatoes. Cover and simmer for another hour, adding more hot water if needed.
• When the meat is tender and the vegetables done, serve hot with French bread.

 

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