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Festive Family Style Wild Game Meal

So this one is going to be a little different, you are going to get an entire Festive Family Style meal in one recipe post.

Keep in mind if you do not have the rack from your harvest you can use the backstrap or any tender cut for this recipe.

Thank you to Margie Nelson (Wyld Gourmet) putting this together. Read her blog about this meal on our Blog Page here.

We use RecTec pellet smokers/grills for all of our outdoor cooking and all of our wild game is processed using Made With Meat equipment.

Recipe by Margie Nelson (Wyld Gourmet)

Rack of Whitetail Ingredients: (1Tbsp each)

  • Whole juniper berries 
  • Whole mustard 
  • Peppercorns 
  • Whole coriander 
  • Whole carraway 
  • Dried Rosemary 
  • Dried Thyme 
  • Kosher salt 
  • Truffle oil 

 Method:

Crush all of the dry ingredients with a morter and pestel or you can mash them with a rolling pin on a hard flat surface.  If you are using the morter and pestle add the truffle oil and continue to crush in the oil.  If you are using a rolling pin, place all the crush herbs and spices into a boil and mix in the oil. 

Smear the entire outside of the meat portion of your rack with this rustic rub.  Pre heat your oven or smoker to 450F then roast in your smoker or oven at for 15 minutes, remove from the heat and cover in foil and let it rest for an additional 15 minutes. 

Slice into individual chops and serve with Lingnonberry sauce. 

Lingnonberry Sauce

Ingredients: 

  • 2 cups dehydrated lingnonberries (amazon) or use cranberries 
  • ½ cup water 
  • ½ cup orange juice 
  • ½ cup cane sugar 
  • ½ cup brown sugar 
  • ¼ tsp ancho chili 
  • ¼ tsp allspice 
  • Pinch of salt 
  • Zest of ½ of an orange 

Methods: 

Put the berries, water, juice and sugars into a sauce pan and heat to boiling.  Lower to a simmer and simmer for half and hour, until thick. Add the spices and zest and continue to cook on low for ten more minute. 

Enjoy with your favorite wild game, Swedish meatballs or waterfowl.  It really is just good with anything. 

Venison Chorizo

Ingredients:

  • 4 pounds venison, lean wild hog or bear (yes, I said bear) 
  • 1 pound pork fat (hopefully from your wild hog or from your local butcher) 
  • 1 minced sweet onion 
  • 3 Tbsp kosher salt 
  • 1 Tbsp sugar 
  • 6 minced cloves of garlic 
  • 4 Tbsp of smoky paprika 
  • 3 Tbsp of ancho chili powder 
  • 2 Tbsp of ground oregano (Mexican oregano if you can find it) 
  • 1 Tbsp of ground cayenne 
  • 3 tsp of ground cumin 
  • 1 tsp of ground cinnamon 
  • 1 tsp of ground cloves 
  • ½ cup white vinegar 
  • Hog casings 

Methods: 

Cut your meat into chunks to fit your grinder and grind on the large grind disk.  The do the same with your pork fat.  Mix well by hand or with your sausage mixer.  Add all your spices and mix until well combined and run through your grinder one more time on the small grind disk.  Put all of this into the freezer for about an hour or so. 

Prepare you casings to the manufacturers specifications and prepare your stuffer with the casings. 

Stuff the sausage into the casings all at once.  Twist off your links to your desired size. 

Hang the sausages in a cool place over night (the colder it is where you hang them, the longer you need to hang)  If it is warm in your kitchen or garage only hang for about one hour if you are going to eat them soon they will last about a week in your refrigerator. 

If you are going to freeze the sausages, wait at least a full day before packaging and labeling.  This will tighten them up to help them keep their shape. 

Venison Chorizo Cornbread

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp bacon grease or 2 Tbsp vegetable oil, plus more to grease the pan. 
  • 1 chopped small sweet onion 
  • 1 pound venison chorizo (recipe attached) 
  • 1 chopped small green pepper 
  • 3 chopped stalks of celery 
  • 1 chopped poblano (red or green) 
  • 3 crushed garlic cloves 
  • 3 sliced scallions (separate the white from the green) 
  • 8 cups chunky crumbled corn bread, or two boxes of cornbread dressing (I used the box kind) 
  • ½ cup chopped parsley (flat leaf or curly) 
  • 1 tsp each kosher salt and white pepper 
  • 3 cups chicken or turkey stock 

Methods: 

Grease the inside a 13×9 baking dish or the equivalent.  Preheat your oven to 375F.  Heat up your cast iron skillet to medium high add the bacon grease and add the chorizo, breaking it up as you would burger for tacos, add the onion, bell pepper, poblano and celery cooking over medium high until the sausage is thoroughly cooked then add the chopped garlic and the white part of the scallions.  Stir constantly for about a minute then remove the skillet from the heat. 

Transfer the mixture and any liquid in the bottom of the skillet to a large bowl and add the cornbread.  Stir and mix well.  Add the chopped parsley, salt and pepper.  Stir this all up well.  Add the stock stirring well to combine thoroughly.  If you use the boxed version of cornbread let it set for about 20 minutes until all of the liquid is absorbed.  It should be well soaked, but not goopy.  Add more stock if too dry.   

Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish.  Bake 25-35 minutes until nicely browned.  Serve garnished with the green parts of the scallions. 

Note for Christmas….I added 6 chopped roasted chestnuts to the dressing mix and also garnished with arils of Pomegranate  and I am not sorry.  The green of the scallions and the reds of the Pomegranate simply shout out Merry Christmas!!  And the added sweet/tart pop of the arils pairs well with spice of the Chorizo. 

Potato Stacks

Ingredients:

  • 4 yukon gold potatoes 
  • 3 Tbsp Olive oil 
  • ¼ cup shredded gruyere cheese 
  • Salt and pepper 
  • Fresh thyme 
  • garlic 

  
Methods: 

Preheat your oven to 350F/180C.  While the oven is preheating add about 2 cloves of minced garlic to a cold pan and add the olive oil.  Warm the two together in the pan releasing and infusing the oil with the garlic.  Do not let the garlic get brown, but gently heat the oil until you can start to smell the garlic. 

Slice the potatoes ideally with a mandolin set at the smallest slice.  If you don’t have a mandolin slice the potatoes by hand as thin as possible.  Slicing thin will help with a good thorough cook and nice crispy edges.  I leave the skins on the Yukon golds because I like the way they look, but feel free to peel your potatoes if you would like. 

You can either cook these in muffin pans or straight onto a baking sheet.  Brush the inside of muffin tin or brush the bottom of the sheet with your oil, then put all of your oil and potatoes into a large Ziploc to coat each piece of potato nicely with your infused garlic oil.  Layer your stacks from larger rounds on the bottom to smaller at the top adding a pinch of gruyere cheese between each, then salt and pepper liberally on top and garnish with stripped thyme leaves. 

Bake your stacks for 35-45 minutes.  I go 45 because I enjoy the crispy edges, but I start looking at them and paying attention to their color at around 35 minutes and go from there. 

Honey Butter Carrots 

If you can get carrots in multi colors with their greens still attached…get a bunch of those, enough for 4 people (about one pound)  If not just use some full size carrots. This is such an easy way to make these beautiful carrots.  And you can use the greens as garnish for the finished meal. 

Cut the greens off about 1-2 inches above the top of the carrot.  Peel the carrots and slice them in half if they are fat length wise, if the carrots are small you can cook them whole. Preheat oven to 425F/220C.  

While oven is preheating prepare the Honey butter by melting ½ stick of salted butter and adding ½ cup of honey.  Heat until well mixed and a pinch of ancho to bring the flavors to a head.   You can omit the chili powder if you like, but it is not hot, just flavorful. 

Place the carrots on the sheet pan with a little olive oil (1 Tbsp) and toss them good with the oil and arrange in a single layer.  Baste the carrots with the honey butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper then put into the oven at 425F/220C for 20 minutes.  Continue to baste again halfway through cooking then pour the rest of the honey butter over the carrots in their serving plate. 

[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Festive Family Style Wild Game Meal – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]
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