AArdvark wrote:

Plus, two-buck Chuck.

Hey, now we're talking! Nothing like a good wine to improve a meal. There's a quote like that, but I ferget what it was.

"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti." - Hannibal Lecter

Plus, two-buck Chuck.

Hey, now we're talking! Nothing like a good wine to improve a meal. There's a quote like that, but I ferget what it was.



THE
NAPA DEATH VALLEY
AARDVARK

I would exempt Trader Joe's from that list, since their prices can, and often are, actually lower than you'd find at a grocery megachain.

Plus, two-buck Chuck.

pinback wrote:[...] you, personally, can usually get venison from the frozen section of your local "Vitamin Cottage" or "Natural Grocer" store. These are awful, awful places that no right-thinking individual would ever enter, except if they needed venison.

Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Henry's, and even the local co-op grocer, Berkeley Bowl, fall into this category. I'm not sure why any store that tries (or pretends) to sell high quality produce, adopts this "hipster, yuppie, hippy" thought and automatically doubles their price for commodity goods.

For example, the other night I was shopping for produce at Berkeley Bowl and decided "I'm kinda craving a tombstone pizza" and harked back to the "What do you want on your tombstone?" commercials I ingested as a child. Going to the frozen aisle, they were selling medium, pepperoni pizzas for between $9 - $11 (and they were on sale).

I stopped by a Safe Way (who still jacks up the price), and their price was $4 for the exact same pizza. Bloody christ...

Since you, personally, live in the Denver area, you, personally, can usually get venison from the frozen section of your local "Vitamin Cottage" or "Natural Grocer" store. These are awful, awful places that no right-thinking individual would ever enter, except if they needed venison.

Which you do.

You NEED IT!!

This sounds delicious. I don't know where to get venison from, though!

Help!

I made this on Halloween while the wife had the kids out trick or treating.

INGREDIENTS
---------------
2 pounds venison stew meat, 1/2-inch dice
1 large vidalia/sweet onion, 1/4-inch dice
3 largish parsnips - peeled and cut into discs
4 largish carrots - peeled and cut into discs
3-4 ribs celery - cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 medium turnip - peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 tbsp (approx) tomato paste
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 large can (approx 30 oz) peeled/crushed tomatoes
3 potatoes (russet) peeled, 1/2-inch dice
32 oz Beef Broth (low sodium)
1 can (10.5 oz) Cambell's Beef Consume soup
Couple of tablespoons of flour
2 tsp White pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
3 Strips of Bacon
Olive Oil/Veg Oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup Red Zinfandel wine
1 bunch fresh thyme - strip leaves off woody stem and chop

DIRECTIONS
---------------
- Toss flour, cayenne, salt and a bit of the white pepper into zip loc bag
- Toss stew meat into bag and shake it around
- Heat oil in heavy pan until shimmering
- Shake off excess flour
- Brown meat in batches so each piece is spread out on bottom of pan - not touching each other
- Toss browned meat into pot with beef broth, tomatoes, consume, tomato paste, Worcestershire and all veggies except for the potato - let this shit start warming up over low heat. (I used a crock pot for this step).
- Throw the diced bacon and onions into the pan you browned the meat in. Let this cook down over medium heat until the bacon is crispy and the onions are translucent. Don't put the heat any higher than medium - you don't want to burn the onions. When this is cooked throw it in the pot as well.
- Turn the heat up on your pan to medium high and de-glaze the pan with the wine. Scrape all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan into the wine - let it simmer for a minute or two, then dump all that in the pot.
- Let the stew simmer on low for 3-4 hours. Right before it is done - throw in the thyme.
- Boil the diced potatoes separately for 12 min or so until they are fork tender. Then cool them off and toss them in the stew once it is done cooking. This is to keep them from turning to mush in the stew and falling apart later.

Salt and pepper final result to taste.

Edited - added Thyme step.