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Friday, February 05, 2010

My deer roast recipe



I recently discovered how to cook a deer roast and get it to be pink all the through. I adapted a recipe for prime rib that called for low heat and a long cooking time. It seems to work great for deer - pink from the outside to the core and not dried out. Perfect.

Ingredients:
1 deer roast (August or September deer is best - nothing can save a rutty deer)
Garlic Paste (I like Amore brand)
1 teaspoon thyme
2 pinches of kosher salt
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil

Needed:
Roasting pan and rack
Good instant read meat thermometer

1) Wash and dry the roast off and rub all over with garlic paste, salt, rosemary and thyme and drizzle olive oil on top.
2) Put on a rack and insert meat thermometer so that the tip is in the center of the roast.
3) Place roast (on rack and in roasting pan) onto middle rack of oven preheated to 220 degrees.
4) Cook until roast hits 118 degrees (about an hour or so) and then turn oven up to 500 degrees and broil roast for 10 minutes or so until the meat temperature reads 125 degrees (the high heat creates a crispy and tasty rind on the outside) - this is the critical part: if you like it rare take it out around 123 degrees and if you want it more medium rare take it out around 128 degrees. In the old days I cooked my roasts at high heat and removed them from the oven at 119 degrees and it continued to cook while resting outside the oven until it reached 135 degrees or so. With my new method the temperature does not continue to rise as long or as much. But it still gets up to 135 degrees. The roast pictured was removed at 124 degrees and while perfectly rare for my tastes might be on the too rare side for some. Do not over cook the roast - well done deer is REALLY bad - if you like your meat well done make a pot roast and do not try this recipe.
5) Let the roast rest on a plate for 20 minutes or so. I wait until the temperature of the roast reaches around 135 degrees and then starts to drop. I use the time to finish and brown my roasted vegetables (made in a separate pan at high heat) and to make gravy in the pan I cooked the roast in (I usually put chopped up onions under my roast at the beginning and then after I remove the roast I brown the onions and make gravy with them).
6) Cut the meat up and serve! I like to serve my deer roasts with gravy and roasted vegetables.

Photos: The meat with roasted vegetables in the background.
Stuey doing his infamous "bologna tongue" move. The kids are all about funny mouth noises and tongue acrobatics.

7 comments:

My Little Family: said...

Patrick that looks delicious and I'm not wild about deer meat - even Kodiak deer. You should check out the dessert recipe on my blog. I believe it would be a perfect accompaniment and Nora could help make it.

My Little Family: said...

Oh, and I was going to say we sometimes have people wanting different degrees of doneness and have learned that dipping a slice of prime rib in a pan of hot aujus will take rare to medium in about a minute. I'm thinking the same might be true in your gravy.

gpc said...

It's beautiful -- I tried that low and long prime rib recipe and wrecked my roast, so I am definitely impressed. Maybe I'll give it another shot when I can afford it!

Zoya said...

I think deer meat gets a bad rap because too many people hunt them in November. November deer are just plain awful - all rutty. With August deer there is absolutely no gaminess. It tastes better than beef! Patrick

Isiik said...

Looks like a great recipe. Better hold on to it!

Unknown said...

great recipe, and i have been preparing venison for decades. easy,easy,easy.

Zoya, Patrick, Nora and Stuart said...

Robert, thank you for the thumbs up! Lately I have even been cooking the roast at an even lower temperature. And yes it is easy easy! Ptrick