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One of the best Venison recipes ever
Should I have called this Rudolph Tartare? Well, I did make it at Christmas and my poor little Amy nearly cried when I told her what it was dear me. My Venison Tartare Recipe came about because my mate Rutherford said he had some Venison for a Christmas dinner, but didn’t know what to make with it.
I happened to be sitting in a pub mulling this one over when a mate said he had lunch at some posh restaurant and ate Venison Tartare. The Chef light-bulb moment happened, and I created one of those rather interesting venison recipes, but would also sit in the same category as easy venison recipes because it really is simple and quick, but so effective.
I love this dish and really think it is up there with the best venison recipes you’ll find. How beautiful does that look plated? Maybe I need to add a little greenery and fresh herbs on there next time?
As Venison Tartare is an interesting Venison recipe let's have some FAQ to quash any fears from ISLIFEARECIPE-dia
I have seen so much mention of recipes of Venison Tartare by Great British Chefs. Surely that means something.
If you look on Google there are so many mentions and recipes for;
- Venison Tartare
- Venison Sashimi
- Venison Carpaccio, and
- Raw Venison recipes
Like any raw meat, fish or shellfish there is always a risk. For example, I have eaten Chicken Sashimi in Japan. Raw chicken, yes, and it as delicious. So, likely down to the individual and your ‘food risk barometer’.
Your venison might be perfectly fine, but if you have a dirty cutting board or knife or even hands you can wreck the whole thing. Sanitation is very important when serving raw food. Keep it cool. Just as sushi should be served cold, so should your Venison tartare.
In a very basic summary it is raw meat. Beef or steak tartare is made from raw ground steak (and sometimes horse meat). In this recipe he raw meat ingredient is Venison, aka Bambi.
For added flavour, the steak can be mixed with capers, Worcestershire sauce, herbs, pickled vegetables, and more. I used quite a citrus kick for this recipe due to the slight edge of ‘gamey’ flavour from the Venison.
Well, it is simple. It is basically raw Venison meat served as a dish. There are heaps of raw venison recipes, but for mine below I used some citrus overtones and the like to bring out the meat flavour and reduce the ‘eyes’ focus on; “It’s raw!” to more; “Wow that looks pretty…”
And now to the Venison Tartare Recipe
I think my Venison Tartare looks pretty damned good, and I’d order that if I saw it on the menu (with a picture).
A couple of top tips for you when using raw Venison in your cooking;
- Venison can be quite gamey in its flavour so you need to counteract that
- It can be quite sinewy too so more time on meat preparation is needed trimming out any fat and sinew – this is really important as you don’t want chewy, you just want super-tender ‘chew less’ meat
- Venison goes really well with tart fruit, citrus, and pickles. A YingYang moment.
This is easily enough ingredients for a 4-6 PAX sharing platter of Vension Tartare deliciousness;
- 1/2 Kg of Venison meat – I used a piece of fillet off a shoulder joint
- 2 finely chopped red onions
- 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar
- The zest of half a lemon
- 2 Tbsp of dried, and roughly chopped
- Cranberries
- Blueberries
- Apple
- 2 Tbsp of dried pumpkin seeds
- Sea salt and cracked black Kampot pepper
- One egg yolk.
OK here we go, my Venison Tartare Recipe;
- First finely chop those red onions, place them in a bowl and pour in the vinegar – yes you are lightly pickling them
- Clean the meat by removing any fatty/gristle/sinew within the meat, and any of the fatty stuff that sits on the muscle
- Take your time, as this is a raw meat dish don’t forget, and nothing must be chewy – this is critical as you do not want chewy Tartare, you want ‘melt-in-mouth’
- You should be left with beautiful deep-red meat and no white fatty bits
- Start cutting the meat up as fine as you can to a mince (I suppose you could use a Blitzer – but I am a purist
- Put all the fruit together and rough chop
- Mix the chopped fruit and nuts with the meat (keep back a little to garnish the dish)
- Drain the red onions from the vinegar and stir them in (discard the vinegar)
- Add two good pinches of sea salt, and a good crack of Kampot black pepper;
- Stir it all through
- Arrange it on the plate as you can see, and create a small hollow in the middle to drop in your egg yolk
This surely is one of those interesting venison recipes, but would also sit in the same category as easy venison recipes because it really is simple and quick, but so effective I think you’ll agree?
Finally, sprinkle all over with the lemon zest, and remaining fruits and nuts. Sprinkle some more sea salt and cracked Kampot black pepper. Serve.
