FINNEGAN’S VENISON
Growing up, corned beef and cabbage was a St. Patrick’s Day tradition in our household, though, to my knowledge, no one actually eats the stuff on the Emerald Isle itself.
Corning venison is incredibly easy. To learn how to do so, I consulted James Beard Award-winner Hank Shaw’s method at honest-food.net. Whenever I want to try something new and get it right the first time, I look to Hank. The guy’s a scholar and technician when it comes to wild game.
For cooking the corned venison, I adapted a recipe from my former stomping grounds, The Elk Public House in Spokane, Washington. Surprise: It involves cooking the corned venison in beer — Walnut River Brewing’s Warbeard Irish Red, in this instance, though any dark ale or amber will do.
No Irish meal would be complete without some amazing potatoes. I cooked the slices directly on a baking steel made by Steelmade USA for some crispy red potatoes. Doused in The Bearded Butchers Original spice mix, they were quite the treat.
Curing ingredients (four servings):
• 3- to 5-pound venison roast (round roast works great)
• 1/2 gallon water
• 1/2 cup kosher salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 15 ml Instacure No. 1 (sodium nitrite)
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Other ingredients:
• 36 ounces Irish red or dark ale
• 48 ounces chicken stock
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon stoneground mustard
• 2 tablespoons corn starch slurry
• Salted butter
• Freshly minced baby dill, optional for garnish
• Four to six large red potatoes
• 1 whole cabbage, cut into sixths (stem attached)
• 24 ounces hard apple cider
• 1/2 cup malt vinegar
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
To prepare:
1. Before adding venison roast, mix all curing ingredients in a large pot and bring to a low boil. Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Remove and cool in fridge. 2. Add venison roast and allow to cure for minimum 1 week.
3. After 1 week, rinse off roast and place in large pot. Cover with beer and chicken stock. Barely simmer for minimum 3 hours, until desired texture is reach (venison roast should have some give and not feel rock hard).
4. In a separate pot, cook finely diced yellow onion on low in butter until caramelized (likely 45 minutes). Add liquids in which corned venison cooked — along with stoneground mustard, white wine vinegar, and sugar — and bring to a boil.
5. Allow liquids to reduce to approximately half. To make corn starch slurry, do so 1 tablespoon at a time. Add drops of cold water to corn starch in a bowl and mix with fingers until it’s a slurry. Add to liquids to thicken. Continue to add corn starch slurry until desired thickness is reached (should resemble a glaze).
6. Cut cabbage into six pieces (do not remove stem) and cook in a large pot in hard cider and malt vinegar with a dusting of kosher salt and pepper. Add water to cover if necessary.
7. Wash and cut potatoes into 1/2- to 1-inch slices and dust with spices. Rub with sunflower oil (or canola or vegetable oil) and cook in oven at 450 degrees.
8. Once all ingredients are cooked, sliced corned venison and cover in glaze and garnish with baby dill and enjoy!
Any questions, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram: @WildGameJack.