From the field to freezer and then to the stew-pot. Venison stew is perhaps one of the most warming of comfort foods in Winter. My wife and I have been using traditional Pressure Cookers to make our Venison stew for years but we have fallen for the newer Electronic Pressure Cookers because they are very easy to clean and make timing and cooking a breeze with auto shut off, browning, simmering and saute as key features besides the pressure cooking. Retails for 100 dollars on Amazon and ships free right now. We love our Cuisinart! It is a terrific Christmas gift to you and your hunting family!

It is all in one.

Yesterday it was cold and raining so I felt like making a Venison stew. Electronic defrost on my microwave does a nice job in just 12 minutes. I just pop in the frozen vacuum sealed container of venison, set the defrost and hit start.

I like to cook the meat first and cook vegetables later with the meat. There are many Electric Pressure Cookers on the market. We have the Cuisinart below and like it very much

Ingredients:

1 lb cubed Venison

3 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tbsp Butter

4 tbsp flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Using the Coated Pot with lid off

Place oil and butter in pot with meat coated with flour

Set the Menu to Brown and hit start.

Stir and sear meat to brown and carmelize as you like.

To pressure cook stop the browning: Add 1 cup of dry red wine and 3/4 cup of beef stock.

Place Lid and high pressure cook for 8 minutes following the manual instructions.After the timer goes off I will let the steam out by turning the steam weight. When there is no steam coming out the seal indicator will show there is no pressure and you can open the lid.

It takes time to reach the correct pressure thus allowing you to cut and prepare vegetables. I use 4 Potatoes cut into 1/8 chunks, Two cups of carrot cut into chunks. Three medium onions quartered. Two cups Celery cut to 1 1/2 inch pieces. Add what ever else you want such as turnip too.

Add vegetables to the pot along with 2 bay leaves, 2 cloves minced or pressed garlic. You can add other herbs as you like. I put in a pinch of dried oregano, basil and thyme.

Put the lid on and Pressure cook for 7 minutes. Bleed the steam off as I said earlier and open the lid. I added more beef stock, a butter/flour rue to thicken if needed. Salt and Pepper to taste and add 2 tablespoons of dry parsley or fresh chopped parsley. 

If you like mushrooms in your stew, I would saute some ahead of time and add them at the end.

Serve hot with your favorite beverage (a dry red wine goes well)  with  a hot sliced French Baguette with real butter. Ok, I’m getting Hungry!

Serves 4.

© 2015