Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 1/2 kg / 3 lbs boneless venison, cut into cubes
- 1 boudin noir sausage, casing removed and crumbled
- 125 g / 1/4 pound chicken liver, finely diced
- 1 tbsp. heavy cream
- 2 medium carrots, grated
- 1 large onion, grated
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- Small bunch fresh parsley
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 8 juniper berries, roughly crushed
- 2 Bay leaves
- 15 black peppercorns, roughly crushed
- 1 bottle Côtés du Rhône Red wine
- 1/4 cup Armagnac (preferred) or VSOP cognac
- 125 g / 1/4 lbs bacon or lardons, in small pieces
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons duck fat or goose fat
- 2 Tablespoons rye or whole wheat flour
- 15 to 20 shallots, peeled
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 125 g / 1/4 lb dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated in 1 pint of game stock (preferred) or beef stock and sliced – reserve soaking liquid!
- 125 g / 1/4 lb fresh morels, chanterelles or porcini mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco or to taste
- 2 Tablespoons VSOP cognac
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Day 1:
- Pour the brandy and the wine into a pot and bring to a boil. Let it boil for a few minutes to burn off most of the alcohol. Turn off the heat.
- Combine venison, carrots, onion, garlic, 2 sprigs of parsley, Rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, juniper, peppercorns Armagnac and wine in a large bowl.
- Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 48 hours to tenderize the meat.
- Day 2:
- Preheat oven to 160 C / 325 F.
- Take venison out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking it.
- Sauté the lardons or bacon in a dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove the bacon and set aside.
- Remove the venison from the marinade and blot dry with paper towels.
- Strain the marinade into a bowl, saving the herbs and vegetables, set aside.
- Season the meat with salt and pepper, dust with flour.
- Add duck or goose fat to the bacon fat in the pot, increase heat to medium high.
- Add the venison and brown on all sides; work in batches so as not to crowd the pot.
- Return all meat to the pot, sprinkle additional flour, add bacon.
- Cook, stirring constantly for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the reserved marinade.
- Bring to a boil.
- Cover and place in oven for 2 to 2 ½ hours. Once the venison is supremely tender, carefully remove it from the pot and set aside to cool.
- While the meat is cooking, melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat.
- Add mushrooms and shallots and cook for about 8 minutes.
- While the meat is cooling, run everything left in the pot through a food mill with a medium plate. If you don’t have a food mill, run it through a food processor or use an immersion blender.
- If you are doing this without a food mill, you really should push the blended mix through a sieve or chinois.
- Clean the Dutch oven, or get another large, lidded pot.
- Return the strained, blended stew to the pot, and add the Tabasco, the mushrooms and shallots.
- Bring this to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until the onions are nice and soft.
- Return the pieces of venison to the pot and retest for salt. Add generous amounts of freshly ground black pepper.
- About 15 minutes before the end of cooking time, add the cognac and mushroom soaking liquid – be careful, there may be grit in it.
- Blend the liver, the blood sausage and the heavy cream together in a food processor or blender.
- Turn off the heat on the stew. Wait until you see no movement of the stew from simmering or boiling, then add a ladleful of the stew to the blood-liver-heavy cream mix. Stir well. Do this again. Now pour the mixture into the stewpot and gently stir it in to combine.
- You will be amazed at how well the stew just thickened. DO NOT LET THIS BOIL.
- Serve at once, topped with chopped parsley and accompanied by crusty bread, a green salad, and a superb red wine.
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
