+- WineBoard (https://www.wines.com/wineboard)
+-- Forum: GENERAL (https://www.wines.com/wineboard/forum-100.html)
+--- Forum: Wine/Food Affinities (https://www.wines.com/wineboard/forum-4.html)
+--- Thread: Venison (/thread-443.html)
Pages:
1
2
- Catch 22 - 11-28-1999
I now have access to some prime venison steaks. To start, they will be prepared by grilling after marinating in an acid (lemon, vinegar, wine) based marinade with basic spices (onion, garlic, thyme). Plan B is to pan fry, searing first, then sauteeing(?)in melted butter with some red wine after lightly seasoning with the above mentioned items. I'm thinking pinot noir to go with these cooking methods, but realize there are other ways to go. Suggestions, please.
- Innkeeper - 11-28-1999
The Banrock Station Shiraz/Cabernet that you posted below would be a better choice. Rhone with game is a reliable axiom though certainly not ironclad. In addition to Aussie Shiraz and blends, most of California's "Rhone Rangers" would be fine. If the venison is really good, and the occasion is special consider a Croz-Hermitage. If that atmosphere is too rare, head downstream for a Cote-de-Rhone.
All this is making me hungry and thirsty.
Innkeeper
- Jerry D Mead - 11-28-1999
You don't say if your venison is wild or farm raised...if wild I'd go with the former recipe...if domesticated I'd go with the latter.
In either case, MOST Pinot Noirs would be way too tame for the meat.
California or Australian Syrah/Shiraz are very good bets as are the native Rhones mentioned above...but a really big California Cabernet or Meritage could do yeoman duty as well. And don't forget Petite Sirah!
- Randy Caparoso - 11-28-1999
I would have to beg to differ, just slightly, with my esteemed colleagues. I think your original thinking -- Pinot Noir -- was sound from the perspective of acidity. If, say, in your first cooking method, the sharpness from the marinade will remain pervasive (as I'm sure you imagined), a Rhone style wine (Syrah or Syrah/Grenache/Mourvedre style blends) would be too low in acid. Dishes with zesty marinades definitely make such wines taste dull, plodding, even coarse. You need a red with zesty acidity.
But as Curmudgeon pointed out, most Pinot Noirs don't have the heft to handle well marbled, slightly gamey venison. But not all are like that. The '97 Babcock "Grand Cuvee," for instance, has incredible color, good tannin backbone, and opulently rich, spicy flavors -- on top of the intrinsic varietal snappiness. The Pinot Noirs of Dehlinger, David Bruce, Calera, and Beaux Freres also have good muscle and richness. These bigger styles of Pinot offend some "purists," but your venison just may be give them the food "home" they deserve.
There are other alternatives. Zinfandels from the Russian River Valley Zinfandel (De Loach) and Mendocino (Edmeades) also have tremendous depth, blackstrap tannin, and whipsnapping acidity to boot. Thirdly, a deeply colored, full flavored style of Sangiovese could also work. Babcock and Ferrari-Carano's Siena have both the richness and acidity to work with vinegary marinades, and make you break out in a lick samba song. As for the Sangiovese based wines of Italy, almost across the board, you'll find that the best '97 Tuscan estates are deep, dark, ponderous and sinewy. Unlike most vintages, definitely meaty wines for meaty dishes.
So here's what you should do: get ahold of a good, black Syrah from France or California, or an Australian Shiraz (take a look at the Rhone thread for some pointers), and then compare it with one of my suggestions. Then you'll be able to see for yourself which are actually better with your preparation. And your taste, in the end, is the only one that counts!
- Catch 22 - 11-28-1999
Thank you for the suggestions received so far. I'm feeling pretty good about the choices I made before this posting. I picked up a petite syrah as well as a David Bruce pinot noir just the other day, so I'm feeling validated!
WC, it's wild, not farm raised, but it was still very good with the pan searing method.
- Jerry D Mead - 11-28-1999
My comments re the wild game were based on personal experice with wild sagebrush fed California mule deer which can taste pretty wild and gamey and really like that marinade.
Add to the list of Pinot Noirs that will handle anything...Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. Do stay away frm those wimpy cherry-berry styles, so many of which come from Carneros.
And Daryl Groom's Geyser Peak Shiraz will have plenty of acidity.
- Randy Caparoso - 11-30-1999
Actually, I believe the others were talking about Syrah (also called Shiraz), not Petite Sirah. Petite Sirah is a totally different grape -- coarser, even lower in acid, and more one dimensional (peppery, but without the intense, sweet floral, black fruit, and brown spices). So you may not get the exact effect anticipated. Your choice of Pinot Noir, however, was very good.
- n144mann - 11-30-1999
I must agree with Randy here. My husband is a bow hunter and so each fall I have a freezer full of wonderful venison. While considered wild...because we are in MN, it is basically grain fed, which makes it very mild. I have served this with Pinot many times with great results. Enjoy!
I also like Randy's idea of the Sienna....I am going to have to bring that one home later in the week and give it a try.
Hey....since we are talking gamey things here....my husband also brought me a bunch of pheasant...any ideas here for an unusual preparation and/or wine to go with it?? Lacking in new and/or interesting pheasant recipes at the moment. :-(
Nancy
ps-so we don't waste boardspace on recipes ideas....feel free to e-mail them to me directly. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]
[This message has been edited by n144mann (edited 11-30-1999).]
- Bucko - 11-30-1999
Being a big lover of venison, I have it every chance that I can. I find that earthy Pinots e.g. Mount Eden and Swan work the best for me.
Bucko
- Jerry D Mead - 12-01-1999
Why would a good recipe be a waste of boardspace...bring 'em on!
- n144mann - 12-01-1999
Sorry Curmy, didn't mean to shut anyone out if they wanted in, but didn't know if it was appropriate to use board space for recipes since it is not a food forum, but a wine forum.
Maybe someone will have some ideas and post them for all of us to share.
Nancy
- Catch 22 - 12-01-1999
Nancy, if you make your own red pasta sauce, skin and quarter a pheasant and drop it in the pot of sauce. As it simmers, it cooks the pheasant nicely (and you can be sure the bird is never dry). When done, (I let mine go for 3-4 hours), just take the pheasant bones out and you're all set. Freeze the extra in individual portions in zip-type freezer bags and you have quick meals ready to go. Whatever wine goes with your style of sauce goes with this.
- Thomas - 12-01-1999
I like pheasant this way:
Split the pheasant in half and rub it with a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice, and put aside.
In one pan, saute diced carrots in olive oil for five minutes.
In another pan, one that will take a cover, saute a chopped shallot in olive oil (without covering) until translucent, then add two cloves garlic, chopped, and saute for one more minute.
Add the carrots to the shallots and garlic, plus the pheasant (breast down) and half a cup of veal or chicken stock; bring almost to a boil, then reduce heat and cover to simmer for about fifteen minutes (check the meat--get it how you want it; also, have some extra stock on hand in case it dries out).
Deglaze the pan where the carrots were with half a cup Madeira and let it cook down to half the liquid.
When ready to serve, pour the wine sauce over the pheasant.
I have had this dish with Pinot Noir, Riesling and Pinot Grigio--each gave it a unique boost.
- Thomas - 12-01-1999
I forgot: a little black pepper over the pheasant before putting it in the pan. Some use salt too; I never cook with salt.
- Jerry D Mead - 12-01-1999
Probably not with pheasant, but certainly with duck, capons and Cornish hens...my honey uses the elderberry wines of Wildwood Cellars in Mulvane, KS to baste and/or do sauce/reductions...the elderberry makes a great reduction too for sauces for lamb and sweetbreads. Left a bottle with my local chef to do some experimenting and those were a couple of the treats.
PS Re the recipes...food and wine are so closely related that when the recipe is appropriate to some wine discussion or other, I think recipes will be welcomed.
And if it we start getting lots of them, maybe we can ask Jackie to add a food/recipe/cooking folder.
- n144mann - 12-01-1999
Wow, I think the elderberry wine with the duck would be great. Do you have the address/phone number of the winery??
I was also wondering if you knew of any cranberry wines?? I had a customer in asking for one just the other day, but was not familiar with any.
Thanks Curmy
Nancy
- Innkeeper - 12-02-1999
Thought this was about venison. Please get back on track with this Venison Sausage and Sweet Potato Hash. Uncase and crumble a half pound of vensison sausage. Brown it in a tablespoon of olive oil in a large cast iron skillet. Meanwhile nuke a chopped Vidalia type onion in a tablespoon of olive oil till soft. Add to venison. Dice a half pound of sweet potato and nuke it with one more tablespoon of olive oil till soft. Add it to skillet along with several grindings of black pepper and a couple of dashes of Tabasco. Mix well and brown lightly. Reserve on warm platter in a warm oven. Fry three or four eggs (depending on number of servings) over lightly, and carfully place on top of hash. Sprinkle with sweet paprika, and serve for brunch with well chilled splits of Chandon Blanc de Noir.
- Jerry D Mead - 12-02-1999
Re the Elderberry wines...there are six different ones all together...five at various levels of sweetness and one herbed wine that makes the best apres-ski mulled wine you ever tasted with no additions necessary.
My three favorites are the Dry Reserve (not bone dry, but very intensely flavored), Sweet (sorta like drinking Port or Late Harvest Zin) and the Herbed Elderberry.
(The others are labeled Dry, Semi-Dry and Semi-Sweet.)
Wildwood Cellars, 105 E Main, Mulvane, KS 66710 (316) 777-9191; E-mail: elderwines@aol.com
And they're looking for distributors in additional states, or retailers interested direct importing via clearing through a local wholesaler...plus he's very good about shipping small individual orders.
- n144mann - 12-02-1999
Thanks Curmy, I will certainly look into it for myself, and will check with the GM of our company.
I can't remember if I asked this or not....do you know of anyone who makes a cranberry wine??
Thanks again for the info Curmy
Nancy
- Thomas - 12-02-1999
Nancy, someone in Massachusettes used to make cranberry wine: Sakonnet? Maybe they have a Web site.