Venison, red wine etc.

[Efrogwr]

This is based on a reply from ElyDave to Torslanda's post about chocolate.

250g Venison marinated in red wine, then fried with four shallots, finely chopped.  Then into a slow cooker with the wine, 200g cranberries, 50g chilli chocolate, extra chillis (If you want...), smokedpaprika, salt and black pepper. Leave it all day, and enjoy for dinner with vegetables of your choice.

This is a work in progress. The first attempt went down very well. It just needs refining.

I used Moser & Roth Chocolate and a good value Zinfandel from Lidl. The berries are optional, but they need to be sharp; it would work with sour cherries, redcurrants or rowanberries.

Thanks to ElyDave for the idea.

[perpetual dan]

I think I read (possibly Hugh FW) that marinating in wine tends to make venison even drier than it naturally is (cooking in is fine). Have you tried other marinations?

[Feanor]

A +1 for the general idea that chocolate works well with red wines and gamey meat.

Also, liquorice is nommy with a meaty red wine ( but not with dinner! )

[Efrogwr]

I think I read (possibly Hugh FW) that marinating in wine tends to make venison even drier than it naturally is (cooking in is fine). Have you tried other marinations?

Not yet... A strongly flavoured dark beer is a possibility.

[Efrogwr]

A +1 for the general idea that chocolate works well with red wines and gamey meat.

Also, liquorice is nommy with a meaty red wine ( but not with dinner! )

If Mrs E agrees, perhaps we'll have red wine and chocolate, but skip the dinner bit!

[ElyDave]

My BIL said that last year's Christmas venison was tough after having been marinaded in red wine.  I didn't notice myself.

I tend to marinade steaks mostly in EVOO plus some acid like lemon/lime juice or a mild vinegar, plus red wine; definitely not predominantly wine, although it would definitely be used in deglazing the pan for a sauce.

The slow cooking below though sounds good, and being lower temp I wonder if it overcomes HFW's alleged toughening?

[Efrogwr]

My BIL said that last year's Christmas venison was tough after having been marinaded in red wine.  I didn't notice myself.

I tend to marinade steaks mostly in EVOO plus some acid like lemon/lime juice or a mild vinegar, plus red wine; definitely not predominantly wine, although it would definitely be used in deglazing the pan for a sauce.

The slow cooking below though sounds good, and being lower temp I wonder if it overcomes HFW's alleged toughening?

Possibly; the texture was more like that of shin beef after cooking. I think that the acid fruit helps, too.

What vinegar do you use? I sometimes substitute a splash of imitatiom balsamic for red wine.

[ElyDave]

tend to use whatever I have, balsamic, red wine vinegar, cider vinegar.