Before I was deep in the rabbit hole of the whitetail hunting world, I was exploring how to cook healthy and consistently delicious meals.
I remember leaving my house in Ritchie County and embarking on a four-year journey in Morgantown, attending West Virginia for my undergraduate studies. That first year was great in terms of what I learned, whether about my future career path or myself. I rolled the dice at the last minute and chose to go into journalism rather than following my long-time plans of becoming a music teacher. But aside from realizing I made the right choice with my degree path, that first year was also brutal in terms of my diet.
I grew up with a mother who was obsessed – in a good way – with healthy eating. Almost everything she preached and did was holistic, whether it was food, exercise or boosting our immune systems. So when I went from healthy, homemade meals to the wide array of our dining halls, none with truly healthy options, that “freshman 15” was an unfortunate reality for me. After escaping the clutches of dining halls following my freshman year, I moved into my first shared apartment with two of my best friends and immediately got into learning how to rear my diet and get back to that healthy lifestyle.
Maybe it was fate that it was also the same summer I began to get heavy into deer hunting. While I didn’t go out and buy my first bow and shoot every day, I did go out and buy my first high-powered rifle, my eyes on the doe and buck gun seasons. I still use that Remington 770, which certainly isn’t the best rifle out there but it gets the job done. Unfortunately in that first year, I didn’t bag my first deer, but luckily for me, my brother got his fill and graciously gave me a good amount of meat. That’s when I realized how versatile venison is.
Those first few meals were a variety of tacos with homemade salsa, an easy but fun recipe to always start out with. For the salsa, I experimented with mangos and apples, each providing their own interesting taste to the dish. Since then, I’ve worked with so many cuts I can’t remember every experimental recipe I’ve concocted, but I remember each one being as good or better than the last.
Now, things are a little bleak. We’re still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, our public lands are filled with people – some who care about them and some who don’t – and the nation seems violently split about almost everything. But we’re still a few weeks into deer season and we have a job to do – fill our freezers with meat for ourselves or our families.
Even though we’re heading into the time of the season some refer to as the “October lull,” which isn’t a real thing, we had that really nice cold front roll through last week and this week we’re seeing low-70s and high-60s. There are still deer out there to harvest if you put your mind to it and work a little harder than you would in the first or last weeks of October.
Still, I know some of you may be taking a break, so to kill the time, I’d like to provide you with one of my new favorite recipes. I worked off a recipe found on the Blind Pig and the Acorn but cut a few things out that I didn’t find necessary, and added my own recipe for a red mole to top it off. All in all, it was relatively simple to throw together and tastes amazing. It works great for a few different applications, whether you’re eating it straight off the plate or in a tortilla, it’s a great meal for those chilly evenings we’re still getting.
As always, good luck out there. Be safe, wear your safety harness if you’re in a tree stand and make it out of the woods for more seasons to come.
Venison roast with not-so-traditional mole and yellow rice
Ingredients:
Roast:
1 venison roast (mine was cut into two pieces)
1 pack of peppered bacon
1 stick of butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp old bay
3 tbsp of brown sugar
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp black pepper
Parsley or cilantro for garnish
Mole:
Half of the bacon that will cook with the roast
2 ancho chilis
2 dehydrated jalapeños
1 dehydrated Fresno chili
1/2 white onion
6 cloves of garlic
2 cups of roast dripping liquid, strained
1 cup reheated pepper water
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp red chili flakes
2 tsp ground celery seed
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
Steps:
- Preheat your oven to 220 degrees.
- Pat dry the meat with paper towels and then add to a baking dish.
- Mix together your spice mixture and rub the meat until completely covered. Depending on the size of your roast, you may need to mix more spices together.
- Add enough water to cover the bottom of the meat, roughly a quarter of an inch.
- Melt 2 tbsp of the stick of butter, then sauté the garlic. After 30 seconds, melt the rest of the butter. Be careful not to burn the garlic. After the rest of the butter melts, pour the mix over the roasts.
- Cover the meat in the bacon.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar over the meat.
- Cover with tin foil, then put in the oven for four hours. Depending on the size of your roast, you may need more or less time. Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature.
- Once the meat is done, set it aside to rest. Remove half of the bacon. Strain out the dripping liquid into another bowl, you will use this for the mole.
In the last 30 minutes of the roast cooking …
- Set your dehydrated peppers into a glass bowl. Cover peppers in boiling water and let them sit for 15-30 minutes.
- Cook your rice. I buy yellow rice at the store and follow directions as given. Once the rice is done, remove from heat and set aside.
- Once the peppers are done, reheat the same water to boiling. You want to work relatively fast on the sauce.
- Once rehydrated, put the peppers into a food processor or blender with the onion and garlic. Add the bacon, 2 cups of the strained out drippings liquid. Begin pulsing the mixture until thick and mixed together.
- Add 1 cup of the reheated water and the spice mixture. Mix until consistent. If you want to thin the sauce more, add 1/4 cup of water until your desired consistency.
- Plate, serve and enjoy! Garnish the roast with parsley or cilantro.
I also like to steam broccoli and then sauté it in garlic oil and red chili flakes for two minutes as another side. The mole pairs wonderfully with the crunchy broccoli. If you’re making tacos, serve with a citrus crema.
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