Venison Shoulder Braised in Chile Sauce

If you are into hunting and processed venison before, I'm sure you've had the backstraps, made jerky, sausage, or ground it into burger meat. Today, we are going to do something a little different, Venison in Chile Sauce

Recipe

Ingredients:

Chili Sauce:

  • 50 g Pasilla Chiles

  • 50 g Ancho Chiles

  • 500 ml water

  • 800 g Crushed Tomatoes

  • Coarse Kosher Salt to taste

Garlic mashed with Spices

  • 4-5 Garlic Cloves

  • 3 g (~1/4 tsp) Cumin seeds

  • 1 g (~1/2 tsp) Oregano

  • 10 sprigs Fresh Thyme

  • 2 Bay Leaves

  • 4 g Coarse Kosher Salt

Venison

  • 1 Venison Shoulder

  • Coarse Kosher Salt (about 5 g per pound of meat)

  • Fresh Ground Black Pepper

  • Flour to coat

To Braise:

  • Vegetable or Neutral Oil to cover pan

  • 1/2 white onion, thinly sliced

  • 500 ml Stock (Chicken, vegetable, or beef)

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 300 F.

  2. Heat a cast iron over medium high heat. Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chiles. Open them flat and toast them on the hot cast iron on both sides (be careful not to burn them). Let cool. Once cooled they should be crispy and crumbly.

  3. Pour the water, crushed tomatoes and salt into a high powered blender. Crumble in the chiles and blend until fairly smooth. Set aside.

  4. Prepare the garlic mash. Add garlic cloves and salt to a mortar and crush until a paste forms. Working one ingredient at a time, grind in the bay leaves, cumin seeds, oregano, and fresh thyme to form a rough paste. Add a little water to smooth it out.

  5. Liberally, season the venison shoulder with salt and pepper (Note: This can be done a day ahead of time and left in the fridge). Coat the venison with flour.

  6. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown both sides of the shoulder (4-5 minutes a side) and set aside on a plate. Turn the heat to medium low.

  7. Add the thinly sliced onions and saute for 2-3 minute. Add in the garlic spice paste and saute for another 1 minute. Pour in the chile sauce and the stock to combine. Return the shoulder to the dutch oven. It should be about 1/2 to 3/4 covered in liquid, add extra stock if you need to.

  8. Cover and place in the oven. Let cook for about 3 hours until the meat is tender and falling apart.

  9. Serve with warm tortillas or rice, cilantro, lime, salsa, etc.

Ethan Chlebowski