The Pot Thickens

Okay, I wanted to entitle this post "Road Kill: Phase III", but that sounded a little disturbing, and not quite mysterious enough. So "The Pot Thickens" it is, and it's both a reality, and a catchy play on words (yes I know, I wax ever wittier as I lumber towards middle age.) But allow me to explain. For those of you keeping score (or at least reading Clare's blog or my blog), you will remember that a week or so ago, Clare and I happened upon a deer that had been struck by a car (actually, we saw it happen.) Since then, I have been doing various things with the venison that I harvested from the doe. To date, I've only tried a bit of the jerky I made from some of venison I cut up. I'm not really a jerky person, but it was okay I guess, and the people who've tried it who actually LIKE jerky have told me it's pretty good, so I guess I did something right.

Anyway, tonight I decided we'd use some of the stew meat and have a go at venison stew. So we got out the Dutch oven, used it to cook up some bacon (both to eat in sandwiches for dinner, and for the bacon drippings), and dropped in a couple pounds of cubed venison. After browning the meat, we added some seasoning, chopped onion, and enough water to cover everything, then set it to simmer for a couple hours (it has just under an hour left at the moment.) When the timer goes off, I will add the bowl of veggies pictured below (carrots, celery, and potatoes.) Then the mixture will cook for another 30 minutes at least, to soften the vegetables. Finally, we'll pour in a mixture of flour and water to thicken everything into a stew, cooking it for a few more minutes to blend everything together (when did this become step-by-step cooking instructions? This isn't an episode of "Cooking With Matt", or at least I didn't intend it to be! *g*)

Oh well. With luck, we'll end up with a nice Dutch oven full of tasty venison stew. I'll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime, here are some exciting pictures for your viewing pleasure! Bon appetite!