Friday, December 08, 2006

Venison, Corpses and Comics

It is not every day that a girl gets to eat deer for the very FIRST time. Especially a deer that was killed with a bow and arrow by Scott's dad. Bits of this deer have been sitting patiently in the fridge at Chez Wild for weeks and I was lucky enough to try some with a yummy cranberry sauce recipe (thanks Scott's mom!).

The meat looked strange, unlike anything I have ever seen before. There were no fatty bits whatsoever. It reminded me of the giblets my mother loves to devour at holiday meals.


Apparently, venison has gotten hip recently. According to Wikipedia, "What was once considered a meat for unsophisticated rural dwellers has become as exotic as ostrich meat to urbanites."

To prepare mentally for this deer feast, I spent the day quizzing the office staff on their experiences with venison. Most said it was tasty but stressed that how it was cooked was key. Below is the deer coated in thyme, salt and pepper. Mmmmm...

And you can't have venison without biscuits, or that is what Scott says. He was busy cooking the meat so I made my first batch of biscuits. Not as hard as I suspected and delicious for dipping in the cranberry sauce. Lucky that Scott reminded me to add the milk or the biscuits would have been awfully flaky.


Venison has an odd smell. It could have been the vinegar or the thyme but me thinks it was the deer. Fragrant and musky - like a whiff of the forest - but maybe that is my over-active imagination talking. The deer simmered in its bath of cranberries until it was ready to eat! Oh boy!




The meal was delicious. The deer was soft and tender. Not too gamey at all. I expected some deep dark taste like duck but it was light and not too dense. The sauce was delicious and good for dipping biscuits into. Desert was chocolate cake with berries and whipped cream. Hells yeah.

And to top it all off, exquisite corpse comics, Sharpie highs, Helen Mirren, Prime Suspect and the first big snowfall of the year. Sigh, times are good. Next time, you can draw the head Scott, I promise!

Later, Scott told me more about the deer's death. After getting hit in his rump with an arrow, the deer took off running through the woods. After waiting a bit, Scott's dad tracked the deer to where it lay dead. It's body had expanded from the pressure of the blood escaping as it was breathing heavily.

Poor deer. I hope he knew that we would one day appreciate him soaked in cranberry sauce. Or maybe, it is better if he didn't know that. But I am thankful nonetheless. With much respect, I thank you deer for this full belly.


10 comments:

Suzanne Lowell said...

i love doing "equisite corpses," though i've always called them writing roulettes with my students. always had to remind them about no violence and farting though...

the le duo said...

venison does have a unique odor- at about age 12 I decided that I hated venison- we ate it sooo often in the winter I was sick of it- so I didn't eat it for probably almost ten years- but then I tried some a few years ago and fell back in love with it. Now I have a freezer full of chops and burger- those urbanites can choke on their ostriches before they make MY venison hip!

Eva the Deadbeat said...

i gotta admit that i had some trepidation about the deer. what if i took one bite and wanted to spit it out again? but it was actually quite tasty and delicate.

i think i had an ostrich burger once while on a road trip. it didn't taste too bad either. i guess meat is meat, really.

i hear the Faust show was awesome last night JB, good job! and "Make My Venison Hip" should be your next band name me thinks, or at the very least, a song title.

Eva the Deadbeat said...

oooh, "writing roulettes," i dig that! sounds so dangerous! i guess the appearance of poo, farting and genitals is inevitable when doing an exquisite corpse with kids (and adults for that matter).

at my going away weekend party in Cali, a bunch of us got super stoned and drew a zillion exquisite corpse comics and drawings. some of the most fun i have ever had - art and good friends, a great combo.

it is hard though cause you gotta hide the part you are working on but also leave guide lines for the other person - and i always end up hogging more than half the panel (as my poor mom can attest to). ah well, good clean fun for the family!

the le duo said...

thanks! I saw Margot there, but was kinda busy before the show so I didnt say hi. I heard she was there on official 7days business, so hopefully she is kind to us ;) she should be, though- the play is funny as hell- the singers are fantastic- and the orchestra is quite good (if I do say so myself) ok bye

Eva the Deadbeat said...

yeah, it sounded like a great show so pats on the back all round! and to quote my sister: "And on an unrelated note, I saw Puppet Faust tonight, and it was awesome! I'm kind of a Faust nerd, and I loved this version; it made me want the CD of Gounod's opera."

Unknown said...

I'm not reviewing the puppet opera, technically speaking, but check the B section next week. I wish I could review it, because I used to teach Faust (the Goethe play version) to students who didn't understand it at all. Meghan (who wrote the script) DID get it, as did the actors. (Goethe meant it to be heavy but also funny, even silly, and they captured that.) The opera I wasn't familiar with, but I liked it! The singer who did Marguerite was particularly awesome, and I liked what I assumed was the supplementary music. There was some at the opening that sounded like my Dad (also Eva's dad, by the way) wrote it. Who was the composer???

Susie said...

Venison jerky is delicious too. YUM!

Eva the Deadbeat said...

yum yum yum!!!! deer jerky!

the le duo said...

"Who was the composer???"

I think the composer was Charles-François Gounod with quite a bit of Gahlord Dewald (Meghan's husband who directed instead of playing bass because of a broken arm) thanks again for coming!