Thursday, August 28, 2008

Venison Stew

I met a hunter today. Like, a real live hunter, as in, he's a man who has spent a large portion of his life providing for his family by hunting their food. You just don't meet men like that anymore.

He had an entire photo album full of pictures of his various hunting activities, which are certainly not limited to hunting deer. He traps beavers, otters, turtles even, although he said that he stopped trapping turtles because it sort of made him sad. Plus, he couldn't justify it economically. Turtle shell soup is just not that big a seller here in the states. Go figure.

He also complimented his wife a lot, a woman he clearly loves dearly, about her cooking skills with all the game he would bring home. She would cook anything he'd bring her, including muskrat, and he described all the different ways venison tastes, according to its diet (which, as you can imagine varies widely).

So he offered to make me some vension stew sometime, and I just didn't have it in me to refuse him. He started talking about all the ingredients that can make a rich broth, and it sounded delicious. I told him my husband would LOVE some venison stew, and he said, "You don't like meat?"

I smiled, gave a little sigh, and said, "It's a long story."

I briefly explained my issues, in the vaguest term possible. I told him that I do eat chicken about 3 times a month, and that I could make an exception and slip in some venison. That seemed to please him, and he waved me on my way.

I've never actually had venison stew. I'm looking forward to it, actually. Do you think Dr. Steinman would approve? Probably not. Oh well. How often does one meet a bonafide hunter? It's a once in a lifetime culinary opportunity.

I'll keep you posted.

3 comments:

Becky said...

I LOVE venison stew. It's really not too much different than beef stew, just a really healthier meat. I hope you get to atleast taste it. Thinking about you...

Rob Monroe said...

Good stuff if made right. Becky's right about it being just like beef stew.

Anonymous said...

Heather, you need to move to my ward. Every year, and I swear I'm not making this up, the men have a Wild Game Dinner. Matt's not a hunter (yes, I'm thankful for that), but he goes anyway and tries the exotic meats. It's kind of a competition: who can bring the weirdest meat?