Recipe - Basic Venison Stock

5 pound Bones, cut or chopped small
2 pound Meat cut into One half inch cubes
2 md Onions, chopped into 1/2
inch pieces
2 md Carrots, minced small
5 Ribs celery, minced small
1 cup Dry red wine (or 1 cup apple
juice)
1 One half ga Water
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 tablespoon Juniper berries (optional)
2 Bay leaves
One half cup Tomato paste

yields about 1 gallon

Method: Roast bones and meat on a rack in a roasting pan at 400 degrees
until well browned about 40 minutes. Put celery, carrot and onion on top
of meat and brown also, another 15 minutes. When browned, discard fat in
the pan and put bones, meat, vegetables in a pot large enough to hold
everything. Put roasting pan on a stovetop burner over medium heat, pour
wine into pan and deglaze, scraping any browned residue off pan and add to
stock pot. Add water, covering the solids, and remaining ingredients.
Bring to a gentle boil then cover and reduce heat to a very slow simmer for
at least six hours, skimming occasionally. Uncover and simmer for four
more hours or until reduced to a gallon of liquid. Strain, discarding
solids and cool, uncovered. Cover when fully chilled (and not before or it
may sour).

To make larger batches, just multiply everything except thyme, juniper and
bay. For each doubling of all the other ingredients, multiply them by 1
One half or they'll be too strong.

That's the basic stock from which we'll make these two sauces. The first
one is rich; a good sauce to put on venison no matter how you've cooked it.
The second is the fullest taste of venison you're ever likely to find, with
a very deeply concentrated flavor. This first sauce, Venison Espagnole, is
what's called "a thickened reduction" and the second, Venison DemiGlace,
begins with the first and more of the stock, then goes to a yet further
reduction. In each case, flavor is more intensified and developed than in
the stages before.

Posted to FOODWINE Digest 23 November 96

Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 17:46:56 0800

From: Bob Pastorio pastorio@RICA.NET