Wild game stews are among my favorite of meals. What follows are generic directions for making wild stew: Amounts of all ingredients will vary according to the size of the group you wish to feed. Basically, there are two types of wild stew: red...and white. Venison (Incl. elk, moose, mulies, along with whitetails) waterfowl and snowshoe hare are for making red stew. Cottontails, grouse, pheasant, turkey are good for white stew.
Ingredients: Meat -- Figure one pound of stew chunks for three hungry hunters...more if you plan to have seconds (Note: If you know,
or suspect your meat is tough...pound it well before shaking/cooking.)
Vegetables --We use unpeeled redskin potatoes cut into roughly 1-1 1/2" chunks: 1 1/2 med. potato/person
Carrots 1 - 2 carrots per person -- cut into inch long chunks
Onions -- use 1" boiling onions --one per person...maybe a few extra
Mushrooms -- small whole mushrooms: 2/person; Sliced large mushrooms: 1/person
That's all we use for vegetables; add others if you wish
Liquid -- This is the key to making a good stew: For each quart of liquid for red stew (make 2 quarts to start...more if/when you
need it; amount depends on providing enough liquid to submerge & cook the meat and vegetables)combine: 3 1/2
cups of water...1/2 cup red wine...4-5 beef bullion cubes...one vegetable cube. For white stew, combine: 3 1/2 cups
of water...1/2 cup white wine...4-5 chicken bullion cubes...one vegetable cube.
Cooking Directions: Shake meat in unseasoned flour...brown quickly in hot butter; Do this in small batches in the same heavy pot that you will
finish the stew in, removing and keeping each batch on a plate until all the meat is browned. (Note: As you do this, the
makings for a mighty fine roux (sp?) will collect on the bottom of the pot...the makings for a nice light stew gravy when
scrape it loose and stir it into the stew liquid.) When all the meat is browned return it all to the pot...add a quart of
stew liquid and stir/scrape gently to dislodge the roux. (Note: for a real big batch of stew, you may have to add 2
quarts of liquid right away.) Bring the meat and liquid to a boil...reduce to a simmer and cook for an hour and a half.
Add the vegetables and simmer for another 30 - 45 minutes until the vegetables are tender. (Note: Add the mush-
rooms for the last half hour only.) Leave the cover off your pot as the vegetables cook....this will help to thicken your
stew. (Stew can be thickened even more by using flour or powdered gravy mix just before serving.)
Serving: For us, there is only one way to serve wild stew....In a bowl, over one or more hot, split buttermilk biscuits!!
Our favorite red stews are venison and snowshoe hare. (Note: Goose stew is not bad if the stew chunks are soaked overnight in V-8 before cooking.) Our favorite white stew is cottontail...by a mile!
OK.....Now go raid that freezer for some good stew makins!
L-Wes
