HOME & LIVING
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021
Think your venison’s too
gamey? This chef says
you’re not cooking it right
By GRETCHEN McKAY
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PITTSBURGH — Dave
Racicot has been a deer
hunter longer than he’s been
a professional chef, which is
to say: a very long time.
The Indiana, Pennsyl-
vania, native was around 10
when he starting hunting
with his maternal grand-
father, Joseph Farine. He
quickly discovered it can
be pretty boring sitting in
a stand for hours at a time,
patiently and quietly waiting
for a buck or doe to wander
within sight.
“I went every year with
Pap,” recalls Racicot, 43,
who’s been executive chef at
The Commoner restaurant
in Hotel Monaco, Down-
town, since 2019. “And it
was always boring, cold and
wet.”
What made it worth
it was the fact the family
got to eat venison when-
ever someone was fortunate
enough to harvest a deer.
“Everyone who says they
hate it or don’t like it, it’s
been overcooked.”
“It just tastes so good,”
he says of the meat, which,
depending on the cut, was
roasted, dried into jerky,
stuff ed into sausage or
turned into a spicy, hearty
chili.
Racicot continued that
tradition when he grew up
and switched to archery
hunting, which he says is
more challenging, emotional
and intimate than hunting
with a gun. “If I didn’t
enjoy eating [deer meat], I
wouldn’t do it,” he says.
While he has yet to har-
vest a deer this year, he still
has plenty of venison in a
deep freezer in his Oakmont
basement from previous
years, all of which he pro-
cessed himself from start to
fi nish. He has some in the
fridge in his garage too.
Not a fan of venison?
You’re not alone. Deservedly
or not, deer meat has some-
thing of a bad rap outside of
the hunting community.
Racicot has heard the rea-
sons why a thousand times,
and shakes his head every
time: It’s too dry! It tastes
gamey! It’s not safe to eat!
Actually, says the chef
who has cooked at Nema-
colin Woodlands Resort’s
Lautrec, Notion and Poulet
Bleu, if your venison dish
tastes lousy, well, it’s
because you’re not cooking
it right.
“Everyone who says they
hate it or don’t like it, it’s
been overcooked,” he says.
But serve it rare to medium,
and “it’s amazing.”
Rich in iron and full of B
vitamins, venison is lower
in fat and calories than beef.
Because it’s so lean, and fat
protects against inexperi-
enced cooking, it’s pretty
easy to overcook and dry it
out. In addition, poorly pro-
cessed meat just won’t taste
good. Deer can only hang
in coolers for a limited time
before spoilage begins, and
this year’s shortage of pro-
cessors means some hunters
may end up butchering their
deer themselves, even if they
don’t know how.
To create a winning dish,
you not only need to cook
it properly — hot and fast
for tender cuts like steaks
and chops, and low and slow
for the tougher round or
shoulder — but also make
sure you procure it from a
trusted source.
In Pennsylvania, it’s
illegal to sell deer meat
unless it’s farm-raised and
BAKERS
Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-TNS
inspected. But the good
news is, even if you aren’t
friends with a generous
hunter, venison is fairly easy
to fi nd around here.
It will, however, come
from a farm instead of the
woods, and it likely won’t
be the white-tailed species
you see in Pennsylvania’s
woods. Most retail ven-
ison, including that from
Highbourne Deer Farms in
Dallastown, York County,
comes from red deer raised
on pasture, grain and hay.
It generally costs a bit
more than beef. Strip Dis-
trict Meats sells ground ven-
ison from New Zealand for
$11.99 per pound. The store
also has venison bistro fi lets
($62.99 for 3 pounds), ven-
ison medallions ($27.99 for
four 4-ounce medallions),
venison tenderloins ($55.99)
and a venison Frenched
rack ($78.99). All are vacu-
um-packed and frozen.
You also can purchase
it online or by mail order
through retailers such as
Whole Foods, Cabela’s and
D’Artagnan.
Its relatively high price
is why you don’t often
fi nd venison on restaurant
menus, says Racicot. It can
easily run $48 a pound,
with fi ne dining places often
charging upwards of $42
for a prepared 5-ounce por-
tion, “which is a really small
piece of meat,” he says. “So
it’s diffi cult.”
To drive home how easy
it is to cook a piece of ven-
ison well, Racicot recently
prepared a 6-ounce tender-
loin from his private stash in
The Commoner’s commer-
cial kitchen.
After covering the steak
with a very generous amount
of salt — a lot of it falls off
in the pan, he explains — he
crushes a couple cloves of
garlic on the stainless-steel
counter with the palm of
his hand, peels it and sets it
aside with a small bundle of
fresh thyme and half a sliced
shallot.
Placing a small carbon
steel skillet on the burner
over high heat (you can use
any thick pan you’re com-
fortable with), he pours in 3
tablespoons of grapeseed oil,
a neutral oil prized for its
high smoke point. When the
oil sizzles and emits a slight
whiff of smoke, he places
the tenderloin in the pan.
“You want it hot and fast
initially,” he says.
After about 2 minutes,
he turns the steak over, adds
3 tablespoons of butter and
immediately turns down the
heat. After the butter melts
into the oil, he adds garlic,
shallot and thyme, and starts
spooning the fragrant, siz-
zling liquid over the steak
again and again.
“This is where the
cooking process happens,”
he says. While it’s not neces-
sary, basting allows the meat
to cook faster and more
evenly.
Four minutes later,
when the steak is a golden,
caramel brown, the chef
declares it done. The entire
kitchen smells terrifi c.
After letting the meat rest
for at least 4 minutes — 133-
135 degrees is right for mid-
rare to medium — he slices
it across the grain, plates
it with the aromatics and
spoons a simple huckleberry
gastrique on top.
“The longer you let it sit
without it getting cold, the
better,” he notes. A taste
reveals Racicot is on the
money: While you can tell
you’re not eating beef, it
doesn’t taste gamey, just dis-
tinctive in a good way.
When he cooks ven-
ison at home for his wife,
Kelly, Racicot typically pre-
pares it with winter spices
and roasted root vegeta-
bles because “it just makes
sense.” It’s a little more
upscale served on the job,
with braised red cabbage,
caramelized apples and
sauces made with beets and
juniper berries.
“See?” he says with a
smile after a reporter takes
two bites. “It’s good!”
VENISON CHILI
“This recipe works well, it’s easy
to make and any number of sub-
stitutions can be made and it’s
still tasty,” Racicot says. He likes
to garnish it with cheese and
sour cream, with some crusty
bread or oyster crackers on the
side. Cocoa powder adds to its
depth and richness.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1cup diced peppers
1 habanero (optional)
6 cloves garlic, smashed
and chopped
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 ½ tablespoon cumin
¼ tablespoon cayenne
½ tablespoon cinnamon
2 pounds ground venison
12 ounces beer (Iron
City, of course)
24-ounce can chopped tomatoes
6 ounces tomato paste
15-ounce can kidney
beans, optional
¼ cup cocoa powder
Salt, to taste
Shredded cheese, scallions and
sour cream, for serving
Add oil to large, heavy-bot-
tomed pan set over moderate
heat. Add onion, peppers and
habanero (if using) and cook
until peppers are tender, 7-10
minutes. Add garlic and cook
until fragrant, about 30 seconds,
then add spices and venison.
Cook, breaking meat up with a
spoon, until it’s no longer pink,
about 5 minutes.
Add beer, chopped tomatoes,
tomato paste and kidney beans
(if using) and stir well. Add cocoa
powder and stir well to combine,
then season with salt.
Reduce heat to low and cook
chili for a few hours, stirring
occasionally as it thickens.
Serve hot in a bowl with what-
ever garnish you like.
Serves 8.
— Chef David Racicot, The
Commoner
change of pace this time of
year,” Voll said. “You can
only eat so much pie.”
Continued from Page B1
Transfer to a lightly
fl oured surface and form
dough into a 7-inch round.
Cut the circle in half, then
cut each half into 4 pie-
shaped wedges. Place the
scones on the baking sheet.
Brush tops with a little
milk or egg wash.
Bake 18 to 20 minutes
or until golden brown. A
toothpick will come out
clean.
The scones are always
best the day they are
baked. They can freeze
well for one month.
New recipe for honey
pudding delights
Thanksgiving guests
Venison prepared by Dave Racicot, executive chef at The Commoner
restaurant in Hotel Monaco in Pittsburgh.
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — B3
Even with all the baking
she does at the bakery and
her home during the holi-
days, Jenny Voll can’t help
but try new recipes this
time of year, especially
when they come so highly
recommended by one of
her employees.
“One of our newer
employees — we had a
potluck and she brought
this in,” said Voll, man-
ager of the Golden Delight
bakery in Gahanna. “She’d
been talking about it for
months. We all went crazy
for it. I’ve already made
it two times and my sister
has made it, too.”
The honey pudding
defi nitely lived up to the
hype.
All 10 people Voll
hosted for Thanksgiving
loved the dish and it’s
already on the menu for
Christmas festivities, but
she said she’ll most likely
double the recipe then.
“One time around
for everybody is just not
enough,” she said with a
laugh.
The recipe is pretty
simple, especially for a
homemade pudding, as it
just requires constant stir-
ring and making sure the
consistency is right. Voll
recommends making sure
the mixture thickens on the
stove and if it’s still a little
watery, bakers can add a
little more cornstarch.
Plus, she said the sweet
honey fl avoring is a great
addition to the holidays.
“It goes well with
Christmas,” she said. “I
feel like the honey pudding
is very comforting.”
She added that it could
be used as a topping on
cake or ice cream, but her
family prefers it by itself.
“We really like honey
in our family — it’s a nat-
ural sweetener,” she said.
“When we travel, we like
to try to pick up diff erent
honeys.”
The cookbook the
recipe comes from — “The
Elder Scrolls: The Offi -
cial Cookbook” by Chelsea
Monroe-Casse — says
the taste can vary slightly
depending on what kind of
honey is used.
Voll said she enjoys the
creaminess and although
the pudding needs to be
refrigerated to harden, she
defi nitely sneaks a few
bites while it’s still warm.
“Pudding is a nice
HONEY
PUDDING
Makes 4 servings
2 cups whole milk
1 whole vanilla bean, or
1 teaspoon extract
½ cup honey
1 cup heavy cream or
whipping cream
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 egg yolks
Pinch salt
Pour the milk into a medium
pot over medium heat. Split the
vanilla bean down the middle
with a sharp knife and scrape out
the seeds. Add the seeds and the
pod to the pot of milk, and bring
to just under a boil. If using vanil-
la extract, just pour it in. Add the
honey and stir for a few minutes
to allow the vanilla to steep into
the milk. Fish out the pod, scrape
any remaining seeds from it and
discard.
In a separate bowl, whisk
together the heavy cream,
cornstarch, egg yolks and salt.
While still whisking, pour a little
of the hot milk into the bowl to
temper the mixture, then pour
everything into the pot. Cook
for about fi ve minutes more,
stirring all the while, until the
mixture has thickened notice-
ably. Remove from heat, strain
into a clean bowl, and cover with
plastic. Chill for at least an hour
to help the pudding set.
Customers wait all
year for beautiful,
puff y springerle
The requests for the
Original Goodie Shop’s
springerle start coming
long before Thanksgiving,
even though Debbie Smith
and her two daughters
make them only during the
holiday season.
However, people are
more than willing to wait
for them.
“They’re some-
thing people seek out,”
said Smith, whose
father bought the Upper
Arlington bakery in 1967.
“People come in asking for
them because they can’t
fi nd them anywhere else.”
She’s not sure where
the recipe came from —
whether her father got it
from the man he bought
the shop from, his mother
or somewhere else — for
the anise-fl avored German
cookies.
All Smith knows is they
are a favorite of her family
and customers, alike.
She suspects it’s
because they have an
embossed design on them
created by a resin press
(usually featuring depic-
tions of olden days, such
as gristmills or fl owers),
making them unique.
But it also could be
their fl uffi ness as they
“poof up like a pillow” in
the oven. In fact, they are
called springerle after the
German word for “jump.”
“Some people like to
dry them out and dunk
them in coff ee, others
eat them right out of the
oven,” Smith said. “My
mother always sat them out
for a week before she ate
them.”
She said that although
the recipe is fairly simple,
the cookies can be
time-consuming because
bakers have to let them sit
for 24 hours for the imprint
to set and then, they’re
baked in a low temperature
oven.
As far as the press goes,
people can buy them at a
few online shops. (Smith
knows as she sadly had to
replace her decades-old
one in 2009 after it went
missing.)
She and her daughters
are always thrilled to pull
out that press each holiday
season.
“I just saw a lady
in here who said, ‘I’ve
been buying these for 50
years,’” Smith said. “Food
and goodies are some of
our favorite things this
time of year and they’re
linked to memories.
Like you eat Grandma’s
cookies and it takes you
right back to that kitchen.
Those things do make you
happy.”
GERMAN
SPRINGERLE
Makes 150 cookies
1 pound, 12 ounces whole
egg (roughly 14 eggs)
3 pounds, 4 ounces
granulated sugar
½ ounce salt
6 ounces powdered sugar
¼ ounce ammonia bicarbonate
15 drops anise oil
¾ ounce anise (½
ground, ½ seeds)
2 pounds pastry fl our
3 pounds cake fl our
Heat oven to 335 degrees.
Whip eggs, sugar and salt in
a large bowl. Then, incorporate
powdered sugar, ammonia bicar-
bonate, anise oil, ground anise
and anise seeds into whipped
mixture.
Sieve the fl ours into a large
bowl. Add whipped mixture to
the sieved fl our and mix by hand.
Flour your surface or baking
sheet and place dough on top.
Cover with a damp cloth.
Roll dough in workable
amounts to about ½-inch-thick.
Imprint with your springerle
press. Cut the cookies. If the
dough gets too stiff , mist with
water and knead.
Let the cut cookies rest,
uncovered, for at least 6 hours or
up to a day.
Bake at 335 with door cracked
open for 30 minutes. Then check
for golden bottoms.
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