Wild Gourmet - Venison Pasty

The migrants of Cornwall spread the Cornish pasty to mining communities across the globe, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is one area where the tradition fervently continues. The pocket of earthy flavor is as good and portable lunch as can be had, perfect for picnics, afternoons in the deer blind, or as part of a hearty winter dinner.

Dough

1. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together.
2. Crumble in the shortening and venison fat, mix by hand until loosely combined. Do not over mix.
3.  Mix ice and water together and stir to thoroughly chill water, measure out ¾ cup water and combine, by hand, with the dough mix. Do not over mix. Set dough in cooler for a minimum of 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
4. Place cold dough ball on well-floured counter and roll out to ¼-inch thickness, cut out 5-inch diameter circles. Keep dough circles in cooler until ready to fill.

Venison Pasty Stock

1. Trim the venison roast of all fat and sinew (reserve) and dice into ¼-inch cubes, sprinkle with salt and blended pepper.
2. Peel and dice rutabaga, parsnip, turnip, celery root, and winter squash into ¼-inch cubes, reserve all peelings. Do not save the rutabaga peelings if your rutabaga has been commercially waxed.
3. Dice half of the yellow onion and add to the venison trimmings and vegetable peelings, as well as 2 cloves garlic.
4. Warm ½ cup of goose fat in a medium stock pan and add the trimming and peeling mixture and sauté for 5 minutes or until onions become translucent.
5. Turn off flame and deglaze the pan with ¼ cup Madeira wine.
6. Turn flame back on to medium and continue to sauté for 2 minutes, add the venison stock and reduce the total liquids by half. Strain off the solids and reserve liquid.

Venison Pasty Mix

1. Heat ¼ cup of goose fat in a large sauté pan until sizzling hot.
2. Add the diced venison roast and sauté quickly, browning but only partially cooking all meat. Remove the venison and cool.
3. Warm another ¼ cup goose fat over medium heat and sauté all the diced vegetables plus the other diced half of yellow onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper accordingly.
4. Continue to cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, do not cook vegetables completely, leave them al dente.
5. Remove and cool vegetables.
6. Turn off flame and deglaze the pan with the remaining ¼ cup Madeira wine, reduce.
7. Add 2 tablespoons butter to the pan and melt.
8. Stir in flour and saute for 1 minute being sure to scrape all browned bits from bottom of pan then add the venison pasty stock, simmer and reduce until the liquids are nearly as viscous as gravy. Cool the liquids.

Filling Pasty

1. Mix all the cooled (room temperature minimum) venison, vegetables and demi liquids together.
2. Take pasty dough circles from cooler and fill half the circle with pasty mixture.
3. Fold over the dough and pie roll the edges together. Crimp together with a fork.
4. Filled pasties can be baked immediately or frozen until needed.

Baking

1. Preheat oven to 400°F for fresh/thawed pasties or 375°F for frozen pasties
2. Pasties can be brushed with an egg white wash for a crisper crust
3. Bake until golden brown. Fresh/thawed pasties for 15 to 20 minutes. 
4. Frozen pasties 20 to 25 minutes.

Attention Wild Game Chefs

As you know, sharing wild game recipes with the public helps deepen appreciation for wild-sourced foods and the benefits of responsible hunting. By showcasing how wild game can be both delicious and sustainable, we remind people of the value hunters bring to conservation and the sustainable food movement.

Your recipes can inspire others to view wild game as an incredible, natural food source, bridging the gap between field and table and building public support for our way of life. We’re crowdsourcing recipes for a new project and would love your contributions.

If you have recipes you’d like to share with the world, please let us know. Send us an email at [email protected].

Ingredients 

DOUGH    

3 Cups flour     

1-1/2 Teaspoon salt   

3/4 Teaspoon baking powder     1 Cup shortening     

2 Tablespoons venison fat     

1 Cup water     

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar   

 1 Cup ice

FILLING

1-1/2 pounds venison roast     

1 Rutabaga     

1 Parsnip     

1 Turnip   

1/4 Cup celery root     

2 Cups sweet potato or 
winter squash     

1 Medium yellow onion   

 4 Cloves garlic   

 2 Teaspoons each of fresh chopped rosemary, sage, oregano, and thyme         

Salt and pepper blend     

 1 Cup rendered goose or duck fat     

2 Tablespoons butter     

3 Tablespoons flour     

2 Cups venison stock or beef stock     

 1/2 Cup Madeira wine, a dry port or sherry can also be substituted

Note:  Do not substitute 
potatoes for rutabaga.

 

Wild Gourmet

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