oh dear oh deer

[shadoequin]

Dinner tonight could be interesting, but not in a good way. I decided I was going to make my first attempt at crock pot cooking today. I had a lovely venison roast in the freezer, and a bag of small red potatoes from the farmers market. It seemed the obvious thing to do. Except that this morning I discovered that, upon defrosting, the hunk of

Comments

[autumnsfire]

How much red wine did you add?

Cause...while yes, it does burn off during cooking, but..wow.

You might get drunk off a taste.

[shadoequin]

No kidding. I need to be careful!

[freydis]

crock pot cooking really only needs a little liquid, unless the meat has very very little fat.

Also, crock pot cooking almost always comes out awesome. I believe it will be good. :D

[shadoequin]

Venison. VERY little fat. But it's okay if this turns out to be a learning experience. :)

[sosoclever]

I'm going to echo freydis about the liquid. I don't have enough experience with slow cookers to agree with the second part, but I think it seems reasonable.

I make split pea soup in the CrockPot. The worst thing about it is that you start getting really hungry about six hours before it's done.

I'm going to try making steel cut oats in the CrockPot, too. They're supposed to help with milk production, and I really like them, but they take for freaking ever to cook.

Good luck with your steak-roast!

[shadoequin]

Ooooh, that steel-cut oats thing is a great idea! Thanks! Someone once told me to mix pumpkin with oatmeal in the crock pot, and I'll have to give that a shot, too.

[quiet_dignitea]

That sounds good! I'd worry more about using too much wine than too little. I'm also fighting the temptation to start saying, "You should add some of this, and maybe some of that. You're putting in this, this, and this, of course, right?"

[shadoequin]

::laughs:: I understand completely! There's not much in there: onions, celery, baby carrots, small red potatoes, and chunks of portabella mushrooms. For seasoning, just a bit of salt, pepper, and garlic, but I think I need to go get a nip of fresh rosemary from the herb garden and throw it in there.

What should I put in there next time? I'd love some advice!

[quiet_dignitea]

My experience with venison comes entirely from the consuming end, not the preparing end, so I probably don't have much of real use to say, but I seem to recall more turnips and parsnips than potatoes and celery.

[shadoequin]

Interesting! We always paired those with pork - I never thought to try them with venison.