Char

Deer Meat Sausage Pasta Sauce

Wild game is one of the primary foundations of soul food. Back in the day, the slaves only ate the discards of the food, not the prime rib! We had to hunt, trap, kill, clean, dress, and cook our own food. I remember when I was a child my dad always went hunting and it was rare for him to return bare-handed.

One of my earliest memories of butchering an animal is being taught how to skin, gut, and prep a rabbit for the pot! Today, there’s a fast-food restaurant on every corner and a grocery store not too far away. For many people, this means, no longer is it necessary to hunt your own food. In fact, many hunters today, do so for sport only which I do not agree with. If you’re not going to eat it, please don’t kill it!

I happen to live in a state that has loads of wildlife that are allowed to be  hunted. We have pheasant, wild turkeys, and other small game that has permitted seasons for hunting. One of my favorite meats lately is deer meat or venison. You can buy venison in some specialty stores and online but I have friends who hunt, so for the price of a tag (license), it’s mine! It’s a real bargain to get about 20 pounds of deer meat for the price of a $6 tag and $55 meat processing fee. Deer meat is super lean so you can eat it even if you’re on a diet!

I especially like the tenderloin which is what we get when our deer is processed. Deer roast, tenderloin, sweet sausage, hot sausage, pepper sticks (deer jerky), and ground deer are what we get. The sausage and pepper sticks is a little extra but worth it! This year, I started making my own deer sausage and I’m very happy with the results! I thought you may enjoy giving it a try, so I’m including my deer sausage recipe for you. One way that I like to use deer sausage is in pasta sauce. Brown the deer meat, combine it with tomato paste & sauce, peppers & onions, etc. Add your favorite spices and seasoning, and voila! Simply delicious!

Some of the Spices I Use to make deer sausage,

TIP: As I said, deer meat is super lean so to make a true deer sausage, you have to add fat. The easiest way I have found to do that is to do a 50-50 mix with one pound of ground deer and one pound of ground pork.

When my dad taught me how to make gravy, I was probably about 13 or so. I had been cooking for a while by that time, I’m sure I had made gravy before, but my dad taught me how to make graving by starting with a roux. The important thing though is that he did teach me by starting with flour and grease (we never said oil back then). Daddy never told me that his way of making gravy was called a roux. I didn’t really learn about the complexities of a roux until I went to culinary school, years later. Since culinary school, I can say I no longer make my roux with flour and grease, even though back in the day when Daddy was teaching me, the grease was mainly bacon grease – so, y.u.m.m.y!!! Today, I use roux for different reasons and in different applications. Sometimes for gravy, sometimes for sauce, it depends on what I’m making. Something else I learned in culinary school was that roux comes in a variety of colors. There are blond rouxs, brown rouxs, red rouxs and black rouxs. The darker the roux, the more intense the flavor!

I use a light or blond roux if I’m making the gravy for creamed chicken or chicken pot pie. I use a medium to dark roux for brown gravy or if I’m making gumbo. Different color rouxs for different dishes. This is the recipe for a basic roux. The longer you allow it to brown, the more intense the flavor and the darker the color. But be careful not to burn it, and yes there is a difference that you can taste!

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup plus AP flour

1 quart of broth or water

Melt butter on stove top using a 4 quart sauce pan or large cast iron skillet, using a medium heat. Once the butter has melted, turn the flame down to medium low. Add flour and stir until it reaches the consistency of peanut butter. Brown roux to the desired shade. When preferred color is reached, add liquid to the roux. I usually prefer to use broth but you can use your choice of liquid, including water, milk, juice and stock. Once you master making roux, it will be your “go to” choice for thickening soups, sauces and gravies.

Quick Tip: One of my chef instructors taught us to make a batch of roux to keep near the stove to use as needed, instead of starting a roux from scratch every time we needed to thicken a dish. I tend to do this when I’m working on a big meal and I have many dishes that will need thickened, gravy to be made etc. Make a batch of blond or light to medium brown roux. When it reaches the color you want, remove it from the heat and keep in a covered container near the stove. If you have any left over that you won’t use for a while, you can keep it in the refrigerator until you need to use it.

I’ve known for years that Patti LaBelle loves to cook and that Sis Patti’s mac and cheese was something that even the rich and famous rave about! While putting this soul food recipe sharing web site together, I decided to add a category for celebrity chefs – famous and not so famous! I will upload the best recipes I can find from our beloved celebrities. The first celebrity is Sister Patti and her famous mac & cheese. For Sis. Patti’s mac & cheese recipe, we’ll go to her website  and get the recipe straight from the source! Enjoy!

Linquine with beef chunks is another one of my Aunt Winnie’s recipes that she could make like no one else.  Her linguine with beef chunks was simply wonderful. Big chunks of beef with a rich, savory tomato sauce seasoned with Italian herbs and spices. She always served it over what I called “flat spaghetti” when I was a child.  Today I know it’s called linguine! 🙂