Cooking Without A Camera -- Canned Axis

It's certainly faster to cook without my camera, but oh how I wish I could show you photos of the processes I describe. My photos tend to be more concise and make more sense than I am or do! Ah, well, my camera will get repaired eventually.

Today I updated my Stir Fry Recipe because I learned an awesome trick that gets me a much better sear on the meat used in the recipe. All this time I thought I couldn't get a good sear because I simply couldn't get my wok or pan hot enough, which I can't, but I found a way around this issue and thought you might benefit from it as well.

What I'm excited about today, however, is that I'm canning venison again! Woot! It's not much, 3.75 pounds that turned out to be just enough to fill three quart jars, but I love having canned venison in the pantry and I fully intend to can much more next time hubby takes a deer. A side benefit of canning venison is that it means less of my limited freezer space being taken up by packages of frozen meat.

I don't like White Tail Deer meat. Never have. It's too gamey for me and I can't eat it. I didn't grow up eating it and never developed a liking for it. But this.... this is Axis! And Axis is certainly a little gamey, but not like White Tail. Axis is delicious. And it's amazing canned! The gaminess of the Axis disappears when I can it. I use a *hot pack and can it in homemade Venison Stock or Beef Stock. It can, however, be canned in tomato juice. I'm eager to try canning White Tail in tomato juice to see if it's more palatable to me. I have yet to try canning White Tail at all and for all I know I may discover that the canning process helps enough with the gaminess of it that I can eat it no matter what kind of liquid I can it in.

Canned venison looks disgusting. All canned meat looks disgusting if it's canned in a glass jar. Canned tuna would look just as horrible if Bumblebee or StarKist used glass jars. But canned venison doesn't taste anything like it looks. It's tender and wonderful and has many delicious uses--as does the broth it's canned in. You know the texture of really tender brisket? That's what canned venison does, but without the grease, fat and smoky flavor.

Add it to stir-fry and use the broth as a base for your sauce as well as part of the liquid to used to cook your rice in.

Add it to a rich brown gravy that you've made using the broth it's canned in and serve it up like you would pot roast or pour it over noodles or rice.

Add it to barbecue sauce and serve it on bread or buns.

Mix it with mayo and minced onions and make and serve it like you would tuna fish or chicken salad. I hear rabbit is good served this way, I've never tried it though.

Throw it on a sandwich.

Crumble it over Top Ramen noodles.

Use it in anything you'd use shredded beef in or anything you'd use leftover roast in.

Season the meat with taco seasoning and cooked onions and serve it in tacos or in a wrap.

Combine with seasonings and refried beans for burritos.

Add to stock and vegetables for a nearly instant soup or stew.

Use it in any casserole that you'd normally use beef in.

Season and use in empanadas.

Use meat and broth to make your stroganoff!

To sum up, canned venison is very tasty and fills up your pantry, not your freezer. This is a big plus for the spouse of a hunter! It's also a great way to utilize all those stray pieces of perfectly good venison meat that aren't quite right for steaks. Yes, you could grind them into burger meat, but once you taste this you may not want to grind up quite so much of your deer meat every year.

*Raw packed Axis is still quite tasty but very unappetizing to look at once it's canned because you don't add liquid to the meat when you raw pack it so, as the meat cooks down in your pressure cooker/canner, you are left with a lot of space in the jar and some rather hideous looking liquid. I much prefer the hot pack and broth. It's still ugly, but not nearly so ugly. And it's definitely practical to have the venison or beef stock right there with the meat when you open the jar.