How to Cook Local Deer on the North Fork

No doubt that the deer on the North Fork can cause accidents and injuries to themselves and people. I was at the on the Main Road in Aquebogue a few years ago, putting up Christmas ornaments well before the Bistro opened — it was just an empty building, when a car hit a buck right in front of the Bistro, blocking traffic eastbound and westbound on the Main Road for about an hour.

But occasionally, hunters will give me some venison, and I have a several different ways of cooking it. Here are just a few.

Venison, Korean Barbecue Style

I love to eat Korean barbecue. For those who have never had it, it is usually kalbi (beef short ribs on the bone), bulgogi (beef or beef tongue or pork sliced paper thin), and/or fish or other things, which you cook yourself on a gas grill in the center of the table, along with vegetables. Sometimes the waitress will cook it for you, but I prefer to cook it myself. The meat comes two ways – either marinated with lots of garlic and hot red pepper, or unmarinated.  You eat it with white rice, several types of kimchi, scallion pancakes, sometimes clear beef broth, and a whole lot of other side dishes.

To make the venison Korean-style, I put it in the freezer until it is hard, then slightly defrost it so it's sliceable into paper-thin slices. I'll do the same with beef tongue. For the grilled vegetables, you can use shitake mushrooms, portobello, enoki, white, oyster, or any other kind of mushrooms, chunks of onion, green pepper, sliced sweet potato, whatever vegetables you want.  I even use squid or baby octopus sometimes. 

I have 3 ways of cooking them – (1) on a griddle on a portable gas range on the dining room table, (2) using an electric griddle, or (3) using a table-top gas grill. The electric griddle is my favorite because I don't need to deal with the gas canisters, plus I like the flat griddle as opposed to the grill because I like to keep all the fats and juices intact instead of them dripping away.

Although my Korean friend has given me a good recipe for the garlic-red pepper marinade (it also has soy sauce, scallions, and sesame oil in it), I prefer the thin-sliced beef and beef tongue unmarinated when I make it at home. After cooking it for less than a minute on each side on the griddle or grill, each person can dip the meat into one of several sauces. My favorite sauce with the unmarinated meat is a plain light-colored (almost transparent) sesame oil that you buy in the Asian food markets, with a touch of sea salt and pepper added.

Venison Pot au Feu

Today in the company cafeteria I was talking with my colleague, a lawyer from Paris, who told me he made pot au feu over the weekend, using beef. I thought a great variation would be with venison. Here's my recipe, based on my French colleague's version except substituting venison for beef:

• Potatoes and carrots, cut up into chunks. No onions, according to my colleague. Support the local economy and use North Fork potatoes.
• Celery root – NOT celery stalks. I think it's also called celeriac, and fairly rare in the U.S. My colleague said he got it from Whole Foods. I have never cooked with it. Maybe some of the farm stands have some? It's beige and gnarly-looking.
• White radish – a large one, similar to the Japanese daikon I guess, not little red round radishes.
• Venison, and venison or beef bones. Although my colleague said he used pre-cut chunks of stewing beef, I'd put a big piece of venison in, whole, preferably with the bone. Or, I would buy beef bones separately from the butcher, toss them in a little flour, salt and pepper, and then brown them in a skillet or in the oven. My colleague said beef bone marrow was really good if you can get it.

Put all of the above into a Le Creuset pot or something similar. Put water in as well. That's it. No herbs, wine, or other flavorings. Let it simmer on a low heat for about two hours. Add sea salt to taste (my colleague says he likes chunky salt from north or west France). Use a slotted spoon to take the meat and vegetables out, and serve it onto a plate. The liquid is also very tasty – my colleague says he just drinks it. He said his 20 month old daughter just loved the pot au feu.

Here's an ingredient list for pot au feu that I got off the internet – the leeks sound interesting, and this recipe does have celery as well as onions, and includes a marrow bone. It includes turnip and rutabaga, but not the celery root or large radish –which shows that you can probably use any root vegetable for this dish.

12 medium leeks, trimmed
12 carrots, peeled and halved crosswise
12 stalks celery, halved crosswise
1 large onion, quartered and studded with 4 cloves
4 pounds boneless rump roast or top or bottom round
2 pounds beef shanks, about 1 1/2-inches thick
2 pounds oxtail or beef short ribs
1 (2-pound) marrow bone, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 bouquet garni
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
6 small turnips, peeled and quartered
1 medium rutabaga, peeled and cut into eighths
1 1/2 pounds small new potatoes

Just use venison instead of beef in the above recipe, local potatoes, local leeks, local carrots, local turnips, local onions and local herbs (all available at the local farm stands) and you've got a real local North Fork dish.