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Many people are intimidated when it comes to cooking venison and other wild meats. They shouldn't be, however, since many meat recipes can be used for a broad range of meats, including those that come from the wild, and usually there isn't a great deal of alteration needed in the recipes.

Note that the meat does need to be properly cleaned, cured, and aged. If it isn't, no recipe is going to give a truly great result.

Let's look at an example of a recipe suitable for many types of meat, including beef.

* Wild Pot Roast

Ingredients:

5 pound pot roast; venison, elk, buffalo, bear, sheep, goat, pork or beef

4 medium to large potatoes, thick diced

4 carrots, peeled and cut in 1 inch pieces

3 stalks celery in 1-inch pieces

2 large onions cut in eighths

12 large mushrooms; morels preferred

1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 bay leaf, 1/4 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp crushed garlic

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 cup water

In a two-quart Dutch oven or similar heavy pot with a tight fitting lid, place all ingredients. Mix well, and place the Dutch oven in a 350-degree F. oven. Cook for three hours, stirring every hour or so, and adding more water as needed to prevent the roast or vegetable mixture from drying out. Cooking time can be varied, depending on how well done you want the meat. Four and a half hours will produce well-done meat, while two hours will result in mostly rare meat.

Serve the meat thinly sliced, against the grain. This will be difficult, because the meat will tend to want to fall apart, so use a sharp knife. The vegetables can be served as a side dish, or they can be put over a bed of cooked rice or pasta. The juices left in the pan are excellent when served over mashed potatoes, and can easily be made into a gravy if you prefer something thicker, by adding a little flour to a sauce pan with the juice and heating while stirring.

For serving suggestions, fresh ground horseradish goes well with venison, elk, goat, buffalo, and beef. Since both bear and pork tend to be sweeter meat, a side dish of applesauce goes great with the meal.

Bell peppers can be added to the initial pot roast for additional and different flavor, and serving the vegetables with a light dusting of grated Parmesan cheese can be a great touch.

This recipe is relatively easy to make, it works with many kinds of meat, and the variations are almost endless. The flavor is phenomenal, making it a hit almost every time, it is healthy, and best of all, the recipe can be easily varied depending on the number of people eating the dish. Increasing the amount of vegetables will feed more people, without the need to greatly increase the amount of meat. The above recipe as it is will feed 2-4 people. There is more good news, though; this dish tastes great warmed up, so leftovers are seldom a problem.

If you want a good recipe for wild meats like venison, elk, bear, this is one to try. As my son used to say in regard to this meal, when he was six, 'This is fantabulous!'

Learn more about this author, Rex Trulove.
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