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Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Originally published Nov. 27, 2007. Recipe updated and streamlined.
The man who got me into hunting, St. Paul Pioneer Press outdoor writer Chris Niskanen, visited this site recently and suggested I post some German and Austrian venison recipes. “I recently shot a 200-pound whitetail (field-dressed) and would like simple recipes on fixing it,” he wrote. Well, I do have some good Teutonic venison recipes in my collection, but I’ll start off with a Belgian one, which is jazzed up with gin and juniper.
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BELGIAN VENISON MEDALLIONS
Nothing goes as well together as wild game and juniper. Something about it transports us into the snowy woods, filled with that nervous anticipation hunters know well and which non-hunters experience most often just before opening a Christmas present. The addition of lard is especially tasty, because everything goes better with lard. I first found this recipe in the Derrydale Cookbook of Fish & Game (1937), but this is an adaptation for modern kitchens.
This dish is excellent with mashed potatoes, polenta, spaetzle or neeps-n-tatties (a mix of mashed potatoes and turnips). Need a veg? Try sauteed broccoli raab with garlic.
Serves 4.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
- 1 pound venison backstrap or loin
- 3 tablespoons lard or butter
- Salt
- Pomegranate seeds for garnish (optional)
SAUCE
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 shot of gin (not the good stuff)
- 1/4 cup demi-glace or reduced beef or venison stock
- 1 teaspoon ground juniper
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/2 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
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- Salt the venison and set aside at room temperature for 15 minutes to a half hour.
- Heat the lard or butter in a saute pan over medium-high heat and sear the venison on all sides. This should take 3-4 minutes on each side of the loin. “Kiss” the other sides of the loin for 1 minute to get a good sear. Remove the venison and tent it loosely with foil to rest.
- Add the shallot to the pan and saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Off the heat, add the gin to the pan, then set it back over high heat. Flame it if you’d like. Either way, let it cook down a bit then while deglazing the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the crushed juniper and rosemary, then the demi-glace or reduced stock. Let this cook down over high heat until a spoon dragged through it leaves a trail, about 4-5 minutes. Turn off the heat, let any bubbling stop, then whisk in the sour cream.
- To serve, slice the venison loin into medallions. Lay down some sauce, then top with the medallions. You can add some fresh cracked pepper and some pomegranate seeds if you’d like.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Why not the good stuff? If the venison is as good as it looks there, it deserves the best. Not the very best, mind you. I’d not go beyond Tanqueray. But I’d not use some of the low grade fusel oils sold as gin.
You seem to combine both the Japanese and Chinese approaches. One time on a job in Japan I was taken to a Chinese restaurant by my Japanese host. “We Japanese,” he told me, “prepare food to look at. The Chinese prepare food to EAT!”
I really miss having access to venison.When I was a kid, hunter friends of our family’s gave us their extra every year. I had a friend in CA who would share or trade with me too. This recipe sounds like a perfect flavor combo- I’m going to file it for next time I get my hands on a nice backstrap.
Gorgeous! Wow. And, “kiss the loin” should be in every recipe or perhaps every butcher’s manual. It’s like getting married to your food: you may now kiss the loin.
Sweet jeebus! Looking at this is torture when the season is closed and the freezer has nothing but ground venison and catfish staring back at you.
Oh, and eleventy bags of okra.
As to the juniper, where do you obtain it? Do you use the fruit or the leaves? The only common juniper in the SE is Juniperus virginiana(Eastern Redcedar; not a true cedar).
I love the combination of venison and juniper – so classic! This looks perfect.
“?1 shot of gin (not the good stuff)”
I would argue that as long as you pour yourself 1 shot too that it is acceptable to use the good stuff.
While my freezer is well stocked, most everything now is down to ground or stew meat. The loins always go so fast.
[...] Venison Medallions with Gin and Juniper – Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: Here’s a pretty great looking recipe for some of that venison you have from last fall. If you’re looking to impress that special someone in your life, this might be the ticket! [...]
Kevin: I was lucky enough to forage for some juniper in Montana, but you can buy juniper berries online or in fancy supermarkets. When I buy it, I get my juniper from Penzeys.
I will give the local Juniper a whirl. If it’s no good, I’ll just take another shot of gin.
Cue “Gin soaked boy” – Tom Waits
Kevin: “The piano has been drinking…”
Have some moose loin in the freezer and might just give this a rip! Are you using ground juniper berries, or ground juniper greens?
Todd: You use the berries.
Wow, First time here and I already love this site. But I need to learnhow to make my own demi-glaze. LOL kind of rich for my blood!
Try using Dubonnet instead of the gin. Very nice addition. Also very good with
veal calves liver.
[...] of hunting, Hank Shaw pairs deer with juniper, a bush that many deer are known to eat. Gin anyone? Share this postFacebookTwitterEmailMoreStumbleUponRedditDiggPrintLike this:LikeBe the [...]
Wow. Did not know you could actually use those berries for much other than gin. We have juniper bushes growing on most of the hilltops in gilmanton NH, so this definitely evokes memories of deer hunting. Mostly vain attempts to track a deer that my uncle was “sure he hit” with dying flashlights, the stuff is a nightmare to track through. The first time I had a shot of gin my first thought was “wow, that tastes like deer hunting.”
I just made a batch of your Venison sausage w/porcini mushrooms. Had to use Morels (awww shucks), as porcini never last long here (my pantry that is). The results were sublime. Doubled the amount of gin and mushrooms. Wowie!
Thanks for the recipie it’s my new favorite.
Cooked this tonite and absolutely loved it. When the rest of the family’s out of town I get to play in the kitchen and this seemed like the perfect game, an initiation into juniper berries. The smell reminds me both of summertime gin and tonics and the eastern red cedars we used to cut down for Christmas trees when I was a kid.
This sauce is THE PERFECT complement to venison. I cook all the time and have experimented with all kinds of ways to doll up venison, but this recipe is JUST right. It doesn’t hide or mask venisons’ flavor but really enhances it. Bravo.
PS – I used the good stuff. Don’t cook with anything you wouldn’t drink.
Hank, I stumbled on your site earlier this year in search of recipes for rabbit. Made the hasenpfeffer at that time, which came out perfect. For New Years we were able to get some Venison Tenderloin (we don’t hunt and getting access to game is not always easy). I used this recipe last night and everyone loved it. Thanks for de very detailed instructions on how to prepare/actually cook the various cuts.
Can’t wait to get our hands on some more game to try another one of your recipes.
Dear H.A.G.C.,
I just cooked this recipe this evening using a backstrap from a small Texas whitetail I shot a week and a half ago.
I googled “how to cook venison backstrap,” and after sorting through some random recipes, I came across yours.
I’d just like to thank you, the recipe was wonderful.
I drank a Spaten Oktoberfest along with it, then afterwards, already having the gin bottle out, had a nice gin martini.
Cheers,
Dan
Austin, Texas
I made this as Sunday Night dinner. Doubled the recipe as I had a 2 lb. loin. Used lard I rendered, skipped pomegranate b/c they are now out of season, used quality gin (Junipero) which I think is the way to go, used a slightly less than the double amount of juniper berries, ground at home, used stock vs. demi-glace, used the creme fraiche, and fresh rosemary from the garden, which is still doing well in the NY winter.
This recipe rocks!!!! The venison was tender and amazing. I am proud of myself for making it. Thanks for offering up something different that doesn’t require a wine marinade.