Chances are that if you are not from Mexico, New Mexico or Texas, you aren’t familiar with carne guisada.
In Mexico there is an entire category of taco fillings called guisados, which are all basically thick stews you can eat with a tortilla. If you have not yet seen The Taco Chronicles on Netflix, you are missing out: There’s a whole episode on guisados, which, incidentally, are pronounced “gee-SAH-dohs.”
Texas has its own versions of carne guisada, and you will see it made with venison pretty often, at least in people’s homes. This is my version.
It’s origins are the quasi-famous caldillo durangueño, the signature dish of the state of Durango in Mexico. It’s normally made with chiles pasado, which I happen to make, tomatillos or tomatoes, broth, onions, garlic and either fresh or dried red meat, beef rump or carne seca that has been rehydrated.
Typically caldillo durangueño is a brothy stew, but if you let it cook down it becomes a thicker guisado.
Keep in mind that there is no absolute need to go through the labor of roasting, seeding, peeling and then drying your poblano or Hatch (Anaheim) chiles just to make this recipe. You can of course skip the drying step. But there is a noticeable difference between rehydrated chiles and fresh, and I like to mix the two here. It’s up to you.
As for your tortilla choices, up to you. This is a norteño recipe, so homemade flour tortillas are totally appropriate here. But of course corn tortillas are wonderful, too.
There is one trick I use for the venison, or really whatever meat you use. When you cut it, use a piece of meat that has a definite grain to it. I like the hind leg roasts on a deer. Then, slice big chunks across that grain, then keep whittling the pieces down into taco-sized chunks, again against the grain. Doing this speeds up your cooking time and will result in meat you can bite easily without it pulling out of your tortillas.
Poblanos are a great choice for the green chile here, as are the various Anaheim/Hatch style chiles. My advice is to use mostly poblanos, then some hot Hatch chiles to get the heat to where you like it. If you are not familiar with the procedure to roast, peel, seed and stem your chiles, here is an excellent tutorial.
Once made, your carne guisada will keep in the fridge a week, and it can be both frozen and pressure canned. I do like this canned, so you can have wonderful tacos on a moment’s notice.
Venison Carne Guisada
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil
- 1 to 2 pounds venison roast, sliced and cut into small pieces (see above)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Salt
- 2 large white or yellow onions, quartered
- 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
- 1/2 pound tomatillos, husked and halved
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- 1 quart venison or beef broth
- 8 to 12 poblano, Hatch or Anaheim chiles, roasted, seeded, peeled and cut into pieces
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Heat the lard in a Dutch oven or other large, lidded pot over high heat. When it is just barely smoking, add the venison and stir well. Sear the venison well. If it gives off a lot of water, just keep searing it until the water boils away. While this is happening, mix in the salt and cumin.
- Meanwhile, char the onion, garlic and tomatillos either under a broiler or on a comal or cast iron frying pan. You want some blackening. Roughly chop the onion and put it, the tomatillos, and the garlic (peel it first), into a blender with the sage. Puree this, adding broth as needed.
- Add the contents of the blender to the pot and stir well. Pour broth into the blender to get all the good bits left there, and pour that in the pot. If by chance you happened to have used chiles pasado and rehydrated them, pour some of the rehydrating water into the pot, too. At the start, everything should be rather thin. Bring this to a simmer and let it cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, add the green chiles and continue to simmer until the meat is tender. You can eat this as a stew, or continue to cook it down until thickened, in which case you can eat it as a guisado on tortillas.
Awesome stuff, Hank! I plan to repeat this one soon with a couple variations, since I can see this being a perfect recipe to riff off – replace the tomatillos and green chiles with tomatoes and red ones, or swap out the meats, etc. I’m always a big fan of food I can prep and then forget about for a while, and this recipe is no exception!
Assembled this yesterday during the midday break. Parked the Dutch oven in the oven at 275 when we headed back out to the duck blind for the evening flight. Cooked down beautifully; this was perfect after a day in the field. Thanks!
What a terrific dish! The ingredients really compliment each other. My 3-year-old is a big fan 🙂 I made this with an elk flank steak and squirrel stock from last season. Thank you Hank for your willingness to share!
Can I marinate the venison overnight prior to cooking it? Is venison good for marinating?
Allison: Yes and yes.
Will do! Thank you!
I’ve made this twice now, once with a neck roast from an elk and once from the front shoulder of a deer. Relatively simple to make and so dang good, my wife and kids tear it up! Thanks for the recipe!
Hey there,
A friend of mine just gave me an elk roast that he had gotten from another friend. I’m not entirely sure which part of the elk this came from, though I believe it’s from a leg. That being said, do you think this cut would work for this recipe, or for that matter, any sort of long simmering stew? Thanks!
Nick: You bet. Just chunk it up and proceed with the recipe.
Going to give myself some advice here, read the entire recipe before you ask questions! It talks about rehydrating the Chili’s pasado
Hank, I made the chilis pasado this summer when you sent that email out. How do I incorporate those into the recipe? Re-hydrate first or just in the cooking process?
Thanks
Jared
I know this is against the Hank Shaw rules. BUT…
I was at the grocery store, buying the ingredients for this dish, when I was perusing the Latin Foods section and saw a jar of “tomatillo poblano salsa” and thought to myself – isn’t this basically what I’m making, without the work? (hahaha) We love cooking/eating your recipes, but sometimes a weeknight calls for a quickie.
So I browned a pound of cubed venison meat in lard, and while I did that, I simmered one jar of the salsa (I got it from Kroger/Ralph’s) with a can of broth in my Instant Pot. Then I added the venison to the mixture and turned the pressure cooker on for 30 minutes and let it naturally release for 15 minutes while I made some slaw for the tacos.
This was some of the most tender, flavorful venison roast we’ve ever had! I’ll have to make the legit version of the sauce sometime in the future, but for now, it’s an easy, fast, delicious recipe.
Rochelle: Ha! Yes, that is basically what I use in this recipe. I’ve had a few of the jarred salsas like that and you are right, they are fine when you are pressed for time.
Being from south Texas and near the flyway we bring down a fair number of goose in the winter. I like using snow geese and making gooseado when there’s a surplus of meat.
Love it in flour tortillas and with eggs and beans in the morning.
There’s a whole episode on guisados, which, incidentally, are pronounced “gee-SAH-dohs.”
Not quite: “gee-SAH-thohs.” Enough of language Nazi.
The guisado recipe reminds me of a food topic that is often discussed: Tex-Mex versus Mexican, or interior Mexican.
On several points which allegedly differentiate Tex Mex from Mexican, the conventional wisdom is wrong. For example, Tex-Mex: flour tortilla; Mexican: corn tortilla. Correction: northern Mexico uses flour tortillas a lot.
In addition, Tex Mex restaurants these days usually offer a choice of corn versus flour tortillas.
Similarly, beef , which allegedly distinguishes Tex Mex from Mexican, is eaten fairly often in northern Mexico. (Goat/Cabrito common in both northern Mexico and south Texas.
Cumin is allegedly Tex Mex- brought by Spaniards from the Canary/Azore islands- and not Mexican. Your recipe from northern Mexico uses cumin.
But the abundance of yellow cheese- most definitely Tex Mex. No way around it.
When it comes to music, the influence is at times from north to south. German and Czech immigrants to Texas brought their own instruments and music- such as polkas played on accordions. They became staples of Tejano music. Nowadays, Norteño/Northern Mexico music uses a lot of the polka/accordion music imported from Texas.
Just made this tonight and it was great. I used Pasilla and Anaheim peppers and like a previous reviewer stated there was a real depth in flavor. Definitely gonna bookmark this recipe.
Absolutely Fantastic! Made it ahead of time and reheated the next day covered with some melty mexican cheese.
Made this today using very small pieces of venison that I use for tacos. It turned out great. I added some cayenne pepper for some kick. One of the best venison dishes I’ve had.
Made this for dinner last night. Followed the recipe to the T, and fire roasted my own poblanos on my stovetop, (it’s very easy, followed the linked tutorial). What a delicious dish, with so much depth! I toasted cumin seeds and ground them fresh, I think that makes a difference too. This would be a great way to introduce someone to venison who is on the fence about it, too! Thanks, Hank.
Hank
As a Texan I have been making this for years and I am going to suggest something I know you do not care for. When I butcher a deer I set aside the sinewy shank meat, cut it into one inch chunks and can it in pint jars. Canning turns that sinew into silky venisony goodness. The meat and concentrated broth that develops in the jar is perfect for guisada. I add a pint of water along with my vegetables and spices and get a guisada in less than an hour that tastes like I spent all day on it. Delicious.
Hi Hank;
Can you tell me the name of Spanish language cookbook you got this from?
Thanks.
Mark: Sure. It’s called La Cocina Familiar en el Estado de Durango, put out by Conaculta.
I am going to male this with wild boar shoulder
I believe that all Mexican and Spanish foods that require “beef” are actually best with venison. I love this recipe, a crowd pleaser for sure during all of my get together. Thank you.