Crock pot deer roast

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Chef Kenny

Senior Cook
Joined
Aug 4, 2015
Messages
126
Location
Central, VA
This is NOT gourmet of course. This is just good ole home cooking, and easy. My first shot at a blog style post here.


Every so often I am lucky enough to be given some deer meat. I have a buddy who will bring me skinned quarters of a kill because I actually prefer to cut the meat off the bone myself. I “process” the deer meat and we split anything that comes from it. I also make sausage out of the lesser cuts and small bits (I’ll share that another day if this whole posting with pics thing works out). I don’t hunt, not because of the killing or blood and guts…I just don’t like getting up so early and sitting out in the cold with no guarantee I’ll harvest something!


My dad actually gave me this particular meat. He DOES enjoy sitting in the cold waiting for deer. But, sadly that will be lessening as he ages.


So I had this beautiful little roast in the freezer. I matched it up with my small crock pot. Of course everything I am doing here can be scaled to a larger, say, beef roast, in a larger crock pot. For my wife and me, this little 1 pound roast will make two meals. You will notice in this post, there is no recipe. This is all method and eyeballing.
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In the pot I start with a fat teaspoon…probably a half a tablespoon of beef Better Than Bouillon of beef bouillon. I have started using Better than Bouillon when I’m not making broth or stock from scratch. It requires less storage space, keeps for a very long time and tastes great. America’s Test Kitchen actually ranks the BTB Chicken product as best among store-bought broths they tested, beating out even the famed Swanson brand. I’m sure there are other brands and specialty products that may be better…but this is what I’m using.
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I added some beef tallow, that’s the white stuff there. I render that myself. Deer is very lean, the fat is a good thing, plus I’m on a low carb high fat diet.
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About a cup to a cup and a half or water, a large smashed garlic clove, coarse black pepper, granulated garlic and onion powder, dehydrated onion bits and red pepper flakes. Shaked and pinched in, no measures.
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In goes the roast. Most of the sliver skin removed. The remaining silver skin is not even noticeable in the final product.
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I love this tomato bouillon, and use it in many circumstances. I prefer to use granulated bouillon in place of salt whenever possible. It’s salty, plus brings so much more flavor. My diet is NOT low sodium.
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The bouillon and some more pepper, garlic and onion powder goes on top to “skeep” (a technical term) in to the roast as it heats.
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I tossed in a bay leaf and some celery tops/scraps
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Covered and cooked on high for 4-5 hours, then shifted to low for 2-3 hours (basically until its tender and we’re ready to eat it.

To go with this protein, I made smashed cauliflower. This of course is a staple in low carb cooking because it simulates mashed potatoes.
This was a pathetically small head of cauliflower, but really good looking. Cut in to somewhat even sizes it goes in to a pan with some water and brought to a boil. No need to be real technical here, it needs to be cooked very soft so it’s easily smashed. I was not feeling well the week I did this one, so I didn’t put the cauliflower in the food processer to make it really creamy (a hand immersion blender can also be used…I didn’t want me or my wife to have to clean either this day), so it was important that this cook super soft.
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While the cooked cauliflower is draining in a colander in the sink, in the same pot I added butter, heavy cream and sour cream. Again, totally eyeballed.
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Tossed this beautiful cauliflower back in the pan
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Then smashed it with this plastic masher…because a metal one would of course not be appropriate for this Pampered Chef non-stick pan’s surface.
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In that, I added granulated chicken bouillon, black pepper, granulated garlic and onion powder, accent/MSG (I know some people are going to cringe at that, but it doesn’t affect me and my wife negatively and if you really read up on it, the stuff is not as sinister as its been demonized), red pepper flakes and “shaker” parmesan cheese (the grated stuff in the canister), and some dried chives (freshly dried this season myself). (fuzzy pic, sorry)
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The cooked deer roast is removed from the pot, picking out any bits of celery leaf, etc.. The pot juices strained and poured back in the pot. These juices were perfect, zero seasoning adjustments were needed. I pulled the meat apart and even used kitchen shears to cut the meat strands further. It wasn’t necessary, the meat was melt in your mouth tender…but that’s just what I did. The shears were just sitting there on the butcher block screaming “use me!”.
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A very minor carb alert here. I used arrowroot powder with a little cold water as a base thickener. Only about a teaspoon so not too many carbs. I bought this stuff for another recipe and once I learned more about it, decided I want to get it in my diet wherever it makes sense.
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To be continued in a reply. I just found out 15 pics is the max I can upload at a time. Give me a few minutes to upload and post the rest.
 
Continued:
The arrowroot slurry and some cream went in to what is now becoming a gravy. And this other little low carb trick for thickening…Xanthan Gum. Yep, you’ve seen it in ingredients, and some think of it as just a bad chemical additive, but it actually lowers blood sugar and cholesterol…while it thickens. You have to be careful to not use too much or it will get a slimy feel to the mouth. I put it in this shaker to help me add just what is needed to thicken to my liking. This stuff hydrates fast so you can see it working almost instantly. It will also hydrate in cold liquids.
Here’s the gravy
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And here’s the Xanthan in the shaker
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I put the deer meat back in the pot and mixed it well with the gravy.
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Meanwhile, back on the stove, the seasoned smashed cauliflower was cooking the get those flavors to meld.
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Plated, the meat topped with Texas Pete hot sauce (made in North Carolina), fresh ground black pepper on the smashed cauliflower, and I whipped up a quick cucumber, tomato, jalapeno and onion salad to go along with. (Can you tell me and my lady like it spicy?!)
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Note the serving size of the salad…onions and tomatoes do some with a carb load to be aware of. I’m in phase 2, leaning three, of Atkins, so I’m eating upwards of 30-40 grams of net carbs on some days. I purposely didn’t attempt to calculate the carbs here because this is “dump cooking”. The ingredients and methods here are generally low carb, so I know this meal fits within my diet plan without having to count everything down to the last gram of carbs. I’ll provide some of that data on subsequent posts of other stuff if this post ends up working out.


Everything here came out excellent. The meat was melt in the mouth tender, my only complaint is it didn’t taste like deer! I like that slightly gamey taste, but most deer I get is harvested suddenly, usually with one clean shot. Deer that are run by dogs or suffer after being shot for a long period of time tend to have a stronger flavor. I’ve noticed this with wild boar too, the ones that are harvested from the game farms that run the boars in to the hunter’s line of fire with dogs are much stronger in flavor than a boar that was at peace up until the instant it was hit by a nearly instantly fatal bullet. It has something to do with the adrenaline and or chemicals the body produces when in mortal fear as I understand. I read something some time ago about an old English law that required cattle to be killed by dogs because they preferred the stronger flavor…your mileage may vary, I may have gotten too descriptive already for some people and some folks may educate me on my ignorance about this.



The smashed cauliflower is hard to screw up, so it was very good as usual, and the salad is the same deal, I make this stuff all the time, so I basically can’t screw it up! It’s olive oil, vinegar of choice that day, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, fresh ground black pepper and red pepper flakes, whisked in to a dressing, tossed with the veggies and allowed to rest in the fridge for a while…or eaten right away…there’s no rules here, its dump cooking!
 
I skimmed over it.

The reason it ceased to taste like deer was the beef tallow, and the bouillon (I prefer "Better Than" as well).

It wasn't because you loved it to death, lol.

Otherwise, I could go for some.
 
I skimmed over it.

The reason it ceased to taste like deer was the beef tallow, and the bouillon (I prefer "Better Than" as well).

It wasn't because you loved it to death, lol.

Otherwise, I could go for some.


Thanks. I seem to have that problem with all deer I cook, thats why I surmised its the quality of the meat. Some deer is strong and some not. Even the ground deer I make tacos and chili with barely tastes like deer from the kills in recent years.


My dad has gone in on a half a cow every year or two for a decade or so. West Virginia mountainside raised, with some grain, but finished in an open grass graze for a while before slaughter. That beef has such a good strong flavor, far more than the recent years of wild deer eating berries and plants and acorns. I can barley taste the "wild" in the deer even with my jerky...but I admit, I come from "flavor-town"...a heavy hand on seasonings.
 
Kenny, I'm a fan of venison. Last year we canned 3 different deer. One was really strong (an old buck), the other two quite nice. I put beef suet in with the venison when I'm canning it. I've made two types of bbq sauce to use with the canned venison. Now if I can figure out which one is the stronger flavored one, I might use that one just in stew where there are other strong flavors to give it some balance.



Use your ignore feature when you see a habit of dismissive, uncaring, thoughtless, posts by a member. It works for me. Sometimes the arrogant people like to play with their prey for a while before eating them. MMM, yum yum. If you are fearful of being delicious, just ignore. That way you can enjoy the posts from the caring, encouraging, and thoughtful people. My experience has improved immensely since using that feature. AND don't peek at their snarkiness and baiting comments/questions! Remember, not every source for a recipe is a good source and everyone has an opinion, some of them are even thoughtful!


Good luck on your next picture/narrative, I'm sure you'll find your niche. I appreciate all the time and effort it takes to do that. I can't do it. I can take pictures, edit them, write the narrative, it's EXHAUSTING for me to write. It's just not my thing though I enjoy when other people can do that. Go for it.
 
And you stopped in just to say that?


I appreciate your efforts. I would never make crock pot deer roast myself but I enjoyed reading your posts and I'm glad you're not another armchair, internet, "chef" (lol) that talks a lot of smack, then posts recipes for pulled pork, in a crock pot, no less.



I'll try to post recipes when I can. Posting recipes is a lot of work and takes a long time, especially my recipes, which are fussy.



The first one I was going to post was my Fathead Pizza recipe, I'll get to it when I can, which may be never. :D


I also make great fat bombs.
 
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Wow...so I come back to this thread, and a few of the other comments, including a detailed reply to one is now gone. Weird, but it tidied the thread up. I'm not sure what to think of that.

Blissful,

I have canned and forgot to mark the jars as well!

I have already employed the ignore feature on one member who was a part of the reason for me leaving 2 years ago. I think that person means well, as well as many others who come off that way, but some folks are dealing with their own "issues" and who knows what they are. I got an encouraging PM just today here and it took me to the message board of my account, where I found a message I had forgotten from 2015 titled "its not you"...on this very subject back then, so..."its not just me!":rolleyes:

Editing pictures, taking them while cooking, creating a narrative, posting a cooking event...it all does take a lot of effort, thats why its nice to have folks appreciate it rather than disrespect it. That's why I'm asking for links to the, what I'm sure are awesome examples of these people's recipes, cooking events, pictures, narratives...they must be really good at what they do to become such critics. I haven't found them yet, mostly just comments on other people's work and questions. Thanks.

Smokey,


Ha, ha! Yes, this post was a test run to practice. We haven't made crock pot pork roast since I bought a smoker! Oh yes, I have a bank of smoking "cook" pictures and even narratives from posting at another forum for smoking meats...that I left because of legacy member arrogance and other irritating issues. Smoked meats are low carb! My problem is time, by the time I read the news and deal with other stuff, it doesn't leave much time for posting. I have a lot in the reservoir, just haven't gotten to it yet. Still feeling out if I'm wasting my time here.

I wanted to come back here because there is more activity about actual cooking and they have a good server for uploading pics, etc.. I am a member over at Active Low-Carber Forums, but the place is dead regarding current cooking activity, it seems most folks there are spending more time on specific medical issues and support groups etc., and they wont host your pictures, you have to link them from a third party.

So I hope you stick around here. We need good folks like you and Blissful to keep it fun.

I have heard of this Fathead pizza. I think I looked up the recipe at one time, got sidetracked and haven't gotten back to it. I will likely post some pizza pics as well. I plan to do an extended thread on Buttoni's Focaccia

https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/gluten-free-grain-free-focaccia-2/

I have tweaked her recipe, mostly in method to make it easier. I've used it for...maybe a half dozen different applications, and pizza was one of the very successful ones. I have been working with her recipes, mostly the baking ones for some months now. I know how to cook other stuff, low carb; but breads was something I needed help with. My wife has made a couple of her sweet baking recipes as well, and I have made her food processor low carb ice cream too...its really good and I plan to try the arrowroot powder in that next time because it's supposed to make ice cream more scoop-able after a hard freeze, which is the only downside to Buttoni's very easy recipe. I encourage everyone to check out her site. I tried to lure her here, but it hasn't worked out because this site has a policy that a pro cant link their own stuff. She says she doesn't get paid, but she writes for low carb cookbooks, which I guess still makes her a pro?

I've heard of fat bombs too. I'd love to get some company here with other thread starters, please jump in and share!

Thanks to both of you.
 
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I have canned and forgot to mark the jars as well!


Come to think of it. The first two deer were from a testing area, where they had to test the deer for a disease, so the jars were marked with the last two numbers in the serial numbers of the test. We had to wait for weeks to get the 'okay', that they were not diseased. The third one was an old buck DH hit with the push bars on a ford crown victoria, that was in a non-testing zone, so it wasn't marked. When I finally could use the venison, I just wasn't paying attention to which jars I used. I think now, I'll have it figured out.
 
Good ole road kill! The last deer meat I got from a road collision was the toughest of all. I got a fresh tenderloin from it, took it home and cooked it that night. I know how to handle a tenderloin...very skilled with them and it was as tough as any meat I've ever made, even cooked just to barely medium.


My theory, a lot like my adrenaline theory in my original post is, that poor deer suffered for quite a while before it died. It was so sad, but the guy that hit it, had to go in to work yet wanted to save the meat, so he tied it up out back of our metal shop while he was away on the road. The poor thing stayed alive until he got back to put it out of its misery. A tough choice to make, but I think thats what made that deer meat so tough, the mortal stress.


On the lighter side, he thought it was dead when he picked it up and put it in the back seat of his car. Then, back on the road driving, he sees the head rise up behind him in the rear view mirror! Like a comedy, but I still have a lot of heart for any suffering animal.
 
lol.
Well, this deer hunter, Dh, has a lot of experience with trapping and deer. He knew the push bars on the car were the safest bet and that deer was dead upon getting hit. There was a portion of the deer damaged, he left that. The only reason to have push bars on a car, is for this reason. To protect the insides of the engine in the event of a deer car crash. Here in WI, it is very common.



That night he called at 2 am (or abouts) and said, he hit a deer, he was okay, to bring his knives, a tarp for the trunk and he was 5 miles from home. (on his way back from work)



DS was also working second shift and still dressed so I assembled stuff and sent him out into the dark night.


The officer at the scene, as you have to report these things, wanted the deer in the worst way, so DH warned me, to advise DS not to talk to the officer. That guy was looking for any excuse not to let DH have the deer! It was ridiculous. He checked under the car to see if it was drive-able, he actually got under the car to tinker around, he questioned DH on whether he was drinking repeatedly (he was on his way home from work and doesn't drink). He kept talking about how much he wanted that deer.



Anyways, it's important as you said, that you know how your road-kill died, so you know what is happening with that deer if you intend to eat it. The deer was tender but bucks have a stronger taste than does and does have a stronger taste than bambi's.



When I hit a deer in 2010, it kind of hit me, right on the driver's side headlight area, messed up the grill. The deer wanted to keep going, so it limped off into the cemetery, maybe it had a burial plot picked out already.
 
I've been so lucky here in the Virginia Piedmont to have never (knock on wood) hit a deer.


My son in law on the other hand, driving our van at the time was hit by a small herd! Like you, they literally broadsided him! The first one caught the left front quarter panel and several others...bam,bam,bam,bam nailed the broadside of the van!


Sadly I wasn't around to load them up and take them home...
 
I've been so lucky here in the Virginia Piedmont to have never (knock on wood) hit a deer.


My son in law on the other hand, driving our van at the time was hit by a small herd! Like you, they literally broadsided him! The first one caught the left front quarter panel and several others...bam,bam,bam,bam nailed the broadside of the van!


Sadly I wasn't around to load them up and take them home...


I was very close to one of those incidents. I was driving hwy zz and a doe came out of the field and I screeched on my brakes. Just as I was about to start going, 2 bambi's came out of the field following their mom and almost hit me and barely sidled by my bumper! Beauties I tell you. They are beautiful animals.


I served on a jury duty for a guy riding his motorcycle drunk. A deer hit him, he had pictures of the motor cycle damage, only to the side of it, no damage to the front end. The driver was still very drunk 4 hours later, after the medics found him in the ditch with a broken pelvis. I guess expected we'd feel sorry for him, being injured an all. He went to jail anyways.
 
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