Field to Table V: Venison Carpaccio

Sometimes you just hit one out of the park. I'm not really sure what prompted the idea. Maybe it was just me thinking of anything that I could to with venison that was just different. It may have already been done before but I had certainly never tried it. So I just started thinking about the flavors, putting them together in my head. "This just has to work", I thought.

As I have stated before I like to shoot some of the smaller deer as they tend to yield a sweeter meat. Every trophy buck I have ever eaten had a very strong game flavor to it. I'm okay with that but most people I talk with tend to say that flavor steers them away from venison. So this meat I have on hand is from mostly younger doe. And. It. Is. Sweet. So what else can I do with this? Carpaccio!

Carpaccio is an Italian dish that is typically made with beef (tenderloin cuts work well). The beef is cut into thin pieces or medallions and pounded very, very thin. Then the meat is simply dressed with flavors and eaten raw. Carpaccio is similar to beef tartare, a preparation that calls for cutting the meat into a small dice, mixing it with aromatics, and eating it raw.

Some people freak out a little bit at the idea of eating meat raw. But I'm okay with it. Try this recipe with venison or beef. I bet you'll like it.

I started with some venison back strap. I simply cut small medallions from the loin and arranged them on a piece of plastic wrap.


I then took a meat tenderizing mallet and flattened the medallions in to a large disk. You have to do this gently or you will tear the meat to shreds. Also, be sure the when you put the medallions on the plastic wrap that you overlap them so that they will meld together as you pound them thin.

Now gently unfold the wrapping and invert the disk of meat onto a plate large enough to hold it. At this point you simply dress the meat with whatever flavors you want. I used salt, pepper, EVOO, balsamic reduction (balsamic vinegar that has been reduced to a syrup), lemon zest, shallots, capers, grated asiago cheese, and a little arugula.

After consulting with my colleague Michael McGovern (wine steward) I paired two wines with the carpaccio: Chateau Beauchene Chateuaneuf du Pape, and a Minervios (the exact name eludes me right now). Both went exceptionally well with the carpaccio. The CdP brought the game flavor to the fore while the Minervios seemed to "elevate" the same flavor. We ended up agreeing that the Minervios was the better wine with the venison. Any other wine from the Languedoc would probably work just as well: Fitou, Cahor, etc. For whatever reason these wines really stood up to the acidic flavors on the meat. Rather than the acidity killing the wine it just ran parallel to it. A wonderful compliment.

Before I took the first bite my esteemed colleague, Chef Paul Schunder came into the kitchen. I asked him if he would like a taste. He wasn't going to turn it down so we both dug in together. After savoring that bite for a moment Paul looked at me and said, "We'll add this to the list of things that don't suck." That about says it all.