From First Light…

VENISON MEATLOAF

1-1/2 lbs. Ground Venison (or “Deer Meat”)

1 lb. Pork Sausage, or Ground Pork

2 eggs, lightly beaten or whipped

1 Cup  Panko, or white-bread crumbs

1 large clove of garlic, pressed, mashed or finely chopped

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 cup finely diced or minced onion

1/4 cup finely diced or minced bell pepper

1/4 Cup diced or chopped Celery

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Ground black pepper to taste

1 Tablespon A-1 steak sauce

1 package Onion Soup mix

1/2 cup milk

3 ounces (1-1/2 tablespoons) Catsup/Ketchup

Glaze:

1/4 Cup catsup or Tomato Sauce

1 Tablespoon EACH: 

 brown sugar and Steak Sauce, or Worchestershire Sauce

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

Mix meats together thoroughly.  Beat together the eggs and milk.  Add to meats.  Add all other ingredients, and mix until completely combined.  Turn mix out onto a greased, high-sided cookie sheet, or baking pan.   Form into a loaf shape.  Bake 20 minutes at 450 degrees, reduce oven heat to 350 degrees and bake another 30 minutes. 

Mix together glaze ingredients, and spoon and spread over meatloaf.  Return to oven and bake 15 minutes more.  Remove from oven, and let rest/stand for 15-20 minutes before slicing. Serve and enjoy.  Goes great with mashed “taters”, or Macaroni and Cheese (both?), and a favorite vegetable or two.

GROUND VENISON STEW/SOUP

1 Lb. Ground Venison 

1 large can Veg-All, or mixed vegetables

1 Large can tomato juice (or V-8 style juice, if more vegetable taste preferred)

1/2 Cup diced/minced onion

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Crumble meat into lightly greased skillet or saute pan.  Cook meat, stirring constantly to break up any lumps.  As meat turns color, add the diced onion, and the onion and garlic powders. Put all ingredients (meat, vegetables, and seasonings) into a boiler or stew pot or dutch oven.  Cook several minutes longer, or long enough to combine flavors and transluce the onion (maybe 15-20 minutes more). 

Serve with a pone of cornbread, a green salad, and/or or green onions, and maybe a pitcher of Sweet Tea.

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…or not!

‘Seems that our own favorite foods remind us-by their wonderful, house-filling smells while cooking, then the delectable, luscious tastes when finally served-of dishes prepared by our family;  our mothers, our grandmothers:  someone who traditionally prepped, cooked and served what became our own personal favorites.   Taste, smell, sight, sound-all our senses are so subjective that what may be plesantly desirable to one may be horrendously gagging to another!  That said, this recipe has received so many positive, glowing comments, I’m putting it “out there”.  ‘Hope it “makes it” for YOU.

……or not!

My maternal grandmother, Genevieve Parks Kirby, was pure-bred Irish Catholic, born and raised in New Orleans.  Her staple, every-day cornbread was a fried-in lard(!)-white cornmeal patty laced with diced onion.  Her dressing was a sort of warmed-through or baked mush, made from the leftover cornmeal patties, with lots of chopped bell pepper.  My granddaddy and most all my aunts and uncles ate it and raved over it.  I hated it.  

After WWII, when Daddy came back from working in the shipyards in San Diego, California,  (he was ineligible for military service due to punctured ear-drums) he went to work for the local Fire Department.  Around Christmas every year, the firemen prepared a banquet for the Firemen’s Auxiliary, the association membered by the firemen’s wives.  Also attending the banquet were local dignitaries and city politicians.  The menu was traditional Southern holiday fare:  roast turkey, cornbread dressing with giblet gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, asparagus casserole, stuffed devilled eggs, various condiment, pickle  and relish trays, topped off with sweet potato and pecan pies, made-from-scratch banana puddin’, all washed down with Sweet Tea, and Firehouse Red Coffee.  Most all the firemen participated in the preparation of the food.  The chief cook, Mr. C. B. Sanford,  was the acknowledged expert “chef”.  His Pecan and Oyster Dressing, and Never Fail Roast Turkey became famous in our town, via word-of-mouth praises voiced by all who attended the banquets.

Mr. C. B.’s Pecan and Oyster Dressing

1 (one) FULL 10″ skillet cornbread, cooled and crumbled

4 to 6 leftover biscuits, crumbled

2 slices stale white bread, without crusts, crushed or crumbled

1 (one) Cup chopped/diced green onions, with tender green tops

1 (One) Cup chopped/diced celery, with leafy tops

2 (two) Tablespoons dried chopped parsley (or 4 tbsp chopped fresh)

1/8 to 1/2 Teaspoon ground sage

1/8 to 1/4 Teaspoon crushed Rosemary needles

1 to 2 Teaspoon(s) crushed dried Thyme

1/2 to 1 Teaspoon crushed Garlic (1 big clove, or 2 small) 

2 whole Eggs, whipped/whisked with 1/4 Cup milk

1 Cup (or more, to taste) toasted Pecan halves

6 to 8 ounces FRESH shucked oysters, with juice or liquor

6 to 8 fluid ounces Clam Juice

8 to 12 fluid ounces (maybe more) Chicken or Turkey broth

Salt and Pepper, to taste

NOTES:

         1.  In lieu of the biscuits, about 2/3 tube of saltine crackers, crushed to fine crumbs, may be substituted.  This will affect the salt ”to taste” requirement.     

         2.  If oysters baked in your dressing casserole ain’t your “cup of tea”, leave ‘em out, but substitute an equal amount of Chicken or Turkey Broth for the Clam Juice.

        3.  By all means, tho, DON”T leave out the pecans!  They’re a great touch.

         4.  The Sage and Rosemary amounts:  these herbs go a LOOOONNNGGG way!  These may need to be adjusted, again, “to taste”

         5.  The broth/clam juice amounts are rather scant.  More may be needed to reach the desired moistness of the uncooked mix.

ASSEMBLY/MIXING/COOKING   

         Mix in large bowl all dry ingredients, with the spices, and aromatic vegetables.  Add the egg/milk mixture and stir through.  Begin gradually adding the broth/clam juice, stirring well, to a consistency of a thick batter.  If after adding all the “wets” the mix is still too dry, add more broth.  Cover and refrigerate AT COLDEST TEMPERATURE (the moist mix can be a salmonella breeding ground) for at least an hour, to allow the seasonings and aromatic vegetables to leach through the mix, to maximum flavor intensity.  Taste, and correct the seasonings, again “to taste”.  The mix should keep refrigerated-preferably in the bottom of the refrigerator- at least 24 hours prior to cooking.  Pre-heat the oven to 330-360 degrees. (Residential ovens often have a 30 degree error between the dial-set temp and the actual temp).  Pour the mix into lightly greased casserole pan(s).  A 10 x 13, 2 inch sided casserole should be about right.  Bake on the middle rack for about one hour, to 1 hr. + 20 minutes, checking after an hour for desired moistness.   

This should make about 10 generous servings, with maybe some leftover to go with your next-day turkey sandwiches.

IF:   Any readers “out there” are interested in a recipe for one of the other dishes mentioned–including a Never Fail Roast Turkey, –let me know, thru a query/question/comment, and I’ll do a post with the requested dish’s recipe. 

‘Nuther IF:  I’ve cooked a long time by “eye-ball” and taste.  the measurements given here are, at best, approximations from memory.  I “do” ingredient measurements in my cupped left-hand palm.  If YOU plan to have guests-including the dreaded “In-Laws”- for a holiday meal, a trial run with maybe half of the recipe may be prudent/time and effort well-spent!

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