I have never prepared my venison stroganoff and had it rejected....yet. Even my mother-in-law, who will not eat wild meat loved it. My daughters and I just sat down to eat dinner and she came to the house. I invited her to join us. She took two helpings and commented about how good it was. Later, when my wife came home from work, she asked what we had for dinner. Her mother said that we had a stroganoff that was really good. My wife said, "You know, that was venison stroganoff, don't you?" Her mother replied, "I knew there was something wrong with it!" I laughed my butt off on that one.
Here's how I can my venison.
- Prepare the pint or quart jars for canning. This can be done by placing them into boiling water. It's most important to have clean jars. They will be pressure canned for 75-90 minutes so bacteria won't stand a chance.
- Preheat the lids in boiling water to sterilize them and soften the seals.
- I take the cleanest cuts of meat I can find. By cleanest I mean the least amount of fat and silver skin.
- Cube it into 3/4" - 1" cubes and pack into clean jars leaving about 1/2" from the top. No added moisture.
- Add a beef bouillon cube or about 1 tsp. of bouillon and place the lids on tightly. The amount is for quarts so you can use about half as much in pints.
- Place into a pressure canner with the water level about 1/2 way or higher up the side of the jars.
- I use a pressure canner with a weighed bobble for 10psi.
- Before placing the weighted bobble on the canner, allow steam to escape for a couple minutes to insure all air is exhausted.
- Once the weighted bobble is on the canner, wait for the pressure to increase until the weight starts to bobble slightly. This will indicate that the inside of the canner is at about 10psi.
- Maintain the heat to keep the weight bobbling gently - 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts.
- After the time period, turn off the heat and wait for the canner to cool before storing.
Here's my stroganoff recipe. I actually refer to it as a "Poor man's stroganoff."
Ingredients when using a quart of canned venison:
- Medium chopped onion.
- 2 - 3 stalks of chopped celery.
- 1 - 2 tablespoons butter.
- 1/2 - 1 cup sliced mushrooms.
- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup.
- Quart of canned venison.
- Pepper to taste.
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup sour cream.
- Egg noodles.
- I don't measure the ingredients. I just go on instinct so the amounts above are more of a starting point and may need some adjustment to suit your own tastes.
Directions.
- In medium sauce pan sauté the onion and celery in butter until tender.
- Add the mushrooms and heat through.
- Add the canned venison including the juice in the jar and heat through.
- Add the cream of mushroom soup, no added milk, and simmer to blend the flavors. Maybe 20 minutes or so.
- Pepper to taste.
- The soup and venison will likely have plenty of salt but you may add as desired.
- While the stroganoff is simmering cook your egg noodles.
- Just before serving, add the sour cream to the stroganoff.
Enjoy!
By the way, I have found the leftovers are excellent used for breakfast as a gravy for biscuits topped with eggs cooked over easy or over medium.