Amazing Italian Venison Tartare

Tartare is something special for me. My grand father used to be a head waiter for one of the fanciest restaurant in Ottawa. And as a waiter, he could not cook to save his life! However, he knew how to do two things, which were prepared by the waiter at your table: Caesar salad and tartare. Therefore, it is always a small tribute to my grand father whenever I make tartare.

I know what you are thinking: It’s not safe to eat raw meat! Yes it is not. Just like driving your car or eating sushi in a restaurant. However, in all these cases, there are ways to mitigate the risks. Of course, it will never be 100% safe, but here are my recommendations to make it as safe as possible:

1. Clean meat: When you harvest your catch, do not gut shot your animal. Make sure the meat is free of any stomach content.
2. Clean butchering: Pay very careful of not contaminating your meat by properly removing the entrails and keeping a clean work environment when butchering it.
3. Freeze the meat: To remove the risk of parasites sometime present in meat, freeze the venison below -20C (0F) for at least 2 days before consuming. This should take care of most of the harmful parasites.
4. Clean kitchen: When you cut the meat for the tartare, make sure your board, your knife and the bowl you put the meat in is perfectly clean.
5. Safe work: Only when you are ready to cut the venison, remove it from the refrigerator and return it in the refrigerator when it is cut. Keep the meat as cold as possible until serving.

If you are ready to eat a wonderful tartare, let’s go ahead with the recipe!

Amazing Italian Venison Tartare

Course: MainCuisine: Italian, FrenchDifficulty: Easy

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Total time

15

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb of venison, cut into small cubes (1/8″)

• 2 lemons, zested and juiced

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced finely

• 1/3 cup of olive oil

• 1/4 tsp of salt, or to taste

• 1/4 tsp of ground black pepper, or to taste

• 1/3 cup of fresh parmesan cheese, minced or coarsely grated

• 1 tsp of dijon mustard

• 1 tbsp of capers, roughly chopped (optional, but recommended!)

• 3 fillets of anchovies finely chopped, yields 1-2 tbsp (optional, but recommended!)

Directions

• Clean all your equipment well before cutting the meat. When cut, reserve in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
• In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients, except the meat, to make the tartare sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste.
• When ready to serve, add the meat to the tartare sauce and mix until uniform.
• Done! Serve by filling a ring mold or a 1 cup measuring cup with the tartare and reverse it onto a plate, or make a small mound per portion. Top with your choice of: thin shavings of parmesan, parsley leaves, ground black pepper, thinly sliced green onions. Serve with your choice of fries, thick cut potato chips, croutons and/or a simple arugula salad

SUBSTITUTIONS – Since we do not always have success when going outdoors or not everyone practices hunting, fishing or picking. here are a few ideas to substitute the harvested ingredients:

• The deer steak can be replaced with beef eye round or fillet mignon from your local butcher.
• The deer steak can be replaced with steak from any venison, such as moose or elk.

Philippe April-LeQuéré

Hey! I am an outdoor enthusiast who loves cooking natural ingredients and share his passion… About Me