A good bolognese needs the freshest meat possible. I’m sure that I sound like a broken record but if you have the chance to get your hands on a meat grinder – grab it! It will become your new best friend. Your control over the texture and freshness of your ground meats will take your cooking from average to rock star. None of that funky odor that emits from grocery store pre-packaged hamburger. Think about that – if it starts out a little off, it’s gonna finish a little off.

You’ll never know how agonizing I find posting pictures of meat. No matter how much I try to pretty them up, they’re still just photographs of raw flesh and on the heels of the cake shots! Some food bloggers choose to share the finished plate of dishes that require less romantic technical steps. Sticking a bouquet of tulips in these shots would have – well – looked ridiculous so I shot it like I saw it!

Venison and Pork Bolognese

Makes a lot…

2 lbs pork shoulder, cut into chunks
4 lbs venison shoulder, cut into chunks
¼ cup fennel seeds
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
3 teaspoons teaspoon sea salt

Grind fennel and peppercorns together in a spice grinder
Toss ground spices, salt and meats together
Pass meat through a meat grinder using the medium disc

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 carrots, peeled and chopped roughly
4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
8 cloves of garlic, peeled
6 small dried chilies, crumbled
8 bay leaves
1 bottle dry red wine
100 ounces diced plum tomatoes in puree
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 teaspoons sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground pepper
2 cups heavy cream

Heat oil over medium high in large Dutch oven
Add meat and ground spices , stirring and breaking into small pieces.
While meat is cooking, place carrots, celery, onions and garlic in bowl of food processor and pulse until finely chopped
Once the juice has evaporated from the meat add vegetables, chilies and bay leaves… Cook for 1 hour… stirring frequently
Add wine… increase the heat and cook until wine has evaporated
Add tomatoes… lower heat and simmer 30 minutes
Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Add cream just before serving and heat through.

 THE LOVE: Take the time to ensure each kind of liquid has evaporated before adding the next ingredients. The resulting flavour is spectacular!

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one year ago: salty peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

The last time I worked with venison, I shared with you tales from my youth regarding deer meat. Since then, I’m much more confident. Mind you, I still haven’t worked up the courage to try it au natural…

Thanks for reading