Deer Camp Dinner Pics

Last Friday a friend and I went to his cabin on 65 acres in Tioga County, PA for the opening of firearms season. We hunted Saturday and again on Sunday but then really bad rain blew in and we bailed.

He missed a big buck at ~210 yards Saturday morning (for which I busted his chops) and the rest of the deer we saw over the weekend were does. Both of us already tagged out on does during the early muzzleloader season, so they all got to walk. We may go up again for flintlock in January.

Anyway, Friday night's dinner was backstrap from the fat corn-fed doe I shot in October.

We cooked it on the cabin's wood stove, along with sliced red potatoes, onions, and garlic.

Paper plate, because it's a primitive cabin with no running water and we like to limit the dishes we need to wash.

This was one of the best pieces of meat I have ever had. Absolutely no gaminess and if I didn't know better, I would have thought it was top quality beef.

How to make for those so inclined:

• Pre-season both sides of the meat with Montreal Steak Seasoning to taste (or don't).
• Pre-heat your skillet with olive oil in it until you can flick a drop of water into it so that it pops. Then put in the meat which will sear on the bottom side. Flip over after about 4 minutes. Cook on that side for another 4 minutes. Remove from the heat to rest for a few minutes.
• Optional: Deglaze the pan by pouring in some red wine or some other spirit, let it reduce, then pour over the meat. We didn't have any wine with us so we didn't do that and I wasn't about to pour Longbranch bourbon into a hot frying pan.

How we made the side:

• Slice up small red potatoes so that they are pretty thin. Also slice up one large or two small onions and a few cloves of garlic.
• Fry the potatoes and garlic in olive oil, turning occasionally. Cook until they are starting to turn golden brown then add the sliced onions. Cook until the onions are soft.

Proceed to stuff your face.

Serves two.

Chaga Tea

As I write this I'm on my second cup of chaga tea, made from the stuff I got from russianfoodusa.com. I had to do some googling to see how to brew it, since the packaging was entirely in Russian, which I don't speak.

To brew the tea, I put about a tablespoon in a tea infuser, put it in my mug, then poured boiling water over it and let it steep for about 10 minutes.

The taste is very mild, maybe a little earthy. It would be pleasant on a cold day out in the woods.

Here's an article on potential health benefits of chaga.

There's Russian collusion in my kitchen!

On July 26th I placed an order with russianfoodusa.com (located in Brooklyn) for a few items:

• Bulgarian Brand "Filet Yelina" dry-cured pork tenderloin.
• Jewish Brand salami.
• Kharcho or Harcho soup mix.
• Hungarian style smoked pork fat back AKA salo.
• Chaga tea.

The order arrived on July 31st.

The dry-cured pork tenderloin is reminiscent of prosciutto. It would go really well with some cheese and crackers. My wife already told me that I should order more when it's gone.

The salami is excellent. I don't think it'll last long, either.

I tried the kharcho soup mix for dinner with some rye bread. It's quite good and spicy. It reminds me a bit of the broth in my wife's crab soup which uses a lot of Old Bay seasoning. I'm going to have to try it mixed in with buckwheat, a la Lars.

This morning (Saturday, 8/4) I tried the salo/fatback. As I understand it, because it is cured, in Eastern Europe salo is frequently consumed without cooking it first. However, the packaging warns to thoroughly cook it, so I sliced off four pieces and fried them up like bacon until the edges were browned and crispy.

Damn it was good. The inner, unbrowned parts just melted in my mouth, while the browned edges were crunchy. The paprika seasoning was mild, while the pork taste was subtle. I can see why Ukrainians love this stuff.

I still need to try the chaga tea, which I'll write up in a separate post.