Scott's Slow Cooker Deer Roast

So, before I met Scott, I was definitely too cool for a slow cooker. It seemed too easy.... until he brought home a deer roast and said, "Here's dinner!".

Deer or venison meat is extremely lean, and can taste pretty game-y if you don't cook it right. Having only ever handled the most tender steak cuts, the deer meat scared me. So he proceeded to teach me something new... slow cooking!

Deer roasts are not unlike chuck roasts, brisket or round roast. Tough but flavorful. So braising was the way to go.

This meal is great for the busy family because you just throw all of the ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning and let it do its magic until dinner time...

Ingredients

• 2-3 lbs deer roast (or any chuck roast, brisket or round roast if your not feeling so adventurous)
• 2 cans of Golden Mushroom condensed soup
• 2 T all purpose flour
• 32 oz. beef broth
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 1 large carrot, roughly chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 2 T butter
• 3 T light olive oil
• 1 T whole black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves

Directions

• Set slow cooker to low setting (8 hour cook time)
• Add golden mushroom soup and broth to slow cooker, whisk to mix
• Add peppercorns and bay leaves to slow cooker

• Heat the butter and oil over medium-high heat.
• Season meat liberally with salt and pepper (this is your chance to add a lot of flavor!)
• Dust meat lightly with flour
• Brown meat on all sides; once you place meat in pan DON'T TOUCH IT! Let the meat form a beautiful brown crust on each side before turning it, this process helps to seal in all the juices!
• Place meat in slow cooker, liquid should cover a majority of the meat

• Turn down heat to medium; sautee carrots and celery 2 minutes- scraping up the brown bits leftover from the meat (these bits are packed with flavor)
• Add onions and garlic, and sautee 2 more minutes
• When carrots, onion, celery and garlic are all tender and lightly browned, remove from pan and add to the slow cooker.

The slow cooker will work its magic over the next 8 hours... you can turn the meat once or twice if you are around to do so. Once the 8 hours are up, remove the meat and "pull" it apart using two forks.

From here on out, the meal is your own to be creative with. I like to boil up some wide noodle pasta and make a light sauce with the braising liquid. I heat about 2 cups of the braising liquid over medium heat and add about 3 T of tomato paste. I cook this sauce for about 7 minutes, it thickens up pretty nicely, and then toss it with the meat and the cooked pasta.

Enjoy!