Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Venison and Trotter Pie

Just got an email from the NY Times because I signed up for something a while back. Don't quite understand how the NYT works, but I have access to some of their stuff but not all. So rather than just posting a link, which may or may not work, I thought I'd post the recipe too. Reminds me of something APL would come up with... lots of ingredients, takes all day, probably delicious!

It's been at least 60 years since I've even seen venison and I'm too lazy for long involved cooks anyway, so I doubt I'll be trying this, but the pic looks great. That's a marrow bone, BTW. Thought I'd throw it out there and see if anyone wants to have a go. Sound like something @Stormbringer or @smbishop would try. One's a Brit, the other likes APL. =)

Don't know if you'd want to do the pastry part in the egg (too smokey?), but there's plenty of cooking time for the filling before you get to the pastry.

So, here you are...



YIELD 1 9-inch deep dish pie, 4 servings
TIME 1 hour, plus 8 hours' braising and baking

This lavish, British-style meat pie is a delicious, time-consuming project. It comes together over many hours, layering the flavors and textures of many different meats, and seals it all in a buttery homemade dough. The recipe belongs to the chef Angie Mar of the Beatrice Inn in New York, who makes the pie at her restaurant in smaller ramekins, so that each person gets her own marrow bone. This family-style version serves several people, but a single bone works beautifully: As the pie bakes in the oven, most of the marrow melts out, bubbling into the sauce, making it even richer. The pie filling, made from potatoes and venison braised in trotter stock, is thickened with a little flour, but it should be slightly loose when you're putting the pie together. The crust requires suet, and though you could make it all-butter if you wanted to, it seems that if you've come this far, and located the marrow bone, the trotters and the venison meat, you may as well go all the way. The finished pie is certainly worth it. 

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE FILLING:

  • cups/1.2 liters chicken stock
  • pig trotter, split lengthways
  • tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 ½ pounds/700 grams venison shoulder or leg meat, cut into about 2-inch pieces
  •  Kosher salt
  • tablespoons/40 grams all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup/188 milliliters white wine
  • ½ onion
  • cloves garlic, peeled and halved
  • sprigs thyme
  • bay leaf
  • cup fingerling potatoes or new potatoes, boiled until tender
  • 5- to 6-inch marrow bone, outside scraped clean

FOR THE CRUST:

  • 2 ½ cups/300 grams all-purpose flour
  • tablespoons/30 grams sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • teaspoon kosher salt
  • 5 ½ tablespoons/75 grams cold unsalted butter, coarsely grated
  • 5 ½ tablespoons/75 grams cold beef suet, coarsely grated (or use additional butter)
  • ¾ cup/200 milliliters ice water

TO ASSEMBLE:

  • egg, beaten

PREPARATION

  1. Make the filling: In a heavy-bottomed pot that fits the trotter pieces in a single layer, bring the stock and trotter to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer gently for about 3 hours or until the trotter skin and meat is very tender. Remove trotter pieces and strain the liquid, reserving both the trotters and liquid, separately.
  2. Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over high heat. Generously season the venison all over with kosher salt and, working in batches, sear the meat on all sides until deep golden brown. Return all meat to the pot, reduce heat to medium and sprinkle the flour over the meat, stirring gently. When flour is slightly brown, add the wine, scraping all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the liquid thickens, about 1 minute, then add about 4 cups of the braising liquid from the trotters, so the meat is covered, along with the onion, garlic and herbs. Bring up to a boil, then cover tightly and place in the oven to cook until tender, about 3 hours. Fish out and discard the onion, garlic, thyme and bay leaf.
  3. Once the trotter pieces are cool enough, pick off all of the meat, silken tendons and skin from the bones, and discard the bones and any tough bits. Chop trotter meat, tendon and skin roughly and add to the braised venison, along with the potatoes. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary with more salt.
  4. Make the crust: Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the butter and suet and pulse until mixture has a cornmeal-like texture. Slowly stream in a little cold water and continue pulsing, adding water a little at a time until dough comes together; you may not need all the water. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, dusting with flour as needed to avoid sticking. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
  5. When ready to bake the pie, heat oven to 375 degrees. Put a 9- or 10-inch deep-dish pie plate on a foil-lined baking tray and stand the marrow bone up in the center of the pan. Spoon all the meat, potato filling and gravy around it. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12-inch round and cut a small cross at the center. Drape dough over the pie plate, pushing the marrow bone right through the center, so it’s sticking out. Use scissors to cut excess dough away, leaving at least an inch hanging off the edge all around. Use a fork to press down and crimp the dough where it’s touching the edge of the pan, leaving the overhang attached. (It will make a kind of curtain around the the dish.) Generously brush the dough all over with the beaten egg, and bake until the crust is deep golden brown, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then season the open top of the marrow bone with a little salt and serve.
Here's the Times link. Let me know if it works for non-subscribers. 

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019128-venison-and-trotter-pie?emc=edit_ck_20180110&nl=cooking&nlid=81184059&te=1

I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Michael 
Central Connecticut 

Comments

  • smbishop
    smbishop Posts: 3,053
    @Carolina Q
    Thank you for sharing!  I have never cooked venison, but if I can find a place to buy it, I will give this a go.  Any suggestions on where to buy venison near DFW/Southlake?  Also, where would I find a pig trotter?  This is exactly the kind of cook I would love spending a weekend  on!
    Southlake, TX and Cowhouse Creek - King, TX.  2 Large, 1 Small and a lot of Eggcessories.
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Scott, trotters are just pig's feet. I can find those HERE, the backwater of all barbecue. :rofl: Dunno about venison. The first and only time I ever had it, I was about 10 years old. I think I liked it.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • Stormbringer
    Stormbringer Posts: 2,007
    Oh I'm making that, my mother-in-law is a fan of triggers. Thanks!
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Cooking and blogging with a Large and Minimax in deepest, darkest England-shire
    | My food blog ... BGE and other stuff ... http://www.thecooksdigest.co.uk
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------


  • smbishop
    smbishop Posts: 3,053
    Scott, trotters are just pig's feet. I can find those HERE, the backwater of all barbecue. :rofl: Dunno about venison. The first and only time I ever had it, I was about 10 years old. I think I liked i
    I can do that.  I think I have an in on the venison...  I will make this!
    Southlake, TX and Cowhouse Creek - King, TX.  2 Large, 1 Small and a lot of Eggcessories.
  • Austin  Egghead
    Austin Egghead Posts: 3,966
    edited January 2018
    CQ, out where Scott lives, there isn't much call for trotters.  
    Scott on way down to your country place, stop at Hamilton Quality Meats on 281 and ask for trotters. Also, see if he has any venison for sale.  Or you can call him. Number is 2543864646.  He has butchered a cow for us and we really liked what he did.  Unfortunately, nephew thinks it is too long a drive to go there again.  
    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Awesome! Thanks, Joan!

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • smbishop
    smbishop Posts: 3,053
    Thank you Joan, heading down this afternoon!
    Southlake, TX and Cowhouse Creek - King, TX.  2 Large, 1 Small and a lot of Eggcessories.
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    never seen suet used in pie crust, i like the idea. i will do a version of this soon
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • smbishop
    smbishop Posts: 3,053
    @Carolina Q @Austin Egghead 

    So I text'd my new neighbor (who I only met briefly, once) down here near Gatesville, TX, and asked where I might find some local venison shoulder or leg meat and pig trotter.  

    He stopped by today and dropped off 5 lbs of venison hind quarter meat, cubed, and some venison sausage he made the weekend we purchased our property.  He also offered a pig, once he got a couple, and shared a photo from his property.  

    So thankful for an awesome neighbor!

    Looking forward to trying this recipe out!


    Southlake, TX and Cowhouse Creek - King, TX.  2 Large, 1 Small and a lot of Eggcessories.
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Nice!!

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • Austin  Egghead
    Austin Egghead Posts: 3,966
    edited January 2018
    Told Tobin on your venison search.  He said to go to Cinnamon Creek Processing and Archery...Off I35W not too far from Cabbelas.  He said that is where they had the Elan processed and he thinks they have a retail store also.  
    Great neighbor
    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
  • smbishop
    smbishop Posts: 3,053
    Told Tobin on your venison search.  He said to go to Cinnamon Creek Processing and Archery...Off I35W not too far from Cabbelas.  He said that is where they had the Elan processed and he thinks they have a retail store also.  
    Great neighbor

    Thank you!  
    Southlake, TX and Cowhouse Creek - King, TX.  2 Large, 1 Small and a lot of Eggcessories.
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    I had venison once. I was about 10. That was many, MANY years ago. I remember that I liked it, but I have no clue what it tasted like. Does it taste like anything else? Chicken? Pork? Sirloin?

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • smbishop
    smbishop Posts: 3,053
    Do you think the marrow bone is pork, beef, or if it matters?
    Southlake, TX and Cowhouse Creek - King, TX.  2 Large, 1 Small and a lot of Eggcessories.
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    edited January 2018
    @smbishop, I'd say beef. Though it appears she changes it up depending on her mood. After a bit of searching, I finally found this article in The Manual where she discusses her venison and LAMB pie (with a beef marrow bone). I'd go with that.

    She did offer this tip in the article...
    "If you’d like to interchange the meats, this recipe works very well with beef chuck or pork shoulder."

    That said, I just compared the two recipes (the NY Times one and The Manual version) and they are not the same. Similar though. Take a look and see what you think. I'd still go with a beef marrow bone.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • smbishop
    smbishop Posts: 3,053
    edited January 2018
    @Carolina Q 

    Thank you!  I was thinking the same thing as the recipe calls for beef suet which apparently is beef fat, not that I would know that.  Looking forward to giving this a go!
    Southlake, TX and Cowhouse Creek - King, TX.  2 Large, 1 Small and a lot of Eggcessories.
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    @smbishop, I wanna make that milk braised pork dish she talked about. Served on a bed of jasmine rice soubise (onion purée). Never heard of soubise, but the pic looked great!
    Milk Braised Pork Shoulder

    The trotter pie looked good too though.
    Venison  Lamb Pie with Bone Marrow

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • smbishop
    smbishop Posts: 3,053
    Wow! Another one to add to the list!
    Southlake, TX and Cowhouse Creek - King, TX.  2 Large, 1 Small and a lot of Eggcessories.