A Year of Deer, Episode 8: Slow-Cooker Cider Venison Roast

This past weekend we dipped into our venison stash twice for the purposes of entertaining. Saturday evening our good friends Nate & Bethany came over for dinner. They're newlyweds like us.

For this episode, I prepared the last of the roasts by slow-cooking the meat with veggies and a host of flavorful accompaniments.

The Ingredients:

• 1 venison roast (3 - 3 1/2 lbs)*
• 2 Tb flour
• 2 Tb butter or margarine
• 1 cup coarsely chopped celery
• 1 coarsely chopped onion
• 5 medium carrots, cut into 1"slices
• 4-5 all-purpose potatoes, cut into 1" chunks
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1 cup beef gravy
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

*I used two smaller roasts that added up to just over 3 lbs


The Directions: 
Place the flour in a gallon-size plastic bag. Place the venison roast in the bag and shake to coat the roast with flour. Melt the margarine in a skillet. Saute the venison until lightly browned on all sides. Place the browned venison in a 6-quart slow cooker. Add the celery, onion, potatoes, and carrots. In a medium bowl, mix the apple cider, gravy, thyme, salt, and pepper together. Pour the mixture over the other ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

 

Here's the happy sight of dinner, ready to eat after slow cooking for 10 hours and permeating the air in our apartment with delicious aromas.

 

 Here's my plate.

 

And here's Travis with our friends, all of whom were too wrapped up in the deliciousness of dinner to pay attention to me and look at the camera.

The Verdict: This dish might just be my favorite out of all the episodes so far. The meat was so tender, the flavors so rich, the veggies perfectly cooked. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Since we've run out of venison roasts, I'll probably try it with beef next time, which I imagine would be similarly tasty.