Venison Pot Roast with Vegetables

Hundred-degree heat on Tuesday. Kentucky doesn't do a hundred degrees gently — it does it with humidity that makes the air feel like a warm, wet towel wrapped around your head. The garden wilts by noon. The fire pit is too hot to use. Even the dog two houses over, a hound mix that barks at everything, shut up and lay in the shade and surrendered. I stayed inside and made something cold: cucumber salad, the way Betty made it. Sliced cucumbers, sliced onion, white vinegar, sugar, salt, a little water. Sit in the fridge for an hour. Betty made this with every summer meal because cucumbers grew like weeds in the Evarts garden and because a cucumber salad takes five minutes and costs nothing and cools you down from the inside, which is the only place cooling matters.

The heat broke Thursday with a thunderstorm that sounded like the mountain was clearing its throat. Rain came down in sheets and the power flickered and I stood at the kitchen window and watched the yard flood and thought about the mine. I think about the mine when it storms, when the dark comes fast and the noise is everywhere and the walls feel close. The collapse was thirty-one years ago and I still flinch at thunder. Not every time. But enough times that I know the fear is still in there, packed down like coal in a seam, waiting to be disturbed.

Made beef stew Friday because the storm dropped the temperature twenty degrees and suddenly it felt like October instead of July and stew was the only appropriate response. Chuck roast browned in the Dutch oven, onion, carrots, potatoes, tomato paste, beef stock, Worcestershire, thyme. Three hours on low. The kind of stew that fills the house with a smell so complete that when Connie came home from work she stood in the doorway and breathed in and said it smells like fall, and I said it's July, and she said I don't care.

That Friday stew was beef, because that’s what was in the freezer, but the spirit of it — the browned meat, the low-and-slow Dutch oven, the root vegetables pulling everything together — is the same spirit that drives a good venison pot roast. If you hunt, or if you know someone who does, this is the recipe that makes the most of a cut that rewards patience. The storm that knocked the temperature twenty degrees gave me permission to cook like it was October, and if I’d had a venison shoulder in the freezer instead of chuck, it would have gone in exactly the same pot, the same way.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 3 hours | Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

3 to 4 lbs venison shoulder or chuck roast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 stalks celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups beef or venison stock
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf

Instructions

Preheat and season. Preheat oven to 325°F. Pat the venison roast dry with paper towels and season all over with salt and pepper.
Sear the roast. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear the roast on all sides until deeply browned, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.
Soften the aromatics. Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion and celery to the Dutch oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and stir for 1 minute.
Build the braise. Pour in the stock and Worcestershire sauce, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the thyme and bay leaf. Return the roast to the pot — the liquid should come about halfway up the meat.
Low and slow. Cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for 2 hours.
Add the vegetables. Remove the pot from the oven, nestle the carrots and potatoes around the roast, and return to the oven. Cook uncovered for another 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the vegetables are tender and the meat pulls apart easily with a fork.
Rest and serve. Remove the bay leaf. Let the roast rest for 10 minutes before slicing or pulling. Serve with the braising liquid spooned over the top.

Nutrition (per serving)

Venison Pot Roast with Vegetables — When the Storm Breaks and the Kitchen Calls