BY FRAN FRY

Several readers are asking for recipes for venison. They said they have venison in their freezers and are looking for something different to do with the deer meat.

Here is a venison stew recipe that is a favorite of ours.

VENISON STEW - Ingredients: 2 tablespoons cooking oil; 2 pounds venison stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes; 3 large onions, coarsely chopped; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce; 1 bay leaf; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 tablespoon salt; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 3 cups water; 7 potatoes, peeled and quartered; 1 pound carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces; 2 ribs of celery, cut into 1-inch pieces; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup cold water; a drop or two of bottled browning sauce (Kitchen Bouquet or Gravy Master) optional.

Method: Heat oil in a Dutch oven. Brown meat. Add onions, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer, covered 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is tender. Add potatoes and carrots. Continue to cook until vegetables are tender, about 30 to 45 minutes. Mix flour and water; stir into stew. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add browning sauce if desired. Remove bay leaf before serving. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

I prefer to serve the venison stew over wife Judy's freshly-baked, light as a feather, biscuits or bake a batch of zesty cornbread to serve with the stew.

Wife Judy's recipe for biscuits is simple, just remember two, four, six; 2 cups flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 6 tablespoons shortening, 1 teaspoon salt.

Work that up in a bowl with a pastry blender till pea-sized crumbs form. Stir in 2/3 cup of milk with a fork and stir till it comes away from the sides of the bowl. Then flour a surface and roll 3/4 to 1 inch thick, cut with a biscuit cutter or jelly jar. If you are in a hurry, you can just cut the dough into squares and bake.

Bake 10 minutes at 425 degrees and enjoy. Make some extras to serve as dessert with jelly, jam or honey.

Now we do some indoor barbecuing.

CROCK-POT BARBECUE VENISON - Ingredients: 5 pound venison hind quarter rolled-roast (all fat and bones removed); 1 3/4 cups Fran Fry's Frying Pan Butt Kickin' BBQ Sauce; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce; 2 teaspoons black pepper; 1 teaspoon garlic salt; 1 teaspoon seasoned salt; 1/2 teaspoon onion powder; 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard.

Method: Combine all ingredients, coating the meat well; place in a sealable plastic bag. Marinate overnight.

Cook in crock-pot on low for 9 hours. Remove from crock pot, let cool a bit and then slice into thin strips across the grain and serve for sandwiches on rolls, buns or crusty French bread.

FRYING PAN OVEN-ROAST - Ingredients: 5 pound boneless venison hind quarter roast; 1 cup of Fran Fry's Frying Pan Butt Kickin' BBQ Sauce; 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce; 1 tablespoon garlic powder; 2 teaspoons celery salt; 2 teaspoons lemon pepper; 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt; 1 cup chopped onion; 1/2 cup beer (Straub's of St. Marys Pa. or Shiner Bock of Texas); 1 tablespoon Fran Fry's Frying Pan Steak-Burger Seasoning.

Method: In large glass baking dish, mix all ingredients for sauce. Put well-trimmed roast in glass baking dish, sprinkle the steak seasoning over the meat, and seal with heavy-duty aluminum foil.

Bake at 275 degrees for 5 to 6 hours. Remove from oven last hour and baste with the sauce. Return covered roast to oven for another hour. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 1/2 hour before slicing. Slice across the grain, and serve with sauce, which has been reduced to thicken.

Slow-cooking is part of what makes this so good, but the wonderful aroma will make you impatient for it to get done.

APPLE GLAZED BEEF BRISKET - Ingredients: 5-pound beef brisket, trimmed; 1 medium onion, quartered; 2 cloves garlic, cut into halves; 10 whole cloves; 1 10-ounce jar apple jelly ; 3 tablespoons brown mustard; 3 tablespoons green onion, minced; salt to taste; 3/4 teaspoon pepper; 3/4 teaspoon curry powder.

Method: Place brisket, onion, garlic and cloves in a large heavy saucepan. Add water and cover. Simmer 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until beef is tender. Drain. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine jelly, mustard, green onions, salt, pepper and curry powder in small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Place drained beef in baking dish. Brush with glaze. Bake 45 minutes, basting often. This is a very quick method.

If you don't happen to have any venison, use a beef brisket in any of the above three recipes.

My Frying Pan seasonings and sauces are available through my site, fransfryingpan.com.

Until we meet again on the barbecue trail next month, keep your wood dry and your back to the wind.

Fran Fry is an award-winning food writer and long-time outdoor and barbecue cook. He can be reached at frypan@csonline.net or check out his web page fransfryingpan.com.

His "The Frying Pan" food column appears Sundays in the Erie Times-News in Erie, PA.

BACHELOR CHILI

Ingredients:
3 lbs boneless beef, venison chuck roast (elk, moose, or bear can be substituted);
1 tbs cooking oil;
2 med. onions, chopped;
1 med. green pepper, chopped;
2 garlic cloves, minced;
1/4 tbs crushed red pepper flakes;
1 18-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained;
1 cup water;
12 oz tomato paste;
1 tbs sugar;
1/2 tsp ground cumin;
1/2 tsp dried oregano;
1/4 tsp pepper.

Method:
Cut meat into 1/4-inch pieces. In a 4-quart Dutch oven, brown meat in oil; remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan, saute onions, green pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes until vegetables are tender. Return meat to pan. Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 3 hours or until the meat is tender. Makes 10 servings.

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