Deer hunting.

Till today, I have not shot my own deer. I was close enough a couple of times but just couldn’t connect. In addition, I don’t really enjoy the idea of your typical Midwestern deer hunt. Spending all day in a stand or sitting on the ground waiting for a deer to walk by, is not exaclty my idea of fun. I do love to see the sun come up and watch nature become busy around me, but I feel like I put myself into a disadvantage by just sitting. I understand I have no clue about deer hunting, and this might be the best way of doing it in the areas I hunted so far, but it just doesn’t feel right to me. In the words or Rut Daniels: “Love huntin’ but I hate waitin’!”

Nevertheless, I will be out there next season again for the main reason that venison might be one of the best wild game meats out there, and it is very accessible in Minnesota.

Heart full of tacos.

I was contemplating for a while on what kind of extravagant dish I could come up with, to turn this heart into something my wife Natasha would not just try, but maybe also enjoy. I was sure I’d turn it into schnitzel. Everything tastes good breaded and fried. Or maybe a stew. Nothing better in the wintertime than a pot of slow cooked meat with some good root vegetables and a liberal amount of red wine. But I really wanted this dish to bring out the amazing flavor and the great texture of properly cooked heart. I decided I would treat it the same way as a great piece of prime beef. Marinade it’s, cook it to medium over high heat and slice it. Taco Tuesday, here we come.

The cook.

Since this was going to be not any kind of taco Tuesday, but my first attempt on venison tacos I decided to go “all in”.

Thinking about Tacos:

I usually don’t just wing it totally on dishes like this. Often I start thinking about them days in advance. Once I made up my mind that I wanted to turn that heart of mine into delightful tacos I started to build it in my head. I like my tacos simple. Protein, salsa, cotija, done.

I would need some kind of tortilla. I really like those tiny street taco corn tortillas. Mainly since I love building them, and like that I can just eat more tacos. In addition, I believe corn tortillas just have a much better flavor. During my time traveling to Mexico, California and Texas, I had the chance to eat a ton of great tacos and try amazing fresh tortillas. I have been thinking about getting a tortilla press for quite a while now and it was about time to invest in one.

Besides a good tortilla, a taco needs a solid salsa. I really like to make fire roasted salsa. So this was an easy decision. Get some tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, limes and garlic and introduce them to the grill.

Monday:

Taco Tuesday:

I already trimmed the heart and cut it into filet size pieces. If you want to know how to do it, there is a great video from Danielle Prewett you should check out over at the Meateater page.

Next I rubbed the meat in olive oil and sprinkled some salt and pepper on it. After that I submerged the meat pieces in a marinade of fresh squeezed orange juice, lime juice, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, fresh cilantro and covered them with orange slices. All this goes into the fridge for about 6 hours.

For the tortillas I made a dough of Masa (white corn flour), water, lard and salt and formed 8 little balls about the size of a golf ball. he tortilla press made quick work of flattening those guys and you can just throw them into a dry cast iron skilled or on a griddle for about 30 seconds each side. Just make sure you either make them immediately when you want to eat them or put them into a covered dish right of the griddle so they don’t dry out.

Take the meat out of the fridge about an hour before you want to cook it. I pad it try with some paper towel and fry it in a cast iron skillet over high heat for about 3-5 minutes each side till it is nice browned and cooked medium. Slice it thin and your tacos are ready to be build. The fire roasted salsa and the acid rich venison heart have enough flavor by themselves that only a little cotija and a spritz of lime is needed to finish it of. Enjoy!