I don’t know why but I always think about IKEA when anyone mentions Swedish Meatballs. Maybe because for a furniture store, they have a pretty good cafeteria. I really like this recipe because it doesn’t mask the game flavor. I think I a lot of people try to hide gamey flavors. To me, a better move is pairing seasonings and sauces that accentuate the game flavor without over complicating things. I also do have to say that for the most part, if someone doesn’t already know it’s game meat, they won’t be able to identify it. I think a key to getting flavorful game meat without too much wild flavor is two fold. Number one is making an ethical, clean shot on animal to cause the least amount of distress.

When you harvest an animal, there are endorphins and hormones traveling through the meat. In my experience the more stressed an animal is from being over pressured, chased, or injured before it’s down, the more pungent the meat is. Second is how you treat your meat in the field and at the processor. There are so many components to packing meat out, keeping it cold, and storing it before it makes it to the processor. To top that off, the time the processor can let the meat hang and how they process it also contributes to the taste, freshness, and shelf life of your meat. I can’t preach getting a good processor enough.

Of course, there are some other factors in an animals environment and diet that can contribute to taste as well. I could and should do a whole post on field processing and meat packing, but that’s for another day. Truly my point is, instead of masking flavors and trying to hide that it’s game meat, accentuate the flavor it has and let it shine on it’s own. It’s not and won’t ever be beef. Don’t take that out of context either. WE LOVE BEEF and the beef industry. We just also really love field to table.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs deer
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 tbs Dijon
• 2 tbs worch
• 2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 can cream of mushroom
• 1 cup beef broth
• 2 Tbs sour cream
• 2 tbs ish canola oil