January 18, 2016

Venison Barbacoa Recipe~Burrito Night!

Martie Food and Recipes burrito, crockpot, doe, fresh meat, Hunting, venison Barbacoa 6 Comments

Coach had the best birthday present! He was blessed enough to go hunting and harvest a nice, fat doe on the last day of the season, which was the day after his birthday. Actually, our whole family was blessed by this in the form of plenty of fresh meat in the freezer! While I was cleaning and packaging up the meat to freeze, I knew I was going to make venison barbacoa with this meat, and soon. I also kept adding in my head the savings that would take place by Coach’s score, and after two-plus hours of standing in the kitchen playing butcher, I lost count.

Our first venison meal was actually the day after the hunt. It doesn’t get much fresher than that! Brother Bear and Sister Shell came up for a visit from Sunny Florida, and we enjoyed one of the backstraps with them (plus the leftovers the next day after they left). My second recipe was this amazing, tender and delicious venison Barbacoa recipe that I’m sharing with you today. If you like Mexican food, you absolutely must try this recipe! It’s a savory, spicy, slow-cooked masterpiece that my family couldn’t get enough of!

Barbacoa is a Mexican meat dish and is usually made with lamb or goat meat, cooked in maguey leaves (the plant tequila comes from!). When cooked at home, the meat is usually steamed until it’s super-tender. The only Barbacoa I’ve ever had (besides my own) is at the popular burrito bar, Chipotle, and it’s one of my favorite things to eat in the world! It’s a slow-cooked beef roast with very subtle hints of spice that just melts in your mouth. I figured out after sampling the Barbacoa at Chipotle a few dozen times (I’m still doing as many tastings as possible, just to be sure) that cloves were involved. It’s a pretty distinctive flavor, but it’s not overpowering, so I knew it was just a bit. Since there’s no Chipotle anywhere near me, I knew I had to figure out how to make it myself at home. Trying Barbacoa with one of our venison roasts was a given! I’m so glad I did, because it was so delicious and warm and filling, and perfect for a winter meal!

Here’s how I did it:

I didn’t make it difficult nor dirty a skillet browning the meat; I just put my roast in the crockpot. I sprinkled on a package of taco seasoning.

Then, I mixed up about a cup of chicken broth (I use water and Watkin’s Chicken Soup Base) with some salsa, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, some finely chopped onion, 2 fresh cloves of garlic, cumin, Mexican oregano, ground coriander (because I didn’t have any fresh cilantro), and some ground cloves in a glass measuring dish. I just swooshed it all together, then poured it over my roast.

That’s it. Cover it and cook it on low for 8-9 hours, then reach in there with a fork and watch how fast the tender, flavorful meat falls apart.

It was putty in my hands after all the love I’d shown it. It was yummy in my tummy on a big burrito garnished with lettuce, tomato, sour cream and cheese.

It was just good! The leftovers were polished off the following day, because it’s one of those few things that doesn’t get left in my fridge to grow cures for gnarly diseases…that’s how good this is, loves!

If you don’t think you like deer meat, but your mate has filled your freezer with it anyway, try venison barbacoa. I’m telling you, you’ll never suspect it’s venison. I personally like the flavor of venison, which is a good thing since that’s about all I was served growing up. I like traditional pot roast, smoked venison, venison jerky, and have plans to try some new recipes I found while surfing around on Pinterest, like chicken fried venison steak! I’ll have to force myself to cook it all these other ways, because the barbacoa was by far the best venison meal I’ve ever had!

Being around the table with family sure didn’t hurt, either.