Venison + Ramp Sausage with Creamy Polenta

We made it through another week. Tomorrow might be one of those days filled with dread and anxiety, but right now is filled with the simple comfort of a big plate of creamy polenta, venison + ramp sausage, and a fried farm egg. This dish transports me back to the table with my parents and grandparents and hits on all the nostalgic notes that you could ask for. Video of the process is below.

The Sausage

I use about 40% pork fat to mix with the ground venison in this recipe.

2.8 lbs freshly ground venison

1.1 lbs ground pork fat

10 grams dehydrated ramp powder (recipe can be found here)

Dried chili flakes to taste

15 grams salt

2 tsp fennel seeds

15 grams brown sugar

Natural hog casings

Instructions

1. Mix together, by hand, all of your filling ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Carefully slide the sausage casing up onto the stuffing tube. Insert whatever joke you want here. Leave the end untied to allow air to pass through. You’ll tie it off at the end.

3. On the slowest setting, carefully feed the sausage mixture down into the hopper. You’ll want to work slow and steady, and pause whenever you have any complications. The goal is to have a uniform filling all the way through the casing, without it being packed too tight where the casing will break apart or burst. If you’re attempting this recipe, you’ll likely have made your own sausages before.

4. When you’ve finished stuffing your sausage now it’s time to tie your links. I typically will make small batches, so I’ll tie each link individually, gently applying pressure with my fingers where I want there to be a break, and then twisting it around to create a nice clean break between links. There are much more elegant and efficient ways to do this and lots of great Youtube videos from professional butchers who can help visualize this process.

5. Heat up some olive oil in a skillet and brown the sausage on all sides. Transfer the sausage to a pot of simmering red sauce to continue cooking for another 20 minutes. My classic red sauce recipe can be found here.

Creamy Polenta

1 cup coarse cornmeal

1/2 stick Butter

1 cup cubed provolone cheese

1 cup whole milk

2 - 3 cups chicken stock

Salt

Instructions

1. Bring 1 cup of milk and 2 cups of stock to a simmer and add the cornmeal.

2. You’ll need to constantly stir the polenta to ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

3. Add in the butter and cubed provolone and keep stirring until it melts. Add salt to taste.

4. If it starts to feel a little too thick, add some reserved stock to thin it out. Keep adding more stock to maintain the right creamy texture. In total it will take about 30 minutes start to finish.

Pani ca' Cori : Deer Heart Sandwich

This was the year that we lost my dad. It was also the year that I harvested my first deer after five years of trying. I grew up watching my dad hunt and was witness to the entire process from the forest, to the barn, and eventually to the dinner plate. He never forced it on me and as I became a teenager I grew disinterested. As an adult my appreciation of it returned along with my unease with concentrated animal feeding lots and the factory farm food system. But ultimately it was also a good excuse to get out in the woods with my dad as two adults even as I began to see his health begin to decline. He couldn’t come out the last two years but I persisted and kept him with me in my thoughts this season. I know he’d be smiling right now. This animal will be appreciated in the fullest sense of the word and I hope to transmit a sense of respect and responsibility that comes with it to my own two boys.

The first meal I wanted to make was a tribute to my dad and his Sicilian origins. Pani ca' Meusa is a Sicilian sandwich traditionally made with stewed organ meats that get cooked over a long period of time in giant pots. It has become one of the most iconic foods in Palermo served at a handful of old school street vendors throughout the city. You’ll find them smothered in freshly grated caciocavallo cheese and served with a squeeze of lemon. The offal is typically spleen and lungs of a cow. Originally this was a sandwich designed for the poor but eventually, like other culinary feats of frugality and ingenuity, it has become widely popularized thanks in part to food fanatics like Palermo Street Food.

For months leading up to this year’s deer hunting season I had been dreaming up different recipes in anticipation. I didn’t want anything to go to waste. What came to me was a spin on the classic Pani ca' Meusa but instead of using the traditional offal I would instead focus the sandwich on the deer heart. The heart was broken down into several beautiful steaks which were marinated with olive oil, garlic, homemade plum vinegar, salt and pepper. I then grilled them quickly on a hot grill and sliced them super thin, smothered them in grated caciocavallo from Jersey Girl Cheese and delivered them on my homemade sesame sourdough rolls. The concept, which I’m calling Pani ca' Cori, is distinctly Sicilian but it takes on new meaning with the notable addition of the deer heart. Video of the whole process below.

My dad in the 80’s.