lightening the load (recipe: venison curry with toasted coconut rice)

A few weeks ago a friend called to let us know that a deer had been downed on her property. The deer was recently dead so she planned to salvage the meat, and invited us up to do some of the work. Jeremy went up while I stayed home with the kids and my pounding head. (So many headaches lately.)

It was the first time Jeremy had ever butchered an animal. He removed the hide and organs and helped to hang the deer for aging.


I was shocked by the smell of blood on him when he came home. After killing a rooster and processing a few others I can attest that the smell clings to your skin and clothes like you would not believe.

And this meat, especially, is very difficult to handle. The deer was already dead so the bleeding process wasn't very efficient. That decomposing blood cell stench is overwhelming for me. So for the most part Jeremy handles the venison.

On the advice of a friend, he's been tenderizing the meat and then sitting it in several changes of water for a few days before cooking it. This does release a lot of the blood and makes the meat much more tender. We skipped this step for one meal and the meat was almost impossibly tough.

I can't say this is my favorite meat ever -- I can't stand the smell of it raw, or while it's cooking. But after cooking it tastes more or less like a very lean beef. In this recipe, I threw in some coconut milk and heavy spices to improve the flavor and texture. The end product was delicious, even if getting to it was a struggle.

I mentioned this deer experience on Facebook and several friends commented that it was good the deer wasn't wasted. I can appreciate the sentiment, but the deer wouldn't have been wasted if we'd left her where she was. She would have fed important scavengers in the area, and then her blood and tissues and ultimately her bones would have fed the soil. She also would have stunk to high heaven in the process, so I think it's good that we acted as the scavengers in this incidence. But it's important to recognize that nothing living in an ecological system is ever wasted.

This isn't necessarily the case in an industrial system. For example, male chicks from layer hens are considered useless in the egg industry, because they don't grow the kind of meat U.S. consumers prefer. So they're disposed of by various means, like gassing, suffocating in plastic bags in a Dumpster, or being macerated in a machine. The assumption might be that roosters from layer hens aren't worth raising because they're not worth eating, but this is only true if your rubric is a boneless-skinless chicken breast of mutant proportions.

In an integrated system, roosters wouldn't be considered worthless just because they don't lay eggs. Slaughter is still the end of the line, but they get to live and behave like normal chickens instead of having their lives snuffed out almost immediately after pecking through the shell.

Older roosters are key ingredients in traditional dishes like coq au vin, reflecting the peasant ethic of avoiding waste. This is something that I hold as my ideal. It pains me to think of the land wasted to feed animals a wholly unnatural diet, the water wasted by feedlot contamination. When I eat I try to consider what was fed into the system that produced that food, and what costs might have been externalized. I'm still awfully attached to rice, but I like that we produce so little food waste these days. Whatever doesn't go to the chickens is composted. We just started getting local milk in Mason jars so we can stop buying yogurt in plastic from a bit further away. (Those containers are great for starting seeds, though.) I can make three or four meals from a single chicken, and then make chicken broth. These are small steps -- but they're all small steps.

And I have this in mind as we consider what to take with us into this new small space. By living in a smaller space we must minimize our concept of "need." Still, whatever we choose to live without, I want it to have a second life (or third or fourth, as the case may be). I don't want to have to haul anything off to the dump. That would be a shameful thing -- "simplifying" only to contribute to a mountain of waste.

After many conversations about what we'll be taking with us into our new place, Jeremy and I decided to take the plunge and do a major purge yesterday. We didn't touch the garage, but we went through the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen, gathering things together to haul off to Goodwill. A small sampling of stuff we donated: toys our kids have outgrown, oh so many items of clothing, shoes, dishes, cutting boards, baking pans, appliances, silverware, wine glasses, and extra knives. We're book-whores but we're still donating everything except reference materials and a handful of life-changing reads.

I think this process is difficult for Jeremy. His pack-rat tendencies are at war with the need to lighten our load. He tends to get quiet and tense while going through his stuff. But he did comment that he felt lighter after our trips to Goodwill. It might have helped that we finally took our gift certificate to Graces on Main to pick out pottery to match our bowls. It softens the blow of drastic purging if you consume a little bit afterward. He even got a proper butter dish.

Venison & Sweet Potato Curry
1 lb. venison
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2" fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 1/2 c. coconut milk
1 1/2 c. vegetable broth
2 t. chile powder
1 t. turmeric
1/2 t. coriander
1/2 t. cumin
1/4 t. cinnamon
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 bunch of spinach, chopped
1/2 bunch of cilantro, minced, to serve

Two days before you want to make the curry, prepare the venison. Stab it all over with a fork and soak it completely in water in a covered bowl in the refrigerator. Change the water twice a day.

On the third day, remove the venison from the water and pat it dry. Cube the meat and heat a tablespoon of ghee or coconut oil in a large, deep skillet. Cook the meat over medium heat in a single layer, in batches, until browned on all sides. Remove the cooked meat to a plate.

Combine the onion, garlic, and ginger in the pan, adding a dollop of ghee if necessary. Cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent, stirring regularly. Return the meat to the pan and add the coconut oil, broth, and spices. Bring the curry to a low simmer and add a heavy pinch of salt. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 1 hour.

Near the end of the hour, prepare the rice as outlined below.

Remove the lid and stir in the sweet potato. Increase the heat and cook rapidly for about 15 minutes, until the curry has thickened and the sweet potatoes are cooked through. Stir in the spinach and let it wilt, then turn off the heat. Taste and adjust seasonings and salt as you wish. Serve the curry on top of the rice, with a sprinkling of cilantro.

Toasted Coconut Rice
2 c. jasmine rice
1 T. ghee
1/2 t. unrefined salt
1/4 c. shredded coconut, unsweetened
1/4 c. scallions, minced
1/4 c. cilantro, minced

Combine the rice, ghee, salt, and 4 cups of water in a large pot. Prepare as you prefer (I use a rice cooker). Meanwhile, lazy-toast the coconut in a large pan on the stovetop, stirring regularly until evenly browned. Watch it carefully so it doesn't burn. When the rice is finished, stir in the coconut, scallions, and cilantro. Enjoy!