Barbecued Venison Roast

I find myself talking to my baby a lot. Rarely do I have such a captive audience, so I'm taking advantage of it. I tell him what I'm thinking about, ask him questions, and together we muse about the world. I think we're on the verge of getting that world hunger problem straightened out.

Then conversation turns into singing, right now oldies mixed with Sound of Music tunes. Then I realize I only know two Sound of Music tunes, so I end up making up songs. A current favorite on the playlist:

Lit-tle One
With his big Buddha belly
His big Buddha belly
Full of mama's milk

Or the classic:

Nummy nummy nummy
I got milk in my tummy
Yum yum
It sure is fiiiine

And then when my songs get ridiculous, I try nursery rhymes. One nursery rhyme that I actually remember:

Jack Sprat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
So between them both, you see
They licked the platter clean

This is poignant since my hubby and I are a meat/veggie version of Jack Sprat and his wife. Before we met each other, I was a vegetarian that ate "burgers" without the actual burger (a bun with ketchup and pickles, basically) and cheeseless green pepper Domino's pizza (try ordering a pizza without cheese - not easy). His diet consisted of vending machine muffins, moose burger Hamburger Helper, and when he was wearing his fancy pants, a brick of cream cheese microwaved with a jar of salsa and eaten with chips.

Needless to say, consuming an entire brick of cream cheese in one sitting is not the best thing for a healthy digestive tract.

Now we both eat better. I eat wild game and will even enjoy the occasional chicken curry wrap at Mr. Delicious. He now eats foods that didn't exist to him previously, like beans, cooked broccoli, and mangoes. We're making progress.

So in the spirit of compromise, for every lentil-and-rice meal that harks back to my vegetarian days, we tend to balance with a manly meat-and-potatoes dinner later that week. Bonus points if dinner involves barbecue sauce.

Remember this guy?


Doe, a deer, a female deer...

Oh, wait, antlers = buck deer. Regardless, now he's dinner, in the form of barbecued venison roast:



If you have a roast from a young deer, the meat will be mild and tender. An older deer is going to taste more "gamey" and be a little tougher. Either way, slow cooking venison like this gives good flavor and tenderizes the meat. Plus, it's wicked easy.

You could just use bottled bbq sauce for this, but where's the fun in that? Slicing the meat an hour before serving to simmer in the sauce is key.

Barbecued Venison Roast

2-3 lb. boneless venison roast (can also use beef chuck roast)
1 and 1/2 cups ketchup
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons Worcestshire sauce
1 Tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
Large pinch salt
Few cracks of fresh black pepper
Big dash of garlic powder

Place roast in slow cooker (Crock Pot). Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl; pour over roast. Cook on low 8-10 hours or High 4-5 hours. An hour before serving, remove roast and slice or shred meat; place back in slow cooker, ensuring each piece is covered with sauce.