Italian Venison Stew (Tuscan)

Three of my favorite things are combined to make this Italian Venison Stew.

One is Italian cuisine, then you have venison, and lastly stew.

However, this is not your normal everyday stew. Peposo alla Fiorentina is one of the oldest stews in history and dates back to the 15th century.

The original recipe for this stew was without tomatoes because Italy didn’t even have tomatoes back then.

Ingredients

• venison 
• garlic cloves 
• whole peppercorns 
• sea salt 
• Chianti 
• tinned tomatoes 
• rosemary 
• bay leaves 
• high-temp oil 
• clarified butter

I normally like to use venison neck for traditional venison stew, however, for this recipe I used venison sirloin, also known as the football due to its shape.

This dish is traditionally made with chianti, but any dry red wine will work.

As I mentioned above, although Italy is now famous for tomato-based dishes like bolognese, this dish is traditionally made without tomatoes.

However, I much prefer to use tomatoes in this dish, as they work well with the venison.

I like spicy food and I make this Italian venison stew with 1.5 tablespoons of whole black peppercorns.

However, I find this may be too spicy for a lot of people, so the recipe calls for 1 tablespoon, but you could go up to 1.5 for a real punch.

Instructions

While the original stew was cooked in pots using the residual heat from the kilns of the workers, I don’t expect you to cook it like that.

There are 3 potential methods for cooking this stew. (1) You can cook it in a Dutch oven placed in the oven (2) It can be cooked on the stove top, or (3) You can cook it in a slow cooker.

1. Preheat oven to 325F: This method is if you are cooking in the oven.
2. Lightly crush the peppercorns: The pepper is the star of the show here, so it is only lightly crushed and not turned to powder.
3. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over high heat 
4. Brown the venison in the pot, half at a time: Adding too much venison will reduce the temperature of the pot and it won’t be hot enough to brown the venison.
5. Salt venison while browning 
6. Remove to a bowl and reduce the heat 
7. Add the butter to the pot and melt 
8. Add garlic to the pot and cook for 2 minutes
9. Return the venison to the pot 
10. Pour over the wine 
11. Add the tomatoes, pepper, bay leaves, and rosemary: Gently crush the tomatoes with your hands before adding them to the pot.
12. Cover with a lid and place in the oven for 3-4 hours. Alternatively, cook in a slow cooker on low for 5 hours

Sides

My two favorite ways of serving this beautiful peppery Italian stew are over polenta, or with crusty bread to soak up the sauce.