Best Sauce For Venison
Choosing a venison sauce is not easy as there are so many to choose from
However, after thinking about it for a while there is one sauce that I use more than any other.
Mushroom sauce, but not any mushroom sauce, a porcini sauce in particular.
Ingredients

One of the great things about this sauce is how few ingredients it requires.
With 7 ingredients that are likely in your pantry year-round, you can put together this recipe in less than 20 minutes.
Full ingredient list:
- Porcini mushrooms
- Red or green peppercorns
- cup cream
- cup brandy
- butter
- salt
- mustard
These ingredients are the ones I use most frequently, but there are some alternative ingredients to make different variations of this sauce, which I will discuss below.
Making Porcini Sauce For Venison

Making the sauce is straightforward and takes only 10-15 minutes.
Rehydrating the mushrooms is optional, sometimes I prefer to add them dry and let them rehydrate in the sauce.
Doing this intensifies the porcini flavor in the sauce.
- Add the butter and melt over medium heat
- Add the mushrooms and fry
- Deglaze with brandy
- I usually press the peppercorns into the venison, but can also be added loose
- Add the mustard
- Slowly add the cream and stir
- Cook for 5 minutes

This is the simplest version of this sauce.
However, I do vary it from time to time, but the base is always porcinis.
You can pour this over medallions, or butterflied backstrap, you can even serve it with a rack of venison if you like.
Variations
There are many ways to vary this sauce.
Instead of using cream you could build a roux and use venison stock
Instead of using brandy, you could use white wine
I often add finely chopped shallots and garlic

Venison Sauce (Porcini Musrhoom)
Ingredients
- 1 Venison tenderloin
- Porcini musrooms
- 1 tbsp red or green peppercorns
- 1 cup cream
- 1/2 cup brandy
- 2 tbsp butter
- salt
- 1 tbsp mustard
Instructions
- Slice the tenderloin into medallions, about 1.5 -2 inches thick.
- Cover the medallions with some film and very gently pound to get a larger cooking surface (see notes)
- Sprinkle some peppercorns on the medallions and firmly push into the meat. Sprinkle some salt over the medallions.
- Heat a pan over medium heat and add the butter. Once the butter gets hot add the medallions. Cook for about 1.5 minutes per side depending on the size of your tenderloin.
- Remove the medallions from the pan and add the porcini mushrooms. Cook for 3 minutes.
- Pour over the brandy and cook until reduced by half. (about 2 minutes)
- Add the mustard and stir
- Add the cream and stir
- Return the medallions to the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes until the sauce thickens (see notes)
Notes
- If you are in a hurry or want the sauce to be extra thick you can use half a tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Add half a tablespoon of cornstarch to 1 tablespoon of water to make a slurry. Stir this into your sauce and cook for 2-4 minutes.