Flavourful Venison Goulash (Hirschgulasch)

This is a flavourful venison goulash with cranberry sauce, mushrooms and carrots. A wonderful hearty dish that is delicious in the autumn and winter months.

Course Main Course

Cuisine German

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 3

Total Time 3 15

Servings people

Calories 219kcal

Equipment

a large pot at least 5 l

Ingredients

1 kg venison meat cut into 2 cm chunks
3 tablespoon clarified butter if that is not available use 3 tablespoons vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon butter for the buttery taste
200 g onions 7 oz
200 g carrots 7 oz
200 g mushrooms 7 oz I used champignons
6 juniper berries
2 bay leaves
4 cloves
fresh thyme can be replaced by 2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 tablespoon tomato paste
200 ml dry red wine (6.7 fl oz)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar can be replaced with balsamic vinegar
500 ml venison stock/broth if not available then replace with beef stock /broth
4 tablespoons cranberry sauce more for serving

Instructions

Wash and slice the venison. Pat it dry with a towel.
Finley slice the onions, roughly slice the carrots and mushrooms.
Crush the juniper berries with a pestle and mortar, or another heavy object.
Place the juniper berries together with the thyme, cloves and bay leaves in a spice bag, or I use a loose tea bag. (This is optional, you can also add them in loose, but then remove them from the stew before serving.)
Heat the clarified butter in a large saucepan. Fry the meat until browned for about 2 minutes and remove from the pot. Place the meat on a separate plate and set it aside.
Briefly fry the onions, carrots and mushrooms, until the onions begin to brown. Add the tomato paste and fry for a further minute. Pour in the red wine and stock/broth.
Add the meat, spices, cranberry sauce and vinegar to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
Close the saucepan with a lid and cook on low heat for up to 3 hours. Stir the deer stew once in a while. The meat should become very tender.
After three hours, check the meat. If the sauce is too liquid mix two tablespoons of cornflour/ cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water and add to the pot. Briefly bring the pot back to boil, this should thicken the sauce. In reverse, you can add more liquid, if the stew is too dry.
Serve with more cranberry sauce (affiliate link) sauce on the side.

To make vension stew in a slow cooker / crockpot

To make this recipe in a slow cooker or crockpot simply follow the recipe until step 5. Then place everything into the slow cooker and leave to cook for 6-8 hours on slow heat.

Notes

I strongly recommend having a look at the step-by-step instruction pictures on the main post.

Side dishes

Anything that soaks up sauce goes well with venison goulash. Perfect side dishes for this stew are:

Vegetable side dishes that go well with venison include:

German red cabbage
Butter vegetables
braised cabbage
boiled broccoli or cauliflower

Storage Instructions

Like many stews, this dish might taste even better the next day, when the flavours have time to infuse. The goulash will stay good in the fridge for up to four days when kept in an airtight container. Simply reheat in the stove or microwave.

If you want to freeze this deer stew, it will stay good for up to three months.

Nutrition