Sous Vide Venison Roast with Red Wine Sauce

This venison roast is so tender it basically melts in your mouth. Even those family and friends that say they don’t like venison will love this roast, especially when topped with this delicious sauce!

The Story Behind the Buck

Five years. Five long years of climbing up and down mountains, scoping out the surrounding hills, lying in wait as quietly as possible. It wasn’t easy; it took a lot of dedication. And then that day finally came. A sense of overwhelming emotion hits and the excitement is palpable.

Quick steps take you to the spot, still unsure if success was finally had. But there it is, the sight of what has been just a dream until now. Beautiful and majestic, something worthy of the five year wait.

A mule deer buck lays there waiting for the hunter to find him. That hunter was my husband and after five years of going out every October to hoping for the chance to finally bring home a mule deer, this year turned into his year.

The Text I Was Waiting For

I got a text early on a Thursday morning, a picture of his buck with the words “buck down!” Those two words held so much excitement. When you’ve been working hard towards a goal, regardless of what that goal is, there’s only pride when that goal is achieved.

Of course I was really happy for him, every fall I’ve watched him go out when the season opens, and every year I watched him come home empty handed. But not this year.

This meant not only a goal was achieved, but our freezer would be stocked with venison. Wild game is my favorite, when I eat wild game I have this feeling that I’m eating the way God intended. It’s so healthy for you and a lot more nutrient dense than commercial meat.

And the added, but very important bonus, is that you know this animal had the best life it could possibly have. I believe quality meat is a necessary part of a healthy diet. If you don’t agree, that’s okay.

The buck is down, my husband got it out of the field all by himself, and now the meat is home. For over fifteen years he was a chef at high end hotel restaurants, and for a short time he also worked in a slaughterhouse. He knew exactly how to break it down so every part possible could be used.

One of his favorite ways to cook venison is by sous vide. Game meat can be tough, especially those cuts from tough muscle. Sous vide allows a low and slow cooking process, making the meat tender. And boy was this tender!

The cut used for this recipe was the eye of round roast. By the time this roast made it to our plates, it was so tender you barely even had to chew. It didn’t have a strong gamey taste either that can turn a lot of people off of wild game meat.

Prepare the Venison Roast

He took the roast, seasoned it with a generous sprinkling of salt, pepper, and garlic powder on all sides. It was placed back inside the vacuum seal bag it had been frozen in and resealed. When cooking via sous vide, you don’t want the meat in the water. It’s important to keep the meat in a watertight bag, vacuum sealed is ideal.

Set up the Sous Vide

Here’s how he set ours up. The sous vide was connected to a 7/5 Liter Rubbermaid container like this. You can find them on Amazon by clicking the link (affiliate link). There are also special tubs specifically for sous vide, but we’ve never found the need to spend the money on those.

Remember this is low and slow, a real labor of love. Set the temperature of the sous vide to 134ºF, 56ºC and the time to 16 hours. This is something you’ll want to start the afternoon before you plan to eat it.

Finish the Venison Roast

It’s the next day and finally it’s time to make dinner. The sous vide has beeped indicating the 16 hours has past and the roast is ready to come out. Put a tablespoon of olive oil (lard would work too) in a skillet and heat it up over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put the roast in and brown on all sides. Set it to the side to rest while you make the sauce, or for at least 10 minutes if you decide not to make the sauce.

Make the Red Wine Sauce

The red wine sauce really makes this dish. I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of wine (I know!) but this sauce was really good.

You will want to use the same skillet you browned the roast in for the sauce to soak up every bit of that flavor. Add tomato paste, wine (we used Shiraz) and mustard to the skillet. Heat this until it hits au sac (my chef husband says that’s the technical french term for thickening this sauce). For us normal folks, bring it to a boil and whisk constantly until the wine is reduced and it starts to thicken.

Here’s the sauce at au sec, he’s starting to add the butter.

Beef broth, butter, salt, pepper, and worchestershire sauce is now added, incorporating everything completely.

Bring the sauce back to a boil, whisking frequently. Turn off the heat when the consistency is like gravy. Mix in the fresh parsley and the sauce is ready to compliment the venison roast.

Doesn’t it look pretty? The chef had to arrange the plate properly, with the potato wedges he served with it, before I could take a photo.

Hats off the chef, dinner was wonderful! It truly was the definition of melt in your mouth. I hope you enjoy it too!