Venison, Ribs, and Potatoes. Nothing short of a dream come true. Well Played, Sir!

When Terry and I were home (Portland and Vancouver respectively) visiting our parents for the Christmas holiday we were invited over to have dinner at my dad's house. He had recently gone on a hunting trip with some of his friends and wanted to cook up some of the venison that they brought back. I love venison, and fresh game meat in general, so this sounded delicious.

We headed over and joined them while they started to prepare the meal. Upon arriving we discovered that the venison would be accompanied by ribs that were shipped in from my dad's favorite spot in Memphis, greens, and good'ol mashed potatoes (with plenty of butter at my urging). What a wonderful discovery! Venison and ribs, I mean come on. That's genius. Then mashed potatoes and greens (steamed leafs aren't usually my thing, but I'll get to that in a bit).

The venison had been marinating for a while. Brenda had found a recipe in a cookbook that used a marinade and put it together earlier that day. For those who are curious here is the recipe for the marinade:

• 1/4 Cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Sherry Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Finely Chopped Fresh Thyme
• 2 Teaspoons Whole-Grain Mustard
• 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

The meat was originally cut into steaks, but she had cut them into chunks as the initial intention was to cook them as kabobs. As we settled in we strayed from that idea and went in the direction of just throwing them on the grill and seeing what came of it. Since the venison was cut into such small pieces they couldn't be thrown right onto the grill without worry of them falling through the grate. So we put them in a grill basket such as this one, Kingsford KNS75 Grill Basket with 26-inch Hardwood Handle, which ended up working perfectly. The meat stayed on the grill for about ten minutes before being ready to be taken off.

I wasted absolutely no time in getting my paws on a piece of the venison. It had been a while and when I took the first bite it was amazing. The marinade gave the meat a great flavor, and the meat itself wasn't gamy like so venison can be. It was a good cut (nice and tender), and there was not very much fat (which is what tends to give venison its gamy taste.)

 The potatoes were straight forward, but hit the spot. They were mashed with a hand mixer, which when all was said and done probably ended up mashing the potatoes too much. They were almost too thick, but a good slathering of butter brought them back to form, and no love was lost for the potatoes.

 The greens were the surprise for me. I knew that I would love everything else in the meal, but any kind of leaf that is cooked or steamed is usually my nemesis. This was not the case here. While I could still get a hint of the flavor that I don't like, I was able to enjoy and eat this dish. I didn't wait until everything else was gone and eat as much as I could choke down just to be polite. It was a good mixture of what I believe was collard greens and kale, it could have been chard. Either way it was great, and the bacon didn't hurt one bit either.

And then there were ribs. These were the ribs that my dad had flown in from Memphis, and they were worth it. Of course some of you are probably rolling your eyes and thinking that they can't possibly be very good after taking that trip, especially since they were already cooked when shipped. Well for those of you, I will say that you are wrong. I will give you that there is no replacement for the fresh out of the smoker taste, and that they would be better at the restaurant, but that is all I can budge on the matter. After a short stint in the oven and a hit of some rub from another favorite Memphis locale these babies were ready to rock, and rock they did. The were FULL of flavor, soft, and tender. I was surprised as to how tender they actually were, and the flavor from the fresh dose of rub they got was pretty awesome.

So there you have it. A great dinner with two main meat dishes. I encourage all who have never had venison to seek out a fresh cut and do some experimenting. Just remember to remove the fat so that you do not encounter a gamy flavor that most won't enjoy. Let me know if you have any questions or need any further details.