For Lunch

This is a story over 20 years in the making.  Years ago I made a trip to Germany.  While there I stayed at an inn that made everything in house.  I mean everything.  The food was grown on the farm.  They had their own livestock and butchering facilities.  They had a bakery where they made bread and they brewed their own beer. 

My first night they served us a wonderful meal.  I knew that something was different and I (in my mind) innocently asked what the meat was.  This made my waitress very nervous.  She was afraid to tell the table full of Americans that in addition to growing and making everything in house, they also shot Bambi and offered him up to the tourists.  Eventually she fessed up.

I was delighted and told her so.  Not only was she relieved that I liked it, she was surprised to learn that I hunted and enjoyed eating venison.  This put me in remarkably good standing with my hosts and gained me preferential treatment the rest of my stay.

Last month I bumped into a casual acquaintance of mine.  Growing up he split his time between Fort Belknap and the white world.  We were talking about this and that and he asked me how hunting was.  That lead to a discussion about fixing venison.  I mentioned that I had this wonderful venison dish when I was in Germany.  He asked me to describe it, and then told me what it was.  Apparently his half Blackfoot and half German Grandmother used to make "the best mule deer sauerbraten in the world".

He gave me some pointers, and today I enjoyed the result of 5 days worth of marinating and slow roasting Bambi's younger brother.  Not only was he fall apart tender, he literally melted in my mouth.  I'm not claiming to be on par with my buddy's grandmother, but I've got an idea of where to start working on it.