A Central New York Culinary Observation

Venison pie, this and other recipes below

I will never forget the time our family had Thanksgiving dinner at my Cousin Katie’s house up in Syracuse, New York. I must have been around twelve at the time. I recall we were driving down Borden Avenue where she lived and passed a home with what looked like a freshly shot and gutted buck with four points hanging from a neighbor’s house. Evidently the proud hunter planned on fresh venison on the Thanksgiving table. I would go on to attend college Syracuse University where I played lacrosse. Raised around members of the Onondaga Nation, I found that my teammates from Central New York were serious woodsmen. Midfielders and defensemen from West Genesee disappeared during hunting season and came back with freezers full of venison. When the campus cafeterias where closed at 7:30 pm, the upstate guys gorged on venison dishes while my teammates from down state and other points south of SU's Carrier Dome made due with thanksgiving leftovers, kraft mac and cheese kits, and or takeout pizza and buffalo wings. Thus I learned over the years that folks in Central New York loved to eat wild game. We associate venison with Native American culinary traditions which is true. In fact, as I mentioned in my post on the history of Thanksgiving Traditions,http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-day-series-part-5-abraham.htmlthe first facsimile of these meals consisted of New England settlers eating with a group of Native Americans. The available documentary history of that event reveals that Native Americans brought several freshly killed dear to the several day long feast. Below are links to venison recipes for the hunting type among you.

Venison pie:http://debsravingrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/09/venison-pie-wintry-hit.html

Insanely Delicious Venison recipes:http://www.yumdiary.com/2010/07/venison-burgers-sliders-appetizers.html