Wind Your Neck In: Pressure Cooker Pulled Venison Neck

If you’ve shot something yourself and are butchering it at home, I always find the approach to waste is usually WASTE NOTHING AT ALL. Butcher that hunk of meat till you’re left with nothing but the bare bones. Make the most of every inch of graft you’ve put in to harvest it. This is exactly how this recipe came about… “What on earth shall I do with this huge chunk of venison neck?”

Venison neck doesn’t sound like the most captivating cut of meat. And I suppose neither does using a pressure cooker. But behold! Wind your neck in, dig it out and dust it off. It is low cost, low maintenance, beyond easy, and is blow-your-mind tasty.

Venison neck is often discarded to the dog or added to the mincing pile, which is a bit of a travesty really. People tend to favour haunches or backstraps with these tougher slightly more curious cuts of meat forgotten. If you’re not into stalking yourself, the best way to get a hold of venison neck is to ask a butcher, local game dealer, a gamekeeper or even someone who you know does a bit of stalking. Us shooting types are usually buzzing when people are keen to try venison and are interested in using local produce.

So far, I have only tried this with Red Deer necks, but I’ll put my own neck on the line here and say I see no reason why it wouldn’t work with other deer species. You can also easily substitute the venison neck for shoulder meat in this recipe too, or even use a bit of both neck and the shoulder, especially if you’re using a smaller species like a Roe deer.

1. Coat your venison in the BBQ Rodeo rub, really rub it into the nooks and crannies. The pressure cooker helps intensify the flavour, but if you like it a bit spicer, leave it to marinate for an hour. 
2. Pop it in your pressure cooker and pour the bottle of beer in. You want to make sure it covers the venison. You can always add more beer if it doesn’t quite cover it. Make sure you don’t go over the fill line of your pressure cooker pot though or it will all fart out of the top pressure release valve. 
3. Set the pressure cooker to the "meat" or "high pressure" setting for 25 minutes. 
4. Once the time is up, rest the venison in the pressure cooker for another 5 minutes to decompress before releasing the pressure on the valve. 
5. Take the venison out and check that it falls apart easily. Most of the collagen and tissue should have broken down. If it hasn’t, then bang it back in the pressure cooker for another 5 minutes.
6. Once the venison is out then use two forks to pull it apart and shred it all, pulling along the grain of the meat. Pour some of the remaining marinade in the pot over the meat it if you like it juicy. 

You can use with so many dishes but here are some of my favourites:

Pulled venison rolls:

Stuff a bread roll with a dollop of slaw, a handful of Rodeo Disco Pickles and a good helping of pulled venison and then top with crispy onions.

Nachos:

Load nachos with the pulled venison, Green With Envy green tomato salsa, sour cream, grated cheese and a crack of black pepper. 

Stick under the grill for a few mins to melt the cheese