Mexican-Style Venison Skillet Pie
Ground venison, chiles, and a cornmeal-beer crust baked in a dutch oven at camp.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 80
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 30 min
- cook
- 50 min
- total time
- 80 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Ground venison | 1.25 lb | kept frozen in the cooler until cook day |
|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 2 1/2 cups | premixed at home with the cornmeal, salt, and baking powder |
| Cornmeal | 1/2 cup | |
| Baking powder | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | plus more for the filling |
| Pork lard | 1 1/4 cups | melted; travels fine at ambient temperature |
| Light beer | 6 oz | cold, straight from the cooler |
| Cooking oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Taco or southwest seasoning | 1 tbsp | |
| White onion | 1 small | diced; or 2 tbsp dried onion flakes |
| Poblano peppers | 2 | charred and chopped, or one 4 oz can of green chiles |
| Fire-roasted diced tomatoes | 1 can (14.5 oz) | drained hard, or the crust goes soggy |
| Garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper | 1 tsp each |
Method
- Build a bed of coals. You want about 8 under the oven and 16 on the lid for a 12-inch dutch oven, which lands near 375F.
- Melt the lard over the fire, then let it cool until it is liquid but not hot. Pour it into the premixed flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder and work it in with your hands.
- Add the cold beer a splash at a time until the dough pulls together. Do not knead it past that point. Split it roughly two-thirds and one-third and let it rest while the filling cooks.
- In the dutch oven over the coals, heat the oil and brown the venison with the onion. Venison is lean, so it will stick before it renders anything. Keep it moving.
- Stir in the poblanos, drained tomatoes, seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. Cook it down until the pan looks dry, then scrape it into a bowl and wipe the oven out.
- Press the larger piece of dough over the bottom and up the sides of the oven. Fill it, then flatten the smaller piece into a lid and pinch the edges shut. Cut two vents.
- Lid on, coals on top, 45 to 50 minutes. Refresh the lid coals once at the halfway mark and rotate the oven a quarter turn to keep the top from scorching on one side.
- Let it sit 10 minutes before cutting or the filling runs out.
This is a taco filling with a crust around it, cooked in the one vessel that can do both jobs over coals. The crust uses lard because lard is shelf-stable, melts on the fire, and gives a short, flaky texture that butter cannot match once you are working without refrigeration. Beer instead of water is not a flourish: the carbonation and the cold both keep the dough from turning tough while you handle it in the open air.
The part that matters most is drainage. Venison renders almost no fat, so the moisture in the filling comes entirely from the tomatoes, and any liquid you leave in there soaks straight into the bottom crust. Cook the filling until the pan looks dry before it goes anywhere near the dough. The coal count is the other lever — most of the heat belongs on the lid, or the bottom burns long before the top browns.
Packing
Combine flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder in one bag at home so camp mixing is two containers, not four. Lard rides in a screw-top jar. Venison stays frozen at the bottom of the cooler and thaws over the drive.
Variations
- No poblanos on hand: a small can of diced green chiles does the same job with no fire time.
- Ground beef or bulk chorizo works if venison is not in the freezer. With chorizo, cut the oil and the seasoning in half.
- Skip the top crust and drop spoonfuls of the dough over the filling for a faster cobbler-style version.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/mexican-style-venison-pie