Game ragout with mushrooms
A rich and flavoursome game ragout with mushrooms, bacon, white wine and thyme. Perfect for a cosy dinner, allowing the dish to develop plenty of flavour in the pot and oven.
Game ragout is one of those dishes that feels both rustic and a little special. The tender meat, fried mushrooms and aromatic sauce with white wine, stock and thyme create a deep, rounded flavour that is perfect for chilly days and dinners where the food should be warm and inviting.
It is also a dish that is easy to put together once the meat has been browned and the ingredients are in the pot. From then on, the oven does most of the work while the flavours come together and the sauce becomes richer. The result is a classic stew that tastes lovely with both bread and potatoes.
For this dish, a pot 28 cm is a natural choice, as it has plenty of room for the meat, mushrooms and sauce and is also well suited to oven use. A solid spoon is practical for stirring the dish during cooking, and an oven glove is useful to have at hand when the hot pot needs to go from the oven straight to the table.
Recipe for game ragout with mushrooms
Serves: 4
Preparation: 20 min.
Cooking: 120 min.
Ingredients
- 800 g diced venison shoulder or stewing pieces
- 2 tbsp. flour
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 3 finely chopped onions
- 2 garlic cloves
- 100 g diced bacon
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped thyme
- 350 g mixed mushrooms
- 3 dl white wine
- 3 dl game stock
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Toss the meat in flour and brown it in small batches in butter in the pot until nicely coloured. Then remove the meat and set it aside.
- Fry the bacon, onions, garlic and thyme in the pot for approx. 5 minutes, until the onions soften and the bacon releases its flavour.
- Return the meat to the pot along with the cleaned mushrooms.
- Pour in the white wine and let it boil for a couple of minutes so the alcohol evaporates.
- Add the game stock, cover the pot with lids and place the dish in the oven for approx. 2 hours, until the meat is tender and the sauce is rich.
- Stir the dish gently before serving and season with extra salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve the game ragout with bread or potatoes.
Tip for extra flavoursome game ragout
Brown the meat in small batches so it takes on more colour and builds extra flavour in the dish from the start.
Ideally, let the dish rest for a couple of minutes after taking it out of the oven so the flavours come together even better before serving.
Serving
Serve the game ragout while it is still warm and rich. It tastes lovely with crusty bread, potatoes or a chunky mash that can soak up the aromatic sauce.
To make the dish look a little more inviting, you can top it with a little fresh thyme or a few extra fried mushrooms just before serving. This adds more flavour and makes it look more attractive on the plate.
It is a dish that shows how much flavour you can get from simple ingredients, plenty of time and gentle cooking. Game ragout with mushrooms is therefore a natural choice when you want to make something classic, warming and truly tasty.
