Liz from Liz’s Larder has kindly given me a couple of her delicious recipes for Venison to put up here so that you can all try and enjoy.
Norwegian Venison
Serves 6 people
225ml (8fl oz) wine vinegar
225ml (8fl oz) water
1kg (2.2lb) Venison cut into 5cm (2inch) cubes
Seasoned flour
2 medium carrots sliced
1/2 head of celery sliced
2 medium onions sliced
40g (1.5oz) butter
600ml (1 pint) strong ale
225ml (8fl oz) sour cream
1 tbs dill chopped
Marinade the meat for at least 2 hours in the vinegar and water. Drain, dry and dust with the seasoned flour.
Melt the butter in a large casserole pan and toss in the sliced vegetables and coat with the butter.
Preheat the oven to 180c or gas 4.
Put the floured meat into the casserole with the vegetables and add the ale.
Cook covered for about 1 hour. Strain the juices into a clean pan and reduce if necessary. Mix in the soured cream, pour over the meat and cover for a further hour.
Sprinkle with dill and serve.
Venison Tagine with Dates
Serves 6 people
1kg (2lb 4oz) Venison haunch or shoulder boned or cubed
30g (1oz) butter
1 onion finely chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
55g (2oz) chopped dried dates
Good pinch of saffron threads
2 tbs honey
2 tbs lemon juice
200g (7oz) fresh or dessert dates pitted
15g (0.5oz) butter extra
40g (1.5oz) slivered almonds
In a large pan melt the butter and gently cook the onion until softened. Add the ginger, cinnamon and black pepper, stir for 1 minute.
Increase the heat to high, add the venison and stir until the colour of the meat changes. Reduce the heat; add 375ml (13fl oz) water, the chopped dates & saffron.
Add 1 tsp of salt. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent the sauce sticking as the dates cook down to a puree.
Stir in the honey and lemon juice and adjust the seasoning. Put the pitted dates on top, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the dates are plump.
Melt the extra butter in a small frying pan and add the almonds and brown slightly, stirring often. Tip onto a plate to prevent over browning.
Remove the whole dates from the top of the venison, set them aside with the almonds. Ladle the meat onto serving dishes and scatter with the dates and almonds to serve.
We hope you try and enjoy these recipes and please feel free to let us know your thoughts.
The TanaLonga is a five mile ‘gastro ramble’ through Glen Tanar, marrying together walking, food and drink. Walkers will stop at regular intervals to partake in a three course meal al fresco.
A number of local Deeside restaurants, hotels and food and drink producers will prepare and dish up each course on Sunday 26 September to highlight the region’s diverse food and drink offering.
“Walkers will dine on a breakfast of muffins, scones and pastries, a tasty starter and main course and delicious deserts in a numerous locations on the estate. They’ll be able to listen to tales of days gone by from the story tellers and sneak a dram or two in as they make their way along the route. Royal Deeside Larder is exceptionally rich and full of premium products such as world class Aberdeen Angus, Highland game, venison mince, artisan cheeses, malt whisky, the quirkily named Spotty Pig pork pie and traditional handmade boiled sweets to name but a few.”
To find out more about the event and to book tickets visit
www.activeaboyne.co.uk/tanalongawalk or contact the Glen Tanar Estate Office on 013398 86451 or email us on info@glentanar.co.uk
Deelicious
A new quarterly magazine showcasing the food and drink of Royal Deeside and the Cairngorms has just been launched last week. The fresh new magazine features Royal Deeside and the Cairngorm’s DMO members from chef’s to food producers against a backdrop of images which sell our area. Deelicious will be available to read online (complete with turning page software) and to download as a PDF.
A new URL for the DMO food projects has been created – www.royaldeesidelarder.co.uk and there will food and drink pages added to the website over the next few months.
Deelicious will be a quarterly publication and if you have any suggestions for futures content then please let them know by emailing btricker@trickerpr.com. The September issue will be focusing on the Venison Festival and they will be particularly looking for venison recipes which they can feature in Deelicious and also use in the PR campaigns for both the magazine and the festival.
The new S6 pupils from Aboyne Academy have been finding out more about the importance of conservation with a little help from us here at Glen Tanar. The pupils spent two days here on Thursday 10th & Friday 11th June.
During their visit, the pupils learnt about the estate, and the activities that the team here at Glen Tanar undertake to maintain and preserve the important wildlife, rivers and landscapes. The pupils participated in a day of team building activities during which they restored two Victorian wells, thus helping to conserve the cultural heritage. They also undertook important natural heritage work, maintaining native tree plantings.
Mr Maio, deputy rector of Aboyne Academy says, “This was a great experience for the pupils. As well as educating them about the importance of conservation and the diverse range of wildlife and endangered species that is on their doorstep, they all had a great day working together and learning more about team skills through various activities.”
Eric Baird, head ranger here at Glen Tanar Estate, says, “We get many school visits to the estate, which we are happy to support and actively encourage as it allows us to increase the awareness of the important work that takes place on the estate.”
A Dog's Day Out At Glen Tanar
On Saturday 1st of May Glen Tanar hosted A Dog’s Day Out. This was a day for members of the public to come along with their dogs to learn more about where and what we can or cannot do in the countryside with our pets.
Fran Pothecary, Outdoor Access Officer for the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Pam Patterson, Dog Trainer were running the day alongside Eric Baird & Mike Martin, Rangers at Glen Tanar.
The day started with a small test for all attendees to find out their knowledge of the do’s and dont’s in the countryside. After this we had a discussion with Pam which then moved outside with our dogs for some basic dog obedience. It was then back indoors for some more group discussions which took us up to lunch time. Lunch was served by Liz Peck of Liz’s Larder and the lovely soup was enjoyed by all on the wet, windy day.
After lunch we were joined by Paddy Wright who is a Farmer from Ballater. He came with us and our dogs on a walk on the Estate and pointed out things that from a Farmer’s point of view, we the public may miss or not pay attention to. Examples of this is climbing over electric fences to get access into a field that may appear empty when actually once you get over a wee hump in the hill you are met by several angry cattle with young ones.
As members of the public we should respect peoples land and the animals that they have grazing on it and not enter fields especially when there are young animals around. This could certainly end up with the loss of not just your dog’s life but yours too.
Have a look at the Scottish Outdoor Access code for more information.
Glen Tanar Ranger Service would like to invite anyone to come along and take part in walking to health on the Estate. This will be taking place every Friday starting from Friday the 9th of April 2010.
A minibus will be picking people up from the Health centre in Aboyne at 09.30, the chemist at 09.35 and the Boat Inn at 09.40. The bus will then take you to Glen Tanar where you will be met by the Ranger Service.
The walk will take no longer than 1 hour and afterwards you will be taken back to Aboyne to enjoy a cup of tea and a chat back at the Boat.
for further information please contact Alan Melrose on 013398 80081.
“While Glen Tanar is a lovely place to relax and enjoy the countryside its also a working estate and one of the things we are always keen to do is to educate people on how the estate’s ecology and economy work together. To do this end we recently held an event for children from Aboyne Primary School which was all about deer management. This event was designed to show why deer are managed, what value they bring and what impacts they can have as well as enjoying deer for the fabulous animals they are. Kids played games to simulate stalking and to find out about the resources deer need to thrive. In the spirit of Jamie Oliver we looked at deer as food, what they look like inside and how we butcher a carcase. Most children are very open to this once you have got past a few understandable “ughs!” One wee lad came up to me later and confided gleefully “I just touched some lungs!” “Good on ya” I said.
However when you dress up 72 children as Environmental Health Inspectors and get them to examine carcases you can hardly expect to sell the same carcases afterwards. It’s a shame to throw away good food so we decided to be more creative. The Polar Bear, Mercedes at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig is the only one in the UK and she is one of Scotland’s treasures. She also has a liking for venison. I had visions of a blog entry featuring a photo of Mercedes eating Glen Tanar venison under the headline “I know I have had a hard winter but this is ridiculous”. However when the meat arrived she left her huge open enclosure and retired behind bars to enjoy her meal. It didn’t make for a good photo at all but as you can see the Amur Tigers were much more obliging.”
Colin McClean, Wildlife Manager
Glen Tanar is flying high in the sky at the moment in the Eastern Airways Inflight Magazine.
Last September we had Tom Boden staying with us on a press trip to see what Glen Tanar offers in a range of activities and accommodation. He took part in a Bushcraft & survival training course while he was here and the article that he has published you will be able to see below.
The first big salmon of the 2010 season
The first big Salmon of the season was caught on Saturday 6th of March on one of Glen Tanar’s beats, Waterside & Ferrar.
The beautiful Salmon weighed 25lb and was caught by Crawford Mallean alongside Ghillie Davey Goodfellow.
We hope that this will be the start of a very good season.
At Glen Tanar we are keen to find new ways of showing people our wonderful wildlife. One idea we are exploring is setting up a photography hide for Golden Eagles which would come to feed on the carcases of poor quality Deer shot by our stalkers. Golden Eagle chicks grow much better when fed live prey rather than carrion, so carcases would only be supplied during the non breeding season.
During this winter our Wildlife Manager, Colin McClean has provided baits at a variety of sites, kept them free of snow and monitored what animals have been using them with a motion sensored camera. Early results are quite exciting although we need to learn more about how our Eagles use these sites before opening a public facility.
Below is a photo of a Golden Eagle eating a Deer carcase on Glen Tanar Estate.
Estate News | Robyn | 
September 7, 2010 5:48 pm | 
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