Community Education of the Black Hills offers affordable classes on multiple topics. Among their winter/spring offerings related to local food, the following classes are still open:

Rapid City (Cuisine)

Dutch Oven Cooking

Eating in the Raw

Gluten—to Eat or Not to Eat?

Rapid City (Home and Garden)

Creating a Culinary Herb Garden

Beekeeping

Seed propagation

Spearfish

Fly-fishing Basics

For more information and to register, click here.

If you have venison in your freezer, this might be the time to try Chef Scott’s venison tacos. This recipe was created when Scott, who resides in Arizona, visited South Dakota and was given some venison by a hunter friend. Always ready to create a new recipe, Scott came up with this:

Put a well-thawed venison roast in the crock-pot in the evening. Add tomatoes, garlic, cumin, some peeled diced potato, salt and pepper. Cook on low overnight. In the morning refrigerate.

Reheat in the evening. Serve in crunchy taco shells and top with diced tomatoes, queso fresco, and chopped lettuce. For a tasty side dish add some cilantro to a can of black beans.

This comes from gardener/blogger Cathie Draine. “Here is the recipe for the Cream of Pumpkin Curry Soup. It is absolutely splendid! It was brought to our Thanksgiving by Kelli McCormick, a good friend.”

Saute 1 cup of chopped onion and 1 glove of garlic (peeled and finely chopped) in 3 T butter. Saute for 3-5 minutes until it is soft. Stir in 1 t. curry powder, 1./2 t. salt and 1/8 to 1/4 t. ground coriander and 1/8 t. crushed red pepper flakes and let it cook for about a minute. Add 3 c. water and 3 vegetarian vegetable bouillon cubes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook gently, stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes. Stir in 1 3/4 c (15 or 16 oz. can) of solid pack pumpkin and 1 c half and half. Cook on low heat about 5 minutes. Makes 4-6 servings. It is fabulous.

John Gomez, who lives in the Black Hills, sent us this article:

Here in the Hills, our deer season is basically the month of November. For me, I really don’t start thinking about hunting until Thanksgiving rolls around. The four day weekend is a perfect time to spend some real quality time in the woods. I went out once during the week and then again Thanksgiving morning. I had no success but I was okay with that, you really don’t want to take a deer without properly spending some good hours walking the woods and earning it. But now it was Friday, and I needed to fill my tag.  Besides, I wanted to make some deer jerky over the weekend. This time I brought along a friend and, midway through the morning, we were driving back with a nice three year old doe.

My friend helped me process the deer.  Right there in my garage, I pondered how this deer was probably born and lived within 50 miles of my house. It is a product of the Black Hills and it is a source of lean healthy food. Being aware of the importance of local foods, I’m glad that this deer was grown and would be consumed locally.

For the jerky,  I sliced the meat in three inch long strips about ¼” wide. I processed about ten pounds for jerky and another ten pounds I set aside for deer sausage. I also kept the tenderloins to use as steaks.

For thousands of years people have been drying meats. Now was my time to partake in this food tradition. Venison, being that it is a lean meat, is a good choice for jerky. I had dabbled with it in the past and everyone in my family seemed to enjoy it. This year I was going to home in on the best recipes and techniques for producing tasty jerky.

Jerky – Four Ways

I decided to try the jerky in two flavors, a salt-based dry cure (High Mountain Mesquite  Jerky Cure – Cabela’s $6.99)  and a Worcestershire and soy sauce-based wet marinade. I was curious to see how each would perform in taste and texture. Furthermore, I tried each of the two recipes on two drying methods – a dehydrator and a smoker. With that, my experiment was set. I spent Saturday and Sunday prepping and drying. The recipes are easy and even though it takes all weekend for a finished food, the process is surprisingly simple.

The results? I loved the taste of the Worcestershire marinade as cooked in the smoker. However, I decided to be a bit more scientific about it and proceeded to conduct a blind taste test with a few of my neighbors and family. The results were a little surprising. It seems that the dehydrated mesquite dry cure jerky was more liked than the Worcestershire flavor. However, the latter flavor was preferred when dried by the smoker. It seems that the wet marinade produced a very tasty glaze flavor on the smoker that could not be achieved in the dehydrator.

Next year I’ll try it again. For now, we’ll have a snack to carry us through the end of the year. I find that when it comes to jerky it is very much like potato chips, once you eat one you really can’t stop. As I write this, I’m chewing on a piece. How do you know when to stop eating? I guess your jaw will let you know!

Seems like the right time of year to post a recipe for pumpkin bread. Here’s a link to the Black Hills Garden website for just that. Their recipe calls for cinnamon, apple cider, pecans, and orange zest, along with the usual ingredients, and it sounds delicious.

We like to get favorite recipes from our readers—recipes that feature local and seasonal ingredients– so send us yours.