Several years ago, one of my uncles gave everyone large bottles of Jägermeister for Christmas. While I don’t want to sound ungrateful, the simple truth is that I have never particularly cared for the stuff. To be honest, I don’t drink much hard alcohol in general, and when I do it is typically rum or vodka. When I am in the mood for an adult beverage, I am far more likely to reach for a good beer, or the occasional sake or mead. So the bottle of Jäger was consigned to the back of a cabinet, waiting for the day that I find someone who would actually enjoy drinking it. Years later, I am still waiting for that day….
Not being one for allowing something to go to waste, I eventually decided to start looking for uses for Jägermeister that I might be willing to try. For the most part, I primarily found recipes for cocktails and variations of “Jäger Bombs”, none of which called to me. After refining my search parameters a few times to weed out those more obvious uses, I finally stumbled upon this recipe for a Jägermeister stew. It was an intriguing idea, but the recipe itself did leave me with a few questions. For starters, it called for nearly four pounds of veal, used a mix of metric and US measurements, and asked for an oddly specific variety of potatoes. Since I already had a freezer full of meat at the time, I wasn’t about to go out and buy veal (especially not four pounds of it), nor did I think I would be able to source baby potatoes grown on a tiny island off the coast of France. I would also need to adjust some quantities, since it looked like it would make far more stew than I would need for myself.
From the meat I had on hand, I selected some antelope (nilgai) stew meat that I had picked up from Fossil Farms. Antelope has a fairly deep, rich flavor that I thought would go well with all of the earthy root vegetables in this dish. For the potatoes, I decided on a pre-bagged blend of baby red, white, yellow, and blue potatoes, mainly because I can’t pass up an excuse to throw a few blue potatoes in something. Otherwise, aside from the Jägermeister, this was very much a classic hunter’s stew, full of old world root vegetables like beets, turnips, and parsnips along with a blend of traditional herbs, which all gets slow-cooked for several hours. The perfect meal for a cold spring day.
My final version ended up using a higher ratio of vegetables versus meat, since I love a good pile of root vegetables in a stew. I also left the herb quantities equal to (or maybe a little higher) than the original recipe since I thought the flavors would really accent the meat and vegetables. The end result has become one of my favorite stew recipes for the colder parts of the year, and was a huge hit with Chele, who shares my love of root vegetables and appreciated that this was gluten-free and safe for her to eat without fear of triggering her celiac disease.
And as for the Jägermeister? It really does take this stew to a level beyond other ordinary “meat and potatoes”-type recipes. It blends exceptionally well with all of the earthy and herbal flavors, and lends a touch of sweetness that complements the beets and parsnips. So even if you aren’t a fan of Jäger, like I was, please give this one a try. You might just find that you actually have a reason to keep a bottle on hand.
Jägermeister Antelope Stew
Ingredients
- 1 lb antelope stew meat cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 tbs oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 8 oz pearl onions peeled
- 1½ cup beets cubed
- 1½ cup carrots cut into 1" pieces
- 1½ cup turnips cubed
- 1½ cup parsnips cubed
- 1 lb little potatoes whole
- 1 sprig each thyme, rosemary, oregano
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1 qt beef stock
- 1 cup red wine
- ½ cup Jägermeister
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F
- Heat 1 tbs oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add meat and brown quickly on all sides. Remove from pan and transfer to a large lidded casserole (or similar ovenable dish with a lid). Set aside.
- Add the wine and Jägermeister to the skillet and deglaze the pan over medium heat, making sure to scrape up all of the browned bits. Pour into the casserole with the meat.
- Wipe the skillet clean, then heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they start to brown. Add the garlic and all other vegetables to the pan and cook for a few minutes (they don't need to be fully browned, but try to get a little bit of color change in them. You may need to work in batches unless your skillet is huge). Add the vegetables to the dish with the meat.
- Stir the stock into the casserole dish. Add the herb sprigs, and season with the salt and pepper. Cover the dish, and cook in oven at 350°F for 3 to 3½ hours, until vegetables and meat are very tender. Discard the herb stems before serving.
Notes
- Antelope (also called nilgai) is available in the US through specialty and game meat vendors. Although it is native to the Indian subcontinent, they were introduced into parts of Texas decades ago and are popular with hunters there. It’s flavor is similar to venison, but a bit more pronounced (although I feel it less gamey than some other similar meats, like elk). If you do not have access to antelope stew meat for this recipe, similar red meats like beef, venison, or bison would work.
