malna, I was thinking about you. I have a new venison recipe and I really like it, courtesy of Chef Eric Villegas who now has Michigan Venison, a company in Traverse City that sells venison on line. We just shoot our own, of course, but it's getting more popular, I guess. Anyway, I like these a lot, they might sound good to you too... Venison Potstickers Author: Michigan Venison A delicious Asian flare for our whitetail venison. •Potsticker Filling: •1lb. ground venison •4 c. water •1-1/2 c. shredded or finely sliced cabbage •½ c. finely chopped green onion •1-1/2 Tbs. freshly grated ginger •2 Tbs. oyster sauce •2 Tbs. salt (for softening cabbage) •1 tsp. soy sauce •1 tsp. fish sauce (aka patis or nam pla) •Other Ingredients: •50 wonton wrappers •bowl of ½ c. water (used as glue for sealing potstickers) •½ c. canola oil 1.Combine cabbage, 4 c. water, and salt in medium bowl and let sit for 15-20 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes to make sure all cabbage is softened. In larger bowl, combine all other filling ingredients. Drain and rinse cabbage, and add to meat mixture. Mix in thoroughly. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper to hold raw dumplings. 2.Assembling Potstickers: Place about 2 teaspoons of filling in center of wonton wrapper. Dip finger into water bowl, then line two adjacent sides of wrapper with water from finger. Fold the two dry sides of wrapper on top of the two water-lined sides and pinch closed (NOTE: make sure potsticker edge is completely sealed, otherwise the juices may run during cooking and your potstickers may dry out). At this point, your potsticker should look like a pudgy triangle. Fold each corner of the triangle in toward the center of the potsticker, using a little dab of water to ‘glue’ the corners down. Place assembled potsticker on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. 3.Cooking Potstickers: Pour about ¼ c. canola oil into the bottom of large sauce pan and bring to medium high heat. When pan is nice and hot and evenly coated, line the bottom of the pan with one layer of potstickers. We were able to fit about ½ of the batch into our pan at a time. Fry potstickers over high heat until the bottoms look golden brown, about 3-5 minutes. Once bottoms of dumplings look nice and crispy, add enough water to submerge the bottom half of the potstickers. Cover pan with lid tilted so that steam can escape. Continue to cook until all water evaporated from pan and you hear the dumplings start to sizzle again, which can take anywhere from 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and serve with either tongs or a spatula. If you are going to cook the whole batch in one go, place potstickers on foil-lined try (photo below), wipe out the bottom of pan with paper towel to get the crusty bits out, then add remaining ¼ c. of canola oil and start process again. 4.Saving Potstickers: If you’re not going to eat all of the potstickers in one sitting, put the tray of raw dumplings in the freezer overnight. Make sure potstickers are not touching, otherwise they will freeze together. Once they are completely frozen, place them in a large zip-lock bag (or portion into smaller bags) and keep in freezer for up to a month. Now, I've got to find time to make more liverwurst, I just used up my last piece and I have about 10 more pounds of beef liver in the freezer.... Annie

I have way too many deer, so I've installed 5' wire mesh fencing (2"x4") a foot above the ground, around 3/4 of my property (1 acre-rural/suburban) setting- zoning interferes with road frontage). Now, I only have 3-5 deer coming through (so far!) used to be 24+. Nothing was safe---they ate hellebores, forsythia, peonies, lillies (all types), foxglove (once/twice-not three times), monarda, daisies, jack-in-the pulpit, trillium, yucca, ferns, anything green, including houseplants ; dieffenbachia, pothos, spider plants, and philodendron; anything that wasn't protected by fencing---ferns and Boston (and English) ivy too! Commercial sprays were just salad dressing for them! Poppies, liatris, and Echinacea, were ignored by deer (goroundhogs had a different opinion) The yearlings (Adults are too big) still try to crawl under the fence, but don't like the feeling of being trapped---only one way out (two . . . if you include the crawling method), Hungry deer will eat anything/everything

240° is the minimum temperature required to kill botulism spores. You can kill botulism toxins by boiling (212°) 10 minutes or more but any spores would still be viable. Old-timers routinely boiled green beans, meats, fish before consumption. It wasn't the canning that kept them safe; it was that last brief boiling. If you're canning a high-risk product like meat, an "appropriate time" and "appropriate pressure" is one which has been arrived at through laboratory testing to ensure that the contents have reached the necessary temperature (density of the product and amount, i.e. size of jars, are also factors). Carol

Thanks all! I meant to include the 7 Hour Lamb recipe with this post, but I forgot. Just in case someone doesn't knwo what I was refering to here is the recipe: Seven hour Lamb GIGOT DE SEPT HEURES From Les Halles and Anthony Bourdain 1 leg of lamb, about 6# 4 garlic cloves, sliced, plus 20 whole garlic cloves 1/4 cup olive oil salt & pepper 2 small onions, thinly sliced 4 carrots, peeled 1 bouquet garni 1 cup dry white wine 1 cup flour, 1 cup water Preheat oven to 300 F. Make many small incisions in lamb, place slivers of garlic in each incision. Rub lamb well with olive oil, season with salt & pepper. (At this point I would brown the lamb on all sidesÂbut thatÂs not necessary.) Place it in Dutch oven and add onions, carrots, bouquet garni, garlic, wine. Put lid on Dutch oven. Combine flour and water, make a 'caulk' and use it to seal the lid to the dutch oven. Place it in the 300 degree oven and cook for 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours. NO PEEKING--leave it alone. Remove the Dutch oven and break the seal. You don't have to eat the cooked flour paste. That's it. About a half hour to an hour of prep, then you leave it the heck alone for 7 hours. It's nearly foolproof. Serve it with whatever else you want, and a medium bodied red wine goes quite well with this (say, a nice Zinfandel) but a dry white (such as the remainder of the bottle you opened to get the cup of wine in the recipe) is fine as well if that's your preference. Bon appetit!