![](\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/_mg_6387.jpg\" "\\"Some")
Some of the sausage is for the pizza, and some is just for some good eating!<\/p><\/div>My father-in-law is a hunter and I’m lucky enough that on our last trip up to his place for Thanksgiving he sent me home with some “fresh” Spicy Italian Venison Sausage he and a friend made up after a recently successful hunt.<\/p>\n
When I got home I started thinking about how to use some of the sausage to make some pizza. I wanted to make something that sort of celebrated where the venison came from. \u00a0When an animal is hunted by you, or someone you know, I guess there’s just more of a connection to it. \u00a0I remembered an old Anthony Bourdain episode of “No Reservations” where he visits London and Endinburgh. \u00a0In the show, he joins the famous Michelin 3 Star Chef, Marco Pierre White, who takes him on a hunt prior to landing at his latest restaurant called the Yew Tree Inn, where they eat and drink and pontificate about food and life together.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/_mg_6369.jpg\" "\\"Eat")
Eat what you have. My garden is still producing some delicious cherry tomatoes. This is a pizza, so cherry tomatoes meet Mr. Venison!<\/p><\/div>There’s a beautiful moment (as Bourdain so often captures) when he and Marco are walking along a grass covered two track dirt road on their morning hunt in the English countryside. \u00a0Bourdain asks him how often he does “this”. \u00a0Marco thinks for a second reflecting on his lifestyle and says “About 4-5 days a week. It allows me to clear my head.” \u00a0He talks about how this connects him to his childhood when life was simpler and he would spend time fishing and hunting. <\/span><\/p>\n
As they walk the road Marco says something that stuck with me. \u00a0I had to go back and rewatch the episode to capture the entire quote. \u00a0He says:<\/span><\/p>\n“I don’t know how many times I saw wood pigeons eating the elderberries here. And I thought, lets roast a pigeon with elderberries. \u00a0It’s delicious. I love wild apples. \u00a0And, how many times do you see pheasants picking at them when they’ve dropped on the ground? \u00a0It’s like shooting a rabbit and then baking it in the hay. It works. \u00a0It really works. \u00a0What does a rabbit love to eat? \u00a0Hay. \u00a0Mother nature tells us everything. \u00a0We’re not the geniuses are we? \u00a0We’re just the technicians.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/_mg_6398.jpg\" "\\"And,")
And, talking about local ingredients\u2026this wine was made by a friend of my father-in-law. He is a serious hobbyist who plans to open a winery in a couple of years when he retires!<\/p><\/div>Anthony has an “Ah-ha!” moment. \u00a0It makes sense! \u00a0It’s what all good cooking is about. \u00a0It’s about using the available fresh ingredients that are right there wherever you are. \u00a0It’s about connecting the food, our environment and our lives. \u00a0It’s really about quality of life. \u00a0You only see it in a very brief quickly cut shot, but you see Bourdain’s almost childlike smile. \u00a0It’s a smile that says I know this, but you just taught it to me again!<\/p>\n
Another hour or so has passed as I re-watched the episode. \u00a0Anthony Bourdain has done it again. \u00a0He’s inspired me. \u00a0His passion to search and explore the world through food is what originally gave me the idea to reach out to Peter Reinhart in the first place and why you are reading this recipe post!<\/p>\n
For my Venison sausage pizza, I tried to bring some ingredients together that were similar to some of those that the deer may have once eaten. \u00a0I wasn’t able to to go to the location and investigate it, but tried to think about what deer eat in various locations here in the Western US. \u00a0I chose my Desert Dough because it was rustic and celebrates the western deserts where this deer came from. \u00a0I chose to add some sage, pine nuts and berries to represent what the deer may have eaten. <\/span><\/p>\nThere are some wonderful flavors coming together in this pizza. \u00a0It was balanced with flavors ranging from earthy to sweet to spicy. \u00a0The song they created makes sense.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Pizza:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/_mg_6404.jpg\" "\\"I")
I forgot to add the cranberries to this first pizza. I added them on the second and it’s worth it. Alternatively, I think it would be interesting to add them while saut\u00e9ing the sausage.<\/p><\/div>– Brad’s Desert Dough *Link <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span>Alternately you could use Peter’s Rustic Dough *Link<\/p>\n– Cherry Tomatoes sliced in half<\/p>\n
– Fresh Mozzarella<\/p>\n
– Gouda Cheese<\/p>\n
– Spicy Venison Sausage Sliced<\/p>\n
– Olive Oil<\/p>\n
– A little Red Wine<\/p>\n
– Dried Cranberries *Because this is what I could find! \u00a0They work nicely!<\/p>\n
– Pine Nuts<\/p>\n
– Fresh Sage (Chop 3 leaves and pull and trim 4-6 others and leave whole)<\/p>\n
– Fresh Thyme<\/p>\n
– Large Spring Onion Chopped<\/p>\n
– Garlic<\/p>\n
– Salt and Pepper to taste<\/p>\n
– Chili Oil if you so desire as a finishing touch<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Spicy Venison Sausage Preparation:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/_mg_6407-1.jpg\" "\\"Fired")
Fired with some California Oak and some Apple wood.<\/p><\/div>Pull the sausage out of it’s casing and pinch it off in pieces that are thick enough to not dry out, but thin enough to cook and eat on the pizza.<\/p>\n
Slice up the Spring Onion<\/p>\n
Chop some Garlic<\/p>\n
Add Olive Oil to the iron Iron Skillet.<\/span><\/p>\nAdd the garlic, onions, chopped sage, fresh thyme to the pan and slide into the fire.<\/p>\n
Saute for a few minutes to start softening the onions and blending the flavors.<\/span><\/p>\nPull the pan out and add the sausage. \u00a0After the sausage starts to brown, add some red wine to the pan. \u00a0The red wine will deglaze some of the charred bits and create a “sauce” depending on how much you use. \u00a0I wanted to also make sure my sausage didn’t dry out.<\/span><\/p>\nSlide it back into the oven and saut\u00e9 sausage to “almost done”. \u00a0You will want to make sure there’s room for this to finish on the pizza. \u00a0Venison can get dried out. \u00a0The sausage should contain some pork fat to help keep it moist, but I still say leave some room for this to cook on the pizza.<\/span><\/p>\nRemove and set aside.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
To the Pizza:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/_mg_6414.jpg\" "\\"Maybe")
Maybe it’s just me, but I like my pizzas distinctly not round. This one got some nice color and char!<\/p><\/div>Spread your dough<\/p>\n
Drizzle with a little olive oil. \u00a0Sprinkle some herbs that go well with venison like: dried thyme and a little rosemary and I added some oregano as well.<\/p>\n
Spread some grated gouda cheese and add a few pinches of the fresh mozzarella to blend with it which will also serve to smooth the gouda out as it melts.<\/p>\n
Lay the venison sausage around the pizza and drizzle some of the sauce with the onions\/garlic over the top.<\/span><\/p>\nSprinkle on some pine nuts around the pizza.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/_mg_6427.jpg\" "\\"Looks")
Looks good! I forgot the cranberries on this one!<\/p><\/div>Finish with 4 of the fresh sage leaves after soaking them in the sausage “sauce” and then sprinkle on a “few” dried cranberries. \u00a0*I forgot the cranberries in the first pizza, but you can see photos of them in the 2nd. \u00a0The cranberries add a nice sweet note that goes well with the more earthy venison and the slight spicy notes from the sausage mixture.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Into the oven!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/_mg_6451.jpg\" "\\"This")
This was my second version of the pizza with the cranberries. There was some natural sweetness from the tomatoes, but the sweetness of the dried berries had more of a connection with the venison.<\/p><\/div>What can I say here. \u00a0We have about 90 – 120 seconds to wait. \u00a0As soon as the dough sets up from the heat on the floor of the oven, it’s time to slide the peel under it and turn it so it doesn’t burn! \u00a0I love cooking in fire, it’s always more interactive. <\/span><\/p>\n
Add a little Sea Salt and Pepper to taste.<\/p>\n
Add chili oil if you have any, but first enjoy this in it’s simplest form.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hope you enjoy this one.<\/p>\n
*As always send me your emails, comments on the site, and some pictures of your own pizzas!<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Enjoy!<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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My father-in-law is a hunter and I’m lucky enough that on our last trip up to his place for Thanksgiving he sent me home with some “fresh” Spicy Italian Venison Sausage he and a friend made up after a recently successful hunt. When I got home I started thinking about how to use some of the sausage to make some pizza. I wanted to make something that sort of celebrated…Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":351,"featured_media":1324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c59-written-recipes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWild Spicy Venison Sausage Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wild-spicy-venison-sausage-pizza\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wild Spicy Venison Sausage Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My father-in-law is a hunter and I’m lucky enough that on our last trip up to his place for Thanksgiving he sent me home with some “fresh” Spicy Italian Venison Sausage he and a friend made up after a recently successful hunt. When I got home I started thinking about how to use some of the sausage to make some pizza. I wanted to make something that sort of celebrated...Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wild-spicy-venison-sausage-pizza\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PizzaQuestFornoBravo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-18T00:14:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/_mg_6387.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad English\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brad English\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wild-spicy-venison-sausage-pizza\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wild-spicy-venison-sausage-pizza\/\",\"name\":\"Wild Spicy Venison Sausage Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-18T00:14:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-18T00:14:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#\/schema\/person\/5c45b9d10b57201e2ba13337f1724018\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wild-spicy-venison-sausage-pizza\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wild-spicy-venison-sausage-pizza\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wild-spicy-venison-sausage-pizza\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wild Spicy Venison Sausage Pizza\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/\",\"name\":\"Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\",\"description\":\"A journey of self-discovery through pizza.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#\/schema\/person\/5c45b9d10b57201e2ba13337f1724018\",\"name\":\"Brad English\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f997b270bc5efdfb1b6bf71fedbd9f7e?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f997b270bc5efdfb1b6bf71fedbd9f7e?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brad English\"},\"description\":\"Brad English is a producer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been in the business for over 24 years working on a wide range of projects that have taken him all over the country and to many parts of the globe. He loves to travel and cook for his friends and family. He discovered Peter Reinhart one day while searching the internet to find a way to make a better pizza crust and bought Peter\u2019s book: \u201cAmerican Pie, My Search for the Perfect Pizza\u201d. \u201cAs I read the opening section of the book called, \u201cThe Hunt,\u201d I knew right away that this had to be a show. I was actually jealous as I read about Peter traveling around the world going to all these amazing pizzerias and getting behind the scenes with the pizzaiolos!\u201d Within a few days he had contacted his friend, fellow producer, and fierce Competitive Restaurant Ordering rival, Jeff Michael. They contacted Peter to see if he was interested in taking this show on the road.\u00a0 The Quest had begun.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/author\/brad-english\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wild Spicy Venison Sausage Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wild-spicy-venison-sausage-pizza\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wild Spicy Venison Sausage Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart","og_description":"My father-in-law is a hunter and I’m lucky enough that on our last trip up to his place for Thanksgiving he sent me home with some “fresh” Spicy Italian Venison Sausage he and a friend made up after a recently successful hunt. 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He has been in the business for over 24 years working on a wide range of projects that have taken him all over the country and to many parts of the globe. He loves to travel and cook for his friends and family. He discovered Peter Reinhart one day while searching the internet to find a way to make a better pizza crust and bought Peter\u2019s book: \u201cAmerican Pie, My Search for the Perfect Pizza\u201d. \u201cAs I read the opening section of the book called, \u201cThe Hunt,\u201d I knew right away that this had to be a show. I was actually jealous as I read about Peter traveling around the world going to all these amazing pizzerias and getting behind the scenes with the pizzaiolos!\u201d Within a few days he had contacted his friend, fellow producer, and fierce Competitive Restaurant Ordering rival, Jeff Michael. 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