RAINING SIDEWAYS: Cooking Venison

Venison is a very lean meat much in favour again as we become ever more aware of our cholesterol level and fat intake. Now that we can buy the sort of meat that the Goodman’s produce and no longer go into the forest and shoot an animal of uncertain age we can employ modern cooking techniques more in line with our changing taste in food.

But the debate still rages: to marinade or not to marinade? We’ve been eating venison in Europe for hundreds of years. Of course most of the early recipes, by that I mean those of the Middle Ages, deal with salted meats. The old recipes required a bag of oatmeal in the cauldron to absorb the salt or a “frumenty” as an accompaniment. A thick pudding of wheat and almond milk thickened with egg yolks and coloured with saffron is probably not our first choice in the 21st century! Many of us can refrigerate our meat now. What freedom that gives us!

The purpose of the marinade is to moisturise and tenderise the meat, and to a certain extent preserve it for an extra day or two. Some modern chefs cook their venison “like spring lamb, never marinating or slow cooking." This is, I believe, only possible if you are very sure of the source and the age of the animal. For example it is definitely suitable when cooking Richard and Leslies’ meat.

Eliza Acton writes in her book of Modern Cookery in 1865 that it is as well to cover the meat with flour and water as well as thick paper before cooking. Later books suggest lardons of bacon or pork fat instead. Favourite additions are traditionally juniper berries, redcurrants, rowen berries, rosehips and pears.

“Venison pies look very jolly with red jelly and a sprig of gale ( myrica gale/bog myrtle/sweet gale). Venison takes no longer to cook than other meats but must not be rushed!” So says Dorothy Hartley.
"Take a fillet of venison with a boned bird or brace, well floured, some mushrooms and diced bacon. Press all down in a dish and put in the oven dry to cook while a suet crust is prepared. Remove from the oven, cover the meat with stock and the lees of red wine, cover with the paste and bake. “Jolly” little pies! "

I leave you to make your own decision about the marinade question. Here are two of my favourite venison recipes.

Marinated Haunch of Venison

Take a haunch of venison weighing about 1.8kg/4lbs. Make up a marinade of oil, white wine vinegar, chopped carrot and onion, a piece of celery. Add a bottle of white wine and a bouquet garni. (Small bunch of herbs which will always include parsley, thyme and bay leaf and any other herbs relevant to the recipe, usually wrapped in a little piece of muslin.)

Place the meat in the marinade in the fridge for no more than two days.

Preheat the oven to 230C /450F. Strain off the marinade and set aside. Dry the meat with kitchen paper, lard with 225grams or 8oz of bacon strips, cover with a little oil and roast for one hour. Turn and baste a couple of times during cooking. Reduce the heat to 180C/350F, cook for about 30 more minutes. The time does depend on how rare or well done you like your meat.

Remove the meat from the pan. Deglaze the pan to make the sauce by putting it back on a gentle heat and stirring and scraping as you add the reserved marinade. Simmer the sauce for 8-10 minutes and serve with the sliced meat. Do let the meat rest for at least those 10 minutes while you make the sauce. This will make it much easier to carve. All roasted meat improves with resting. It also gives you time to finish vegetables and enjoy a glass of wine with friends.

Braised Venison

Make up a similar marinade as for Roast Haunch of Venison, adding 6-8 crushed juniper berriesand a sprig of rosemary, a clove of garlic and some crushed peppercorns. Cut up a kilo/2lbs 4oz of braising venison, place in the marinade in the fridge for no more than two days.

When ready to cook strain off the marinade and brown the meat in hot oil in a heavy pan. It’s best to do this in small batches to give the oil time to reheat, thus ensuring the meat seals rather than sweats. Remove the meat to a heavy casserole dish with a lid. Fry some sliced onions in the remaining oil. When they are softened and beginning to brown slightly sprinkle with a little flour to take up any remaining oil and stir in some stock and the marinade. Bring to the boil stirring all the time, then pour over the meat. Place in a preheated moderate oven and cook for one and a half to two hours. Test the meat with a skewer to make sure it is tender. If the gravy is too thin for your taste thicken with a little beurre manie ( a spoonful of softened butter mixed with a spoonful of flour stirred bit by bit into the hot liquid). You can add vegetables during cooking: carrots, celery mushrooms etc. Add them according to their cooking time so they are not over done when the meat is ready.

For your venison contact: [email protected]

Books

The Whitefaced Drift of Dartmoor’s Prapper Sheep: A Story as Olde as Them Hills, Colin Pearse
A history of the White Face Dartmoor sheep. Published by Short Run Press Ltd.
The Preserving Book, Oded Schwartz
My favourite store cupboard book. Published by Dorling Kingersley
Les Clafoutis de Christophe, Christophe Felder
A rustic dessert originating in the Limousin, clafoutis is prepared with black cherries on which one pours a rather thick pancake batter. Christophe Felder, one of the best French pastrycooks, describes some 80 variations on clafoutis, sweet and savoury. Clafoutis with bilberries and fennel-flower, clafoutis with wild strawberries, clafoutis with broccoli and Gruyere....
Particular Delights, Nathalie Hambro
"This book is about the art of eating, a rather wider notion than the art of cooking. Whereas cooking can merely be a mechanical execution of the instructions in a cookery book, eating invloves the use of all the senses. Life can be enhanced by the sensual elements in our surroundings. Forgotten memories are evoked by smell throughout life, and what can compare with the everyday smells of freshly roasted coffee and of bread as it is baked, or the delicate ratafia of plum or cherry jam as it cooks?"
Jane Grigson's Fruit Book
The Fruit Book and it's partner Vegetable Book were the last two books Jane Grigson wrote, and both won the Glenfiddich Writer of the Year Award. She was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation, and as well as her many books she wrote for the Observer Colour Magazine for more than 20 years.
A Modern Herbal, Maude Grieve
Mrs. Grieve's Modern Herbal, first published in 1931, is still in print, and you can also read it online at www.botanical.com.
Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton
Unsuccessful as a poet, Eliza Acton found fame with her cookery books. Modern Cookery, first published in 1845, is one of the first cookery books written specifically for housewives.
The Cooking of South West France, Paula Wolfert
Confits and Cassoulets - the 'cuisine de terroir' of South West France. The recipes make use of ingredients which the region has in abundance, such as wild mushrooms, truffles, duck, walnuts, chestnuts, hams, cheeses and wines.
Food In England, Dorothy Hartley
Published in 1954, the best of all books on English Food. Dorothy Hartley described Food In England as being like "an old-fashioned kitchen, not impressive, but a warm and friendly place, where one can come in at any time and have a chat with the cook".

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