Venison

olaola

Any advice much appreciated here!

Am going to get some this weekend for a large 'celebratory' dinner.
Never cooked it before, I don't usually do joints or roasts - as there are only the two of us at home!

Any suggestions on prep, cooking, accompaniments welcomed!

tSubh Dearg

My grandfather swears by soaking it over night in buttermilk to make it really tender, plus it can slightly soften the "gameyness" if it is a bit overripe. He lives in the middle of a forest with the shooting rights, so he's rather the expert on venison.

The nitty gritty of cooking it I am currently trying to find out for you but I can't get a hold of the clan elders at the moment.

I have a feeling my grandfather usually cooks it as a pot roast and then uses the liquid it's been cooking in to make the most amazing gravy ever!

olaola

Looking forward to getting the info!! I was kinda hoping to roast it - I like my meat on the rare side

bonkey

"Venison" is about as detailed a description as "beef" or "pork".

What cut(s) do you have?

If its something like a shoulder, then you need to probably marinade it beforehand, then slow-cook it.
If, on the other hand, you have a rack, or the canons, or filet, or whatever, then its a completely different ballgame.

As a general ballpark, you can treat venison cuts roughly the same as the equivalent beef ones. Whatever you do, don't overcook the better cuts...just like good steak, it'll dry out and be thoroughly unspectacular.

olaola

bonkey wrote: »

"Venison" is about as detailed a description as "beef" or "pork".

What cut(s) do you have?

True! We're not sure ... yet. Hopefully something that we can roast - equivalent to the sirloin of the boeuf.

bonkey

OK. I'll see if I can dig you out anything this evening, but my immediate reaction would be to salt & pepper it, sear it in the pan, then bung it in the oven....exactly like I would like a good chunk of sirloin. I'd give it about the same cooking time, and would absolutely, positivley give it 5-10 minutes resting time out of the oven before carving up.

Having seared it in the pan, I'd deglaze with either red wine or port, then use *this* juice to deglaze my roasting tray when I took the meat out to rest....giving me the base for a nice gravy. if you want to, a good spoonfull of cranberry jelly mixed into that will go down a bomb. Mix some flour (or cornflour) in some water and cook that in if you really want to, and/or caremalise some onions in the frying pan at teh start before you deglaze.

Do some red cabbage with it, and even some sprouts (not everyone's thing, I admit). If you're not a red cabbage person (which I wasn't, until recently), then maybe white cabbage, sauteed with some lardons.

A mash of root veg would also work, or just cut them into batons, boil for about 4 mins in salted water (with a pinch of sugar) and melt some butter over it.

Roasties will work a treat as your starch, but so will mash, baked, or something more adventurous (Rösti, knöpfli, etc.)

If you can get some chestnuts (fresh, or vacuum-packed), then you're laughing.

As a tip...in Switzerland, with game, its almost always served with a half pear, with the core cut out, cooked, with a glob of craberry sauce put into the 'hole' where the core was. Not my thing, but some people love it.

Ultimately, keep the accompaniments as seasonal as you can, keep the whole thing simple-but-properly-done, and you're on to a winner.

Best o' luck

tSubh Dearg

Okay, I've fianlly managed to track down the venison experts. I have learnt that you only need to soak it in the buttermilk if its a very gamey piece or if it seems like it will be a bit tough as it will tenderise the meat.

As for cooking it, if it's the equivalent of the sirloin like you said, you may want to wrap it in bacon as this cut has very little of it's own fat on it and the bacon acts as the fat for you.

For roasting times, it would be something similar to beef but keep an eye on it.

My dad usually makes the gravy out of the juices in the pan after the roasting, with a generous dollop of cream added for extra richness along with some of the bacon for flavour.

As an accompaniment we usually have just simply boiled potatoes, carrots and peas. Red cabbage is good too, though in my opinion the dinner isn't complete unless you serve it with red current jelly. I would also add a dollop of it to the gravy.

Giblet

Venison tends to be very lean, so cook it quickly (the way I like it) or use bacon as tSbubh suggests. I like my venison quite red. Goes well with red wine. I don't mind the gaminess either, so a fresh cut straight into the pan is great. Also, I've had some wonderful stews of the stuff.

olaola

Well, drat and double drat! We couldn't get any as the stuff the guy had was only hanging for a week.

We did lamb instead.... But I'll defo try it sometime again.

Thanks for the tips!