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Venison Collops, Minced
Mince finely a pound of venison taken from the neck or loin, and season with pepper, salt, and pounded mace. Dissolve an ounce and a half of butter in a saucepan over the fire, stir a dessert-spoonful of flour into it, and when it is quite smooth add a large tea-spoonful of chopped parsley, a pinch of powdered sweet herbs, and a little pepper and salt. A small onion chopped small, or a particle of garlic, may be stirred in also when the flavour is liked. Keep beating the paste over the fire till it is lightly browned, then stir in the minced venison, and keep tossing it lightly with a fork till it is quite hot. Moisten gradually with half a cupful of stock, and let the collops simmer for ten minutes. Ketchup, port, tarragon vinegar, lemon-juice, or basil wine may be added if liked. Probable cost of venison, very uncertain, varying with the supply.
A quick sauté of chopped venison bound in a browned roux — closer to a hash than to the whole slices the word "collop" usually implies. Nothing here is difficult, but the seasonings and one or two measures need translating.
- What a collop isA collop is a slice or small cut of meat, normally cooked quickly in a pan. "Minced collops" is the Scottish usage for finely chopped meat treated the same way, so the dish is a hash rather than escalopes.
- Mince by handChop the venison with a knife to a coarse mince rather than putting it through a grinder or food processor. Ground venison packs and turns pasty; hand-chopped pieces stay distinct in the sauce.
- Dessert-spoonfulBetween a teaspoon and a tablespoon — reckon on 2 teaspoons of flour. With 1½ oz (about 45 g) of butter this gives a loose, buttery roux, which is what the recipe wants.
- Brown the roux properlyThe instruction to beat the paste until lightly browned is the hinge of the dish. A pale roux leaves it tasting of raw flour; take it to the colour of light toast before the meat goes in, and watch the parsley and onion, which will scorch before the flour colours.
- MacePounded mace is the outer aril of nutmeg, warmer and less sweet. Ground mace from a jar works; if you have none, use about half as much grated nutmeg.
- Ketchup means mushroom or walnutIn a book of this date "ketchup" is the dark, salty mushroom or walnut sort, essentially a seasoning liquor — not tomato ketchup. A teaspoon of mushroom ketchup or a dash of Worcestershire sauce gives the intended effect. Basil wine was a home infusion of basil in sherry or white wine.
- Timing and donenessTen minutes at a bare simmer is enough for finely minced meat and will take it past 160F. Venison is very lean; longer cooking dries and toughens it, so add the stock as soon as the meat is hot through and stop when the sauce has just thickened.
- LiquidHalf a cupful is roughly 120–140 ml, depending on the cup reckoned. Add it in stages — the mince will give up some of its own juice, and the sauce should coat rather than pool.
- Yield and servingA pound serves two generously or three as part of a larger meal. The recipe gives no accompaniment; sippets of fried bread or toast suit it, and redcurrant or rowan jelly is a usual partner to venison.
"Collop" is an old word in English for a slice of meat, of uncertain origin, recorded long before this book and surviving longest in Scotland, where Collop Monday — the day before Shrove Tuesday — was when the household ate up its meat before Lent. Minced collops became a standing Scottish supper dish, usually made with beef; venison here is the grander version, and the frank note that the cost is "very uncertain, varying with the supply" reflects a British market in which venison was not farmed but came from private deer parks and the Highland estates, reaching the shops irregularly through the season and often as a gift rather than a purchase. The flavourings listed at the end — mushroom ketchup, port, tarragon vinegar, basil wine — belong to the Victorian store-cupboard of bottled seasonings, several of which could be made at home and kept through the year to sharpen exactly this kind of brown, floury sauce.