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Venison Olives
Cut some slices of ham, lay them on a board or table, and spread over them some very finely minced venison, which has been nicely seasoned, and moistened with a little melted red-currant jelly. Strew a few bread-crumbs over, then roll the olives up securely, and stew them in brown gravy for twenty minutes. Arrange neatly on a dish with little heaps of green peas.
A quick, thrifty way to use trimmings from a haunch, built on the same principle as beef olives. The whole thing hinges on rolling tightly enough that the rolls hold together in the gravy.
- "Olives" means rollsNothing to do with the fruit. An olive is a thin slice of meat wrapped round a forcemeat and stewed; the name is usually traced to the older alow or aloe of English cookery, though the derivation is not settled. Expect small cylinders about the size of a fat cork.
- Cutting the hamHam cut across the grain. The recipe specifies no thickness or size: slices thin enough to roll but sturdy enough not to tear are what is wanted. Deli-thin slices tear; a slab of gammon or a country ham sliced to order works better. Flatten between sheets of plastic if the edges curl.
- The venison fillingFinely minced raw venison, seasoned with salt, pepper and a little mace or allspice. The recipe gives no quantity: about 4 oz of mince spread over six slices is right. Venison is very lean, so a spoonful of chopped suet or fatty bacon in the mince keeps it from drying.
- Red-currant jellyMelt a tablespoon or two gently and work it into the mince as a binder and sweetener. This is the standard Victorian partner to venison; cranberry or a tart redcurrant preserve stands in, but avoid anything heavily sugared.
- Securing themThe book says "securely" and means it. Tie each roll with kitchen string or pin with a cocktail stick, and remove before serving. Untied olives unwind in the gravy and the filling breaks up.
- Brown gravyNot packet gravy. A brown stock thickened with a little roux, or a reduced game or beef stock, enough to come halfway up the rolls. Turn them once during cooking so both sides colour.
- Twenty minutesAdequate for rolls that thin, but check the mince rather than the clock. Minced game should reach 160F at the centre; whole muscle would be safe rarer, but mince is not.
- ServingSix to eight olives serve three or four as a small course. The little heaps of green peas are the recipe's own presentation.
Meat olives run through English cookery from the fifteenth century onward, when they appear as "alows" or "aloes" of beef and mutton orcemeat, rolled, and braised. By the time Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery was compiled in the 1870s the technique had become a standard way of stretching expensive meat and of using the ragged offcuts left after a joint was carved, which is plausibly the role venison plays here, though the recipe itself does not say so. Red-currant jelly with venison is a long-standing English pairing, generally explained as a foil to the meat's leanness and slight gaminess, and it survives on game menus today. The dish also shows the period's habit of pairing preserved pork with fresh meat he ham supplies the salt and the fat that venison lacks.