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VENISON, SHOULDER OF, STEWED (another way)
Let the meat hang as long as it will keep sweet. Take out the bone, and beat the meat with a rolling-pin; lay upon it some slices of mutton fat that have been soaked a few hours in a little red port; sprinkle over it a little pepper and allspice in fine powder; roll it up tight, and tie it. Set it in a stewpan that will just hold it with some mutton or beef gravy, or broth, a quarter of a pint of port wine, some pepper and allspice. Cover closely, and simmer as slowly as you can for three or four hours. When quite tender, take off the tape, set the meat on a dish, and strain the gravy over it. Serve with currant jelly.
A boned, rolled and barded shoulder braised very slowly in port and brown stock. The method is sound; most of what needs translating is the butchery, the fat and the old liquid measures.
- The hinge: keep it below a simmer"Simmer as slowly as you can" means the liquid barely moves, around 195-205F. Venison shoulder is lean and full of connective tissue; a rolling boil squeezes it dry long before the collagen has softened. A 275-300F oven with the lid on is the easiest way to hold that temperature for three to four hours.
- Hanging the meatThe instruction to hang it "as long as it will keep sweet" belongs to a cold larder and a butcher's judgement, not a modern kitchen. Buy venison that has already been aged by the supplier and keep it refrigerated; do not attempt to age it at room temperature.
- Boning a shoulderA deer shoulder is an awkward joint with a blade bone through the middle. Ask for it boned and, if possible, seam-boned so it opens out flat. The beating with a rolling-pin would have served both to even the thickness for rolling and to help tenderise the meat.
- Mutton fatMutton fat is hard to find and strongly flavoured. Pork back fat, unsmoked fatty bacon or beef suet sheet all bard the joint just as well; slice it thin and lay it over the cut face before rolling. The port soak flavours the fat and is worth keeping.
- A quarter of a pint of portAn imperial quarter-pint is 5 fl oz, about two-thirds of a US cup or 140 ml. Use a tawny or ruby port, not a vintage bottle, as it will reduce for hours.
- Tape, not tape measure"Take off the tape" refers to the cotton tape Victorian cooks used to tie joints. Butcher's twine at 1-inch intervals does the same job and comes off just as cleanly.
- The vesselA stewpan "that will just hold it" matters: in a wide pan the small quantity of gravy and port will not reach the meat and will scorch. Use a snug Dutch oven, and add stock only until the joint is two-thirds submerged.
- Finishing the gravyThe strained liquid will be thin. Skim the fat and reduce it hard for a few minutes before pouring it over; the port and the barding fat give it plenty of body once concentrated.
- YieldA boned 3-4 lb shoulder serves six, carved in thick slices across the roll. Redcurrant jelly is the traditional accompaniment, with potatoes or a purée to take the sauce.
Cassell's gives several treatments of venison -- this one is headed "another way" -- and in Victorian Britain the joint was as often a gift from a private park or estate as a purchase, deer not being farmed commercially on any scale. Boning, barding with mutton fat and long slow stewing in port is the standard nineteenth-century answer to lean game, which has almost no intramuscular fat and dries out under any dry-heat method. The port, allspice and redcurrant jelly are also period-typical: the English pairing of game with a sweet-sharp fruit jelly is generally traced to much older sauces thickened with fruit and spice, and by the 1800s currant jelly with venison had hardened into a rule that cookbooks simply state without argument.