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Venison, Stewed
Take the remains of some roast haunch of venison, cut it into square pieces; thicken some of the gravy that was left over, and put the venison in, with a dash of lemon-juice and a wine-glassful of port. Let it get thoroughly hot through, and serve with croutons.
A leftovers dish rather than a composed one: cold roast venison reheated in its own thickened gravy. The whole thing hinges on not cooking the meat a second time.
- Heat through, do not simmerVenison is very lean and already roasted; held at a simmer the cubes turn dry and fibrous within minutes. Bring the sauce to a bare tremble, slide the meat in, and give it 3-4 minutes just to warm to the centre.
- Wine-glassfulIn late Victorian usage a wine-glass is about 2 fl oz (60 ml). Add it to the gravy and let it cook a minute or two before the meat goes in, so the port loses its raw edge.
- Thickening the gravyNo method is given. Beurre manie — equal butter and flour kneaded cold, whisked in a pinch at a time — is the least trouble and will not need long boiling to lose a floury taste. Reckon on about 1 tablespoon each per cup of gravy.
- If there is not enough gravyRoast venison rarely leaves much. Stretch it with beef or game stock rather than water; venison gravy is assertive and takes dilution badly.
- CroutonsHere these are sippets: triangles or fingers of bread fried in butter or clarified fat until crisp, arranged round the dish. Not the small cubes sold for salads.
- SeasoningThe lemon juice is there to lift what is essentially twice-cooked meat. Taste at the end and consider redcurrant or rowan jelly, a little coarse pepper, and salt — reduced gravy can already be salty, so season last.
- YieldAbout 1 lb (450 g) of cut-up cooked meat with a cup of sauce serves three as a light main course, four with a starch alongside.
Cassell's belongs to a generation of English household dictionaries that treated the second appearance of a joint as a matter of course: a haunch of venison was expensive, and in this period venison was as likely to reach a household as a gift from a deer park or shooting estate as by purchase. Recipes of this type — cold roast meat cut small, reheated in thickened gravy, sharpened with lemon and fortified wine, bordered with fried bread — were often labelled rechauffes (the broader Victorian term 'made dishes' covered composed dishes generally), and they fill many pages of Victorian cookery books, the roast itself needing little instruction. The port and the tart jelly reflect a common English treatment of venison, whose lean, gamey flesh was thought to want both sweetness and acid; the same pairing survives in the redcurrant jelly still served with game today.