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Venison, Roast Haunch of
INGREDIENTS. - Venison, coarse flour-and water paste, a little flour. AVERAGE COST, 1s. 2d. to 1s. 6d. per lb.
Choose a haunch with clear, bright and thick fat, and the cleft of the hoof smooth and close; the greater quantity of fat there is, the better quality will the meat be. As many people object to venison when it is too high, ascertain how long it has been kept, by running a sharp skewer into the meat close to the bone: when this is withdrawn, its sweetness can be judged of With care and attention, it will keep good a fortnight, unless the weather is very mild Keep it perfectly dry by wiping it with clean cloths till not the least damp remains, and sprinkle over powdered ginger or pepper, as a preventive against the fly.
When required for use, wash it in warm water, and dry it well with a cloth; butter a sheet of white paper, put it over the fat, lay a coarse paste, about 1/2 inch in thickness, over this, and then a sheet or two of strong paper. Tie the whole firmly on to the haunch with twine, and put the joint down to a strong close fire; baste the venison immediately, to prevent the paper and string from burning, and continue this operation, without intermission, the whole of the time it is cooking. About 20 minutes before it is done, carefully remove the paste and paper, dredge the joint with flour, and baste well with butter until it is nicely frothed, and of a nice pale-brown ROAST HAUNCH OF VENISON. colour; garnish the knuckle-bone with a frill of white paper, and serve with a good, strong, but unflavoured gravy, in a tureen, and currant jelly; or melt the jelly with a little port wine, and serve that also in a tureen. As the principal object in roasting venison is to preserve the fat, the above is the best mode of doing so where expense is not objected to; but, in ordinary cases, the paste may be dispensed with, and a double paper placed over the roast instead: it will not require so long cooking without the paste. Do not omit to send very hot plates to table, as the venison fat so soon becomes cold: to be thoroughly enjoyed by epicures, it should be eaten on hot-water plates. The VENISON, HAUNCH OF. neck and shoulder may be roasted in the same manner.
TIME. A large haunch of buck venison, with the paste, 4 to 5 hours; haunch of doe venison, 3 to 34 hours. Allow less time without the paste.
SEASONABLE. Buck venison in greatest perfection from June to Michaelmas; doe venison from November to the end of January.
Venison, To Carve Haunch of. -Here is a grand dish for a knight of the carving-knife to exercise his skill upon, and, what will be pleasant for many to know, there is but little difficulty in the performance. An incision being made completely down to the bone, in the direction of the line 1 and 2, the gravy will then be able easily to flow; when slices, not too thick, should be cut along the haunch, as indicated by the line 4 to 3; that end of the joint marked 3 having been turned towards the carver, so that he may have a more complete command over the joint. 1 HAUNCH OF VENISON. 3 Although some epicures affect to believe that some parts of the launch are superior to others, yet we doubt if there is any difference between the slices cut above and below the line. It should be borne in mind to serve each guest with a portion of fat; and the most expeditious carver will be the best carver, as, like mutton, venison soon begins to chill, when it loses much of its charm.
This is a mid-Victorian method built around one assumption that no longer holds: that a haunch of park venison arrives carrying a thick jacket of its own fat that must be protected at all costs. Modern venison, farmed or wild, is very lean, which changes almost everything about the timing.
- Ignore the keeping instructionsThe advice to hold the haunch a fortnight, dried with cloths and dusted with ginger against flies, belongs to a cold larder and a game dealer's judgement. Buy venison that has been hung and chilled under refrigeration by a butcher or supplier, and keep it cold until it goes in the oven.
- The paste is a heat shield, not foodThe "coarse flour-and-water paste" is a huff paste — flour and water only, no fat, rolled about half an inch thick — laid over buttered paper to keep the fat from rendering away in front of an open fire. It is discarded. In a modern closed oven the same job is done more simply by a loose foil tent or a barding layer of pork back fat or streaky bacon.
- Times will ruin a modern haunchFour to five hours suited a huge, heavily fatted joint turning before a fierce open fire, where the paste absorbed most of the radiant heat. A 6–9 lb bone-in haunch of today's lean venison wants a hot start and then moderate heat, and is judged by a thermometer at the thickest part away from the bone: pull it at 125–130F for rare to medium-rare and rest it 20–30 minutes. Past about 145F it turns dry and livery, whatever the basting.
- "A strong close fire" and constant bastingThat means a well-built, banked fire radiating steadily rather than flaring — the nearest modern equivalent is 425–450F for the first 20 minutes to colour the surface, then 325–350F. Continuous basting is unnecessary in a closed oven; every 20 minutes is plenty, and lean venison benefits more from added fat than from repeated door-opening.
- FrothingThe final step — remove paste and paper, dredge with flour, baste with butter until "nicely frothed" — is the Victorian way of raising a crisp, pale-brown crust in the last stretch. It works, but on a lean haunch do it in the last 10 minutes with the oven hot rather than the 20 minutes given here.
- The gravy and the jelly"Unflavoured gravy" appears to mean just that: a strong stock, unseasoned with herbs or aromatics, so nothing competes with the meat. The alternative is the currant jelly melted with a little port wine, which the recipe says to send to table in a tureen.
- Costs, seasons and datesThe 1s. 2d. to 1s. 6d. per lb is Victorian retail and tells you only that this was an expensive joint. Michaelmas is 29 September; the buck and doe seasons quoted reflect British deer management rather than any modern supply, since farmed venison is available year round.
- Hot plates are not fussinessVenison fat has a high melting point and congeals quickly, turning waxy on a cool plate, which is the point the recipe is making. Heat the plates properly; the "hot-water plates" mentioned were double-walled dishes filled with boiling water through a plugged aperture.
- Yield and carvingThe recipe gives neither a weight nor a number of servings; a haunch is a large joint meant for a party. The carving note is sound: cut the initial incision down to the bone to release the gravy, then take slices, not too thick, along the length of the haunch, give each plate a share of fat, and work quickly.
The haunch — the whole hind leg — was the ceremonial cut of British deer, and for a long period it moved as a gift rather than a purchase: venison from a private park was a token of favour from a landowner, which is why it carried social weight beyond its eating quality. Legislation in the 1830s regularised the licensed sale of game in England, though deer were dealt with under separate statutes, and a stated retail price per pound of the kind given here reflects a commercial trade that earlier generations had known chiefly as a private one. The distinction drawn between buck and doe venison, and the seasons attached to each, is the language of the deer park and the gamekeeper, as is the frank discussion of how "high" the meat should be allowed to become and the skewer test for judging it. The huff paste is worth noting as a technique in its own right: a fat-free flour-and-water crust used purely as a disposable heat barrier, a trick applied to hams and large joints as well as venison.