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Roast Leg of Venison
Leg of venison Fat salt pork Salt and pepper 1/4 cup butter or oil Flour Wipe carefully, and draw off the dry skin. Lard the lean side of the leg with strips of the pork, then soften the butter, use oil, and rub it over the meat, and dredge with salt, pepper and flour. Lay the leg on the rack in a baking-pan, sprinkle the bottom of the pan with flour, place it in a very hot oven (450 degrees F.) and watch carefully until the flour in the pan is browned, which should be in five minutes. Add boiling water to cover the bottom of the pan. Baste the venison well every fifteen minutes, until the meat is done, renewing the water in the pan as often as necessary. If a double roasting-pan is used, basting is not necessary. Should the meat be liked very rare, allow one and one-quarter hour of cooking for a ten-pound roast; most tastes require at least twenty-five minutes longer than that. Serve with a gravy made from the juices in the bottom of the pan. Always serve a tart jelly like currant jelly or wild grape or plum jelly with venison.
A straightforward high-heat roast for a very lean cut. Everything hinges on internal temperature rather than the clock, since a wild leg varies enormously in size, age and fat cover.
- Use a thermometer, not the timingThe stated 1¼ hours for a ten-pound roast works out to about 7½ minutes per pound, which is fast even for rare. Pull the leg at 125-130F at the thickest point for medium-rare and rest it 15-20 minutes; the extra "twenty-five minutes longer" the author allows for most tastes will take it well past 140F and into dry, livery territory.
- Oven temperature"Very hot" is given as 450F, and that is right for the first five minutes while the dusted flour in the pan browns. Standard practice now is to drop to 325-350F for the remainder, which gives a more even result on a leg of uneven thickness.
- Larding and bardingLarding means threading strips of fat through the meat with a larding needle, which few kitchens own. Laying thin sheets of fat salt pork or fatty bacon over the exposed lean surface and tying it on does the same job; remove it for the last 20 minutes if you want colour on the meat.
- Fat salt porkThis is unsmoked pork side cured in salt, still sold at some butchers and in Southern groceries. Rinse it before use or the roast will be over-salted, and reduce the salt in the dredging accordingly.
- Flour in the panThe flour sprinkled on the pan bottom is a browning step, not a thickener. Watch it closely at 450F, since it can scorch and turn bitter quickly, and add the boiling water as soon as it colours.
- Double roasting-panA covered, self-basting roaster, typically of tin or enamelled steel. A modern covered roaster or a foil tent achieves the same thing, though the crust will be softer than in an open pan.
- GravyThe pan juices will be thin and lightly thickened by the browned flour. Deglaze with stock or a splash of red wine and reduce; the venison itself carries little fat, though the larding pork and the butter or oil will render some, so skim if needed.
- YieldA bone-in leg of eight to ten pounds serves about ten to twelve. Carve thinly across the grain and serve on warm plates, as venison fat and juices set quickly.
- The jellyThe instruction to serve a tart jelly is not decoration. Currant, wild grape or plum jelly supplies the acid and sweetness that a lean, mineral-tasting meat lacks; a sharp cranberry or quince preserve works the same way.