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To Roast Venison
479. Venison takes about the same time as mutton (par. 391), and requires still greater care in papering or in enveloping in paste (par. 78), which latter plan is that usually adopted. It is necessary to proceed as follows. If the venison is kept for any length of time as most people prefer it, the joint should be washed in warm water, but not soaked. If very high, brush over the worst parts a little distilled vinegar, and then wash well off. Dry carefully, and at once put down to the fire as soon as the fat is properly protected. The joint should be constantly basted till done, and should be served with good gravy, and sweet sauce, or currant jelly.
A spit-roasting instruction from the days when venison was hung until it was frankly gamey and the fat had to be shielded from an open fire. The method translates well to an oven, provided you take the cross-references and the aging advice on modern terms.
- The hinge: protect the fat, then don't stop bastingVenison fat is thin and the meat beneath it has little marbling, so it dries out faster than a comparable joint of beef. The paste or paper is there purely as a shield; if you use foil instead, keep it in place for the first two-thirds of cooking and remove it to colour the surface.
- "Enveloping in paste"The paste of paragraph 78 is not reproduced here; the usual joint-wrapping paste of the period was a stiff flour-and-water dough rolled out and wrapped round the meat. It is not eaten; it shields the joint and is cracked off and discarded before serving. Buttered greaseproof paper does the same job with less trouble.
- Oven equivalentFor a haunch or saddle, start at 425F for 20 minutes to set the outside, then drop to 325F. Cook to an internal 125-130F at the thickest point for rosy meat and rest it 15-20 minutes; past 140F a lean haunch turns grey and dry whatever you baste it with.
- Rough timingParagraph 391, on mutton, is not reproduced here; the common rule of thumb in books of this kind was roughly 15 minutes per pound plus 15. Venison varies so much between a farmed fallow saddle and a wild red haunch that the thermometer should decide, not the clock.
- "If very high"This implies game hung for some days in a cool larder until it smelled strongly. The vinegar wash was a way of scrubbing back surface taint. Skip it: a vinegar wipe may mask odour but will not make spoiled meat safe, and meat that has gone genuinely off should be thrown out, not washed. Buy or hang venison under refrigeration and roast it sweet.
- Wash, don't soakThe instruction against soaking still holds, and modern practice would go further and not rinse at all -- pat the joint dry with paper and season it. A dry surface is what browns.
- Sweet sauce and currant jellyThe recipe does not say what its "sweet sauce" contained; sauces of the period served with venison ranged from a simple sweetened wine sauce to a sharp-sweet one built on port or claret with redcurrant jelly, sugar and sometimes spice or orange peel. Redcurrant jelly straight from the jar remains the standard accompaniment.
- YieldA boned saddle of about 3 lb serves six; a bone-in haunch of 5-6 lb serves eight to ten with plenty for cold slices.