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Roasted Fillet of Venison
Lard the fillet of venison with narrow strips of bacon, trimming it neatly; put it in a basin with one onion, stuck with three cloves, a bunch of sweet herbs, a little black pepper, and cover with equal quantities of white wine and vinegar; allow it to soak for two days. At the end of that time roast the fillet in a hot oven, basting it continually with the marinading stock. When cooked place the fillet on a hot dish, mix a little of the basting-liquor with some poivrade sauce, and serve it in a sauceboat with the fillet. Fillet of Venison, St. Hubert.
Lard with strips of bacon, some thick slices cut from a fillet of venison. Place a lump of butter in a saucepan; then put in the slices of venison, a bunch of sweet herbs, salt and pepper, and cover them with red wine and stock in equal quantities. Stew the venison by the side of the fire, then stir in a little brown thickening, and add a lump of sugar and some sliced gherkins. When cooked, turn the venison onto a hot dish, and serve it without delay.
Two related preparations: a marinated roast fillet (the saddle or loin) with poivrade, and a braised version named for the patron saint of hunters. Farmed venison is leaner and milder than the wild deer Oscar's kitchen received, so the long soak matters less than it once did.
- Refrigerate the marinadeThe original assumes a cold larder. Two days in wine and vinegar at room temperature is not acceptable now; keep the basin covered in the refrigerator and turn the meat once a day.
- Use a non-reactive basinEqual parts white wine and vinegar will pit aluminium or bare cast iron and pick up a metallic taste. Glass, glazed ceramic or stainless steel, or a zip bag with the air pressed out so less liquid is needed.
- Boil the basting liquorThe marinade has held raw meat for two days. Strain it and bring it to a boil for a few minutes before using it to baste or to finish the sauce; it also tastes cleaner reduced.
- "A hot oven"425-450F. Venison loin is very lean and has no fat cap beyond the larding, so go by internal temperature rather than time: 125-130F at the centre, then rest 10 minutes. Past 140F it turns dry and livery.
- LardingThreading strips of fat through the meat with a larding needle is the period answer to a lean cut. Without the needle, wrap the fillet in thin bacon or sheet fat and tie it; the effect on the surface is similar even if the interior stays leaner.
- Poivrade sauceA classic peppery brown sauce: mirepoix and trimmings browned, deglazed with vinegar and wine, moistened with game stock or espagnole, finished with crushed peppercorns added late and strained. Oscar assumed his cooks had it standing by. A good reduction of red wine, game or beef stock and cracked pepper stands in.
- "Brown thickening" and "by the side of the fire"The first is a brown roux or a spoonful of espagnole; whisk it in and let the liquid come back to a bare simmer to lose the raw flour. The second means gentle heat, not a boil - a 300-325F oven or the lowest burner, roughly 1 to 1.5 hours for thick slices until they yield to a fork.
- Sugar and gherkinsThese make the St. Hubert version sweet-sour, closer to a German Sauerbraten finish than to a modern reduction. One lump is about a teaspoon; add the gherkins in the last few minutes so they keep their bite.
- YieldA whole venison loin of 2 to 2.5 lb serves four to six. The braise wants slices about an inch thick, two per person.
Oscar Tschirky's book records the Waldorf's kitchen at the turn of the century, when game was a fixture of American hotel menus and wild venison still came in from market hunters and private estates before the state game laws of the early twentieth century gradually closed that trade. Both preparations are straight French hotel cookery of the Escoffier generation: the long vinegar-and-wine marinade, or marinade proper, was standard treatment for wild venison, tenderising it and tempering a strong flavour that farmed deer no longer has, and poivrade was the sauce the repertoire prescribed for it. The name St. Hubert honours the patron saint of hunters, an eighth-century bishop of Liège who is traditionally said to have been converted by the vision of a stag, a legend attached to him only later - the garnish varies from cook to cook, but any dish so labelled is understood to be game.