Kitchen Essential

Red and roe venison can, for all practical purposes, be dealt with together. The treatment is identical, the only differenc_es being in brining and cooking times on account of the differences in size and weight. Only the haunches and saddles are suitable for smoking as the more frontal areas have n_ot sufficient depth of flesh; in fact the saddle of a roe has only just enough depth of flesh to render smoking a viable proposition.

Venison should have hung a minimum of 1 week before brining, but on no account should it be allowed to go ‘high’. A haunch of roe will require brining for 3 hours in 80% brine, a saddle of roe 2 hours, whereas a haunch of red deer will require 6 hours in the brine and a saddle from the same animal will need 31/2 hours in the pickle. I am assuming that the red deer venison will come from ordinary hill beasts, and it is surely a matter of commonsense that a haunch from one of those monsters from Thetford Chase would require considerably longer in the brine.

Whether red or roe, haunch or saddle, venison requires pricking well all over to assist brine penetration. After brining, venison should be allowed to drip for 24 hours. A haunch should be hung by the hock and a saddle should have an incision made in the thin, membraneous flesh between the two ribs which should be included in the saddle when cutting up the beast, and a string loop introduced.

Smoking

Venison is a product which needs to be well smoked to obtain the best results. Roe venison should be cold smoked for about 7 days at a temperature of 60 - 75°F. After 3 days it will begin to turn black, which is as things should be. Red venison should smoke from 7 to 10 days, at similar temperatures. After cold smoking, the femoral artery on the inside of the haunch should be sought and carefully squeezed towards the cut end of the haunch. A small quantity of greenish, rather unpleasant fluid will be squeezed out and should be wiped away with a tissue.

The surface of the venison will now be dry and rather hard, and should be rubbed all over with olive or vegetable oil before being placed in the hot smoker. It can be placed flat, like a joint of meat, on a rack, and roe venison should be hot smoked for 2 hours at 220° F. Red venison will require smoking for 3 hours at this temperature. It is much drier in character than roe and great care must be taken not to overcook or quality and character will suffer. On no account must smoked venison be eaten until it has aged at least 24 hours. A hard, thin rind will form which I discard after slicing. The venison above the joint should be carved against the grain towards the bone, the meat below the knee joint being carved downwards along the grain.

Smoked venison is so good that it is a matter of some concern, if not annoyance, to me, that at the moment it is only enjoyed by Scandinavians, Germans and Dutchmen in Europe and possibly Red Indians across the Atlantic. Deer stalking in Scotland is of course traditional, but the sport of woodland stalking is now gaining momentum in very many parts of the country, with roe, Sika and feral fallow as the main quarry. These woodland deer are now becoming regarded as a national asset instead of vermin and are a potentially valuable addition to the nation’s larder, but as yet venison is not fully appreciated in this country.

Venison (sweet pickle cured, hot smoked)

This method is well adapted to dealing with haunches or saddles of venison from a particularly old red deer, whose flesh will probably be very tough and dry.

If desired, the sweet pickle brine can be injected from the brine pump into the thickest parts of the flesh, right down to the bone. The meat is then placed in a crock under refrigeration and allowed to remain in the sweet pickle for a period of 5 - 7 days for a saddle and 10 - 14 for a haunch, depending on size. The meat should be turned over every couple of days and the brine should be given a good stir at the same time. After brining, the venison should be washed and allowed to dry under refrigeration for a period of 24 hours for a saddle and 48 hours for a haunch. Opinions vary on how long the meat should be cold smoked, but it is my own policy never to hurry a smoking process. I recommend that the venison should remain in the cold smoke for 10 - 14 days, by which time it will have acquired that attractive surface blackening.

In the case of the haunch, the inside of the thigh should be squeezed towards the pelvic bone and the small quantity of greenish fluid from the femoral artery should be wiped away. This substance is probably perfectly harmless, but personally I would rather get rid of it.

Smoking

The venison should be placed in the hot smoking kiln after its surface has been well oiled, and should be smoked at a tem- perature between 200° F and 225° F for 2 hours for a saddle and 3 hours for a haunch. I must again stress that you should never attempt to cure and smoke venison which has been dead for less than a week, otherwise it cannot absorb the pickle fully and the flavour will be impaired.

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