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Venison Stew

A stew of venison slices with cucumber pickle, currant jelly, butter, pepper, salt, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,991 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Venison Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stew

  1. In a stewpan, combine the venison slices, chopped cucumber pickle, currant jelly, butter, pepper, salt, and flour.

  2. Mix the seasoning through the meat.

  3. Stew together until well done.

Serve

  1. Serve hot on warmed plates.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cucumber + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Venison + curranttop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Venison
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender and firm as it stews.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour through the stew.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid so the stew holds together rather than running thin.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and fruity acidity that balances the rich, gamy meat.
Cucumber pickle
Contributes sharp acidity and a tangy bite that cuts through the fat.

The step that matters

Stew until well done. Venison is lean and can turn tough if undercooked. Slow, steady simmering breaks down connective tissue and makes the meat tender, so check that it is fully cooked and soft before serving.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, cucumber, butter, pepper, flour):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, cucumber, butter, pepper, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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