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Side of a Buck Collared and Smoked

A preserved venison collar cured with vinegar, spices, bacon, salt, sugar, clarified butter, then baked or smoked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,400 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Side of a Buck Collared and Smoked

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the venison

  1. Hang the venison in a current of air until the weather permits.

  2. Wipe it well with a cloth, remove all bones and sinews, and take off the outer skin.

  3. Rub the vinegar into the venison thoroughly and cut it into 3 or 4 pieces.

  4. Cut slips of bacon half an inch wide and insert them into the venison about 3 inches apart.

Season and bake

  1. Mix the white pepper, cloves, mace, coarse sea salt, common salt, and coarse sugar, then rub this mixture over the venison pieces.

  2. Roll the pieces tightly and place them in a deep jar with bay leaves and any remaining seasoning.

  3. Cover the venison with clarified butter and bake in a slow oven (300°F/150°C) until tender.

Seal and store

  1. Once cooled, pour melted mutton suet over the venison to exclude air and seal with bladder and leather.

  2. To use, place the jar in boiling water for 10 minutes to warm, then remove a collar whole.

  3. If smoking, do not bake; instead, place in a chimney for 10 days with beech wood and dried fern, then store in paper bags in a dry room.

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. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Venison + muttontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together279 recipes

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

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Venison
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through slow cooking and curing.
Bacon
Inserted fat strips that add moisture and richness as the meat cooks.
Coarse sea salt
Cures the meat, drawing out moisture and seasoning it through the flesh.
Coarse sugar
Balances the salt and adds sweetness while supporting the cure.
Vinegar
Acidity that helps tenderise the meat and contributes to its preservation.

The step that matters

Bake in a slow oven until tender. Low, gentle heat breaks down connective tissue slowly, keeping the meat tender and moist. Too high a heat dries and toughens the venison before it is properly cooked through.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, vinegar, clove, mace, sugar, butter, mutton):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, vinegar, clove, mace, sugar, butter, mutton. 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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