Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
To Roast Venison
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Hang the venison in a dry place for 14 to 20 days, wiping it daily with a dry cloth.
Before roasting, dry the haunch and cover it with buttered paper.
Make a paste of flour and water about ¾ inch thick and cover the buttered paper with it.
Tie another sheet of buttered paper over the paste with string.
Roast and serve
Roast the venison in front of a clear fire for 4 to 5 hours, basting with butter and clarified fat.
Fifteen minutes before it's done, remove the papers and paste, baste with butter, and lightly dredge with flour.
Brown the venison nicely and serve hot with gravy, Espagnole Sauce, red currant jelly, or Chasseur Sauce.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Venison + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together667 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Forms the main body of the dish; its long hanging and slow roasting set its tender, rich texture.
- Butter
- Basting fat that keeps the surface moist and helps it brown during roasting.
- Flour
- Forms the protective paste and light dredge that help the surface brown and crisp.
- Clarified fat
- Basting fat that adds moisture and flavour while the haunch roasts for hours.
The step that matters
Removing the papers and paste fifteen minutes before done. The paper and paste shield the meat for most of the roast. Removing them late lets the surface dry and brown, but leaving them on too long prevents browning and removing them too early can dry the meat.
“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.
More roasted venison recipes
You might also like
Roast Venison20 recipes
Venison Pasty7 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.