Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Venison, Roast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the venison
Hang the venison in a cool, dry place for 10 to 14 days.
Wash and wipe the venison, then beat it well.
Remove the skin from the venison.
Lard the fleshy parts with bacon strips.
Roast and make the sauce
Roast or bake the meat, basting constantly with sour cream or a mixture of butter and milk.
Prepare a sauce by adding water to the basting, skimming and straining it, then adding pepper, salt, and lemon juice.
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.
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Venison
- The main meat, which gives the roast its body and is the centre of the dish.
- Bacon strips
- Larded into the lean meat, they add fat and moisture as they render during roasting.
- Sour cream
- Basting liquid that adds moisture and richness and helps the surface brown.
- Butter
- Fat in the basting mixture that adds richness and helps the surface brown.
- Milk
- Part of the basting mixture; its milk solids help the roast brown and add flavour.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity to the sauce, brightening the rich drippings.
The step that matters
Basting constantly. Frequent basting keeps the surface moist and carries fat and milk solids over the meat, which builds browning and flavour. Letting the surface dry out lets the outside toughen and brown unevenly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, cream, butter, milk, pepper):
- Lemonthe original
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Grapefits about as well
- Red currantfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, cream, butter, milk, pepper. 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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