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Haunch of Venison

A roasted haunch of venison prepared with vinegar, butter, flour paste, and claret basting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Haunch of Venison

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the haunch

  1. Wash the haunch with lukewarm vinegar and water.

  2. Rub the haunch with butter or lard to soften the skin.

  3. Cover the top and sides with greased foolscap paper.

  4. Coat the haunch with a paste of flour and water, half an inch thick.

  5. Lay a large sheet of thin wrapping paper over the haunch. Lay another sheet of stout foolscap over it.

  6. Tie down the paper with greased pack-thread.

  7. Set the venison in a very cold place until the next day.

Roast

  1. Three hours before serving, place the venison in a dripping pan with 2 cups of boiling water in the bottom. Invert another pan over the venison to keep it in the steam and ensure a good fire.

  2. Leave the venison in the pan for 1 hour.

  3. Check that the paper is not scorching. Wet the paper with hot water and a ladleful of gravy.

  4. Cover the venison and let it cook for another 1.5 hours.

  5. Remove the papers and paste.

  6. Test the thickest part with a skewer. If the skewer goes in easily, close the oven and let it brown for 30 minutes.

  7. Baste freely four times with claret and butter.

  8. Dredge the venison with flour and rub with butter to create a froth.

  9. Transfer the venison to a hot dish.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Skim the gravy left in the dripping pan. Strain the gravy.

  2. Thicken the gravy with browned flour.

  3. Add 2 teaspoons of currant jelly, a glass of claret, pepper, and salt to the gravy. Boil the gravy briefly.

  4. Serve the venison in a gravy boat.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Vinegar + curranttop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together693 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  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 haunch
Lean meat that is the main dish; slow, covered cooking keeps it moist and tender.
Flour paste
Forms a protective crust that shields the meat from scorching and keeps in moisture.
Butter
Adds fat for softening the skin, richness, and browning during basting.
Claret
Basting liquid that adds flavour and colour to the browning surface and gravy.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and tartness to the gravy, balancing its richness.

The step that matters

Test the thickest part with a skewer before browning. The skewer shows whether the centre is cooked through. Browning too early, or before the meat is done, can dry or scorch the exterior while the interior stays underdone.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Red currantfits better
  3. Plumfits about as well
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, vinegar, butter, flour, 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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