Why it works: Venison and red wine work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 167 recipes mention both. Both carry gamma-decalactone, which smells peach, creamy. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the steaks
Cut venison steaks from the leg, about ½ inch thick.
Broil the steaks for about 5 minutes.
Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and butter.
If available, pour hot roast venison gravy over the steaks.
Make the sauce and serve
Mix ½ cup red wine with ½ cup currant jelly. Thicken with a little flour and butter. Boil the mixture.
Pour the sauce over the steak. Serve very hot.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Venison + red winetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together167 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
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Venison + curranttop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together443 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Red wine + curranttop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together113 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together122,858 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + red winetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,598 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely 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 steaks
- The main protein, which is cooked quickly under high heat to brown the surface.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and helps the seasonings cling to the steak.
- Red wine
- Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the sauce as it reduces.
- Currant jelly
- Provides sweetness that balances the wine and the gamey taste of the venison.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce so it coats the steak instead of running off.
The step that matters
Boil the sauce after thickening. Flour only thickens fully when it is heated to a boil, so the sauce should be boiled until it is smooth and coats a spoon. Undercooked flour leaves a raw, pasty taste and a thin sauce.
Flavor stand-ins for the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, pepper, butter, red wine, flour):
- Red currantabout as good a flavor fit
- Grapeabout as good a flavor fit
- Currantthe original
- Plumabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, pepper, butter, red wine, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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