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Roast Venison

A roasted leg of venison served with a gravy made from its drippings, beef, onion, and currant jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Roast Venison

Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Roast Venison

Ingredients

Directions

Roast the venison

  1. Roast the leg of venison for 1 hour on blazers or 2 hours on hot plates.

  2. Remove the dry skin with your fingers.

  3. Turn the spit very often.

  4. Baste with flour, butter, and red wine frequently until done.

Make the gravy

  1. Crack the shank bone of the venison.

  2. Combine the bone with the beef, onion, pepper, and salt in a saucepan.

  3. Add 2 quarts of water and boil gently for 3 hours.

  4. Strain the mixture.

  5. Add the drippings from the venison and ¼ pound of butter.

  6. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of flour, 1 teacup of red wine, and 1 teacup of currant jelly.

  7. Stir the gravy. Let it boil for about 5 minutes.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Red wine + clovetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together849 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Venison leg
Is the main meat; its fat and connective tissue render during long roasting, keeping the meat moist.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, browning the surface and enriching the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the drippings and gravy into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the basting liquid and gravy.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and fruity tartness that balances the rich gravy.

The step that matters

Let the gravy boil for about 5 minutes after whisking in the flour. Flour thickens only when its starch granules are heated enough to swell; a gentle boil ensures the gravy thickens fully and loses any raw floury taste.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, flour, butter, red wine, beef, onion, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, flour, butter, red wine, beef, onion, 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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