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 ↓
Roast Leg of Venison
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the venison
Wipe the leg of venison carefully and remove the dry skin.
Lard the lean side of the leg.
Soften the butter and rub it over the meat.
Dredge the meat with salt, pepper, and flour.
Roast
Place the leg on a rack in a baking pan and sprinkle flour on the bottom of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and place the pan inside.
Watch carefully until the flour in the pan is browned, about 5 minutes.
Add boiling water to cover the bottom of the pan.
After 15 minutes, baste the venison well and repeat every 15 minutes, renewing the water as necessary.
For a very rare roast, cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes; for most tastes, cook 15 minutes longer.
Serve
Serve with gravy made from the pan juices and currant jelly.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Venison + curranttop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together443 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Is the main meat; its lean flesh becomes tender and juicy when roasted carefully.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, helping the surface brown and the meat stay moist.
- Flour
- Browns in the pan and helps form the coating and flavourful gravy base.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the rich, gamey flavour of the meat.
The step that matters
Baste and renew the water. Regular basting keeps the lean surface from drying out, and topping up the water stops the pan juices and flour from scorching before the roast is done.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, butter, pepper, flour):
- Lemonfits better
- Red currantfits better
- Limefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, butter, pepper, flour. 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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