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 Haunch of Venison
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Soak the haunch in warm water and dry it well with a cloth.
Butter a sheet of white paper and place it over the fat of the haunch.
Place the haunch in a deep baking dish with a little boiling water.
Cover with a close-fitting lid or a coarse paste ½ inch thick, adding layers of coarse paper if using paste.
Roast
Cook in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 to 4 hours, depending on the size.
About 20 minutes before it's done, increase the heat, remove the paste and paper, and dredge the joint with flour.
Baste well with butter until it is nicely browned.
Serve
Garnish the knuckle-bone with a frill of white paper and serve with gravy made from its own drippings, after removing the fat.
Serve hot with 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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Flour + curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,077 recipes
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, dense meat that becomes tender and juicy when cooked slowly under cover.
- Butter
- Adds fat that carries flavour and helps the surface brown during basting.
- Flour
- Dredged over the joint so the surface browns and forms a crisp, savoury crust.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and acidity that balances the rich, gamey flavour of the meat.
The step that matters
Basting and browning at the end. Raising the heat and removing the paste and paper only near the end lets the surface brown. Basting with butter adds fat that helps the crust colour evenly without drying the meat.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, butter, flour):
- Raisinfits about as well
- Currantthe original
- Red currantfits about as well
- Lemonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, butter, 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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