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To Stew a Shoulder of Venison

A venison shoulder stewed with mutton fat, port wine, and spices, finished in gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Stew a Shoulder of Venison

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Let the meat hang until ready to dress it.

  2. Remove the bone and beat the meat with a rolling pin.

  3. Lay slices of mutton fat soaked in port wine on the meat.

  4. Sprinkle with pepper and allspice in fine powder.

  5. Roll the meat tightly and tie it.

Braise and serve

  1. Place in a stew pan with just enough room, add gravy, port wine, and more pepper and allspice.

  2. Simmer covered on low heat for 3 to 4 hours until tender.

  3. Remove the tie, place the meat on a dish, and strain the gravy over it.

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. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Venison + port winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together239 recipes

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

  3. Venison + muttontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together279 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Port wine + allspicetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together400 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Venison shoulder
Is the main meat that becomes tender through long, slow simmering.
Mutton fat
Adds fat and moisture that melt into the meat, keeping it juicy during the long cook.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and acidity that flavour the meat and the braising liquid.
Gravy
Provides the liquid that gently cooks the meat and becomes the sauce.

The step that matters

Simmering covered on low heat. Connective tissue in venison shoulder breaks down slowly at low, steady heat. Too much heat or boiling can toughen the meat and dry out the liquid, so it stays tender only with gentle simmering.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, mutton, port wine, pepper):

  1. Clovefits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, mutton, port wine, 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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