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 ↓
To Roast a Haunch of Venison
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the venison
Wipe the venison with soft, dry cloths to remove moisture.
Dust the surface with freshly-ground pepper or powdered ginger.
Wash the venison lightly with tepid water or wipe it with damp cloths, then dry it.
Wrap and roast
Cover the fat side with a large sheet of thickly-buttered paper.
Spread a paste of flour and water about ¾ inch thick over the paper.
Cover with two or three sheets of stout paper and secure with twine.
Place the haunch over a clear fire and baste the paper with butter or clarified dripping.
Roast for 3.5 to 4.5 hours, depending on weight and quality.
For doe venison, reduce roasting time by 30 minutes.
Finish and serve
Twenty minutes before done, remove the paste and paper, baste the meat with butter, and lightly dredge with flour.
Let it brown lightly and serve hot with gravy 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 haunch
- Lean meat that becomes tender and juicy when roasted slowly under protection.
- Flour
- Forms a protective paste and, dusted on at the end, helps the surface brown lightly.
- Butter or clarified dripping
- Adds fat for basting, which carries heat to the surface and promotes browning and flavour.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the rich, gamey flavour of the meat.
The step that matters
Wrapping the haunch in the flour-and-water paste. The paste and paper shield the lean meat from drying out during the long roast. Removing them about twenty minutes before the end lets the surface brown lightly.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, pepper, butter, flour):
- Lemonfits better
- Red currantfits better
- Limefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, pepper, 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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