Name: To Stew a Shoulder of Venison
Ingredients: 1 shoulder of venison, boned; Cayenne pepper, to taste; Coarse sea salt, to taste; Pounded mace, to taste; Allspice, a very small amount; Thin slices of fat from a well-fed loin of mutton; Good stock made from equal parts beef and mutton; Rice flour, for thickening; 1 glass or more of claret or port wine

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

1 shoulder of venison, boned
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Coarse sea salt, to taste
Pounded mace, to taste
Allspice, a very small amount
Thin slices of fat from a well-fed loin of mutton
Good stock made from equal parts beef and mutton
Rice flour, for thickening
1 glass or more of claret or port wine

Directions

Prepare the venison

Flatten the boned shoulder of venison on a table.
Season it well with cayenne, salt, pounded mace, and a small amount of allspice.
Lay thin slices of mutton fat over the seasoned venison.
Roll and bind the venison tightly.

Stew

Place it in a vessel nearly its size and pour in enough stock to nearly cover it.
Stew slowly for 3 to 3.5 hours, turning it halfway through.

Finish and serve

Thicken the gravy with rice flour and wine, seasoning to taste.
Serve with a good Espagnole sauce made from the stewing gravy.

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.

Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,189 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mutton + beeftop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,373 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Beef + ricetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,265 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Venison shoulder: Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender through long, slow stewing.
Mutton fat: Bastes the lean venison from within, adding moisture and richness as it melts.
Stock: Braising liquid that gently cooks the venison and becomes the base of the gravy.
Rice flour: Thickens the stewing gravy into a smooth, lightly body-rich sauce.
Claret or port wine: Adds acidity and depth to the gravy and helps thicken it with the flour.

The step that matters

Stew slowly for 3 to 3.5 hours, turning it halfway through. Low, gentle heat breaks down the tough connective tissue in venison shoulder into tender meat. Turning it promotes even cooking, so the roll is not dry on one side or undercooked in the middle.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, pepper, allspice, mutton, beef, rice, flour):

Turmericfits better
Nutmegfits better
Marjoramfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, pepper, allspice, mutton, beef, rice, 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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To Stew a Shoulder of Venison