Why it works: Flour and beans are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,080 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Haunch of Venison
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the haunch
Saw off the shank bone and remove the sinew.
Pare away the dark, dry skin from the skirt and the dried surface of the underside.
Wrap and roast
Cover the haunch with a large sheet of well-greased paper.
Place a covering of flour-and-water paste about ½ inch thick over the paper.
Envelop the whole with two large sheets of greased paper tied securely with string.
Roast the venison on a cradle spit before the fire for about 4 hours, depending on size.
Finish and serve
Remove the paste and paper before serving.
Sprinkle a little coarse sea salt over the haunch.
Dredge the surface with flour and pour dissolved butter over it.
Froth the butter using a red-hot salamander.
Serve with brown gravy, currant jelly, and French beans.
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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Flour + beanstop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,080 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 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).
Flour and butter 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 slow-roasted with protective wrapping.
- Flour
- Forms the protective paste and a dredged crust that helps the surface brown.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the surface brown and crisp when frothed.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the rich, gamey flavour of the meat.
The step that matters
Wrapping the haunch in greased paper and flour paste. The paper and paste shield the lean meat from direct fire so it cooks gently and keeps its moisture. Grease keeps the paper from sticking, and the paste must stay intact for the whole roast.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, flour, butter, beans):
- Avocadofits better
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, flour, butter, beans. 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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