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Haunch of Venison

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and rosemary match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Haunch of Venison

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Season the haunch of venison with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

  3. In a large roasting pan, melt butter and add water and herbs.

  4. Place the haunch in the pan and roast for several hours, basting occasionally.

  5. Check for doneness and let rest before carving.

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. Thyme + rosemarytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Pepper + rosemarytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together957 recipes

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

  5. Butter + thymetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,758 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the rosemary

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, pepper, butter, thyme):

  1. Marjoramfits about as well
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Sagefits about as well
  4. Rosemarythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, pepper, butter, thyme. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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