Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Venison
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the collars
Remove all sinews from the venison and cut it into square collars.
Lard the collars with pieces of fat bacon.
Season with pepper, salt, cloves, and nutmeg.
Roll up the collars and tie them tightly with coarse tape.
Bake
Place them in deep pots with seasoning at the bottom, fresh butter, and bay leaves.
Add remaining seasoning and butter on top, then cover with finely shredded beef suet.
Seal the pots with coarse paste and bake at 300°F (150°C) for 4-5 hours.
Remove from the oven and let stand briefly, then drain the venison from the gravy.
Clarify and pot
Add more butter to the fat and clarify it over a slow fire.
Skim the clarified butter and prepare pots for each collar.
Add a little seasoning and some clarified butter at the bottom of each pot.
Place the venison in the pots and fill with clarified butter, ensuring it is 1 inch above the meat.
Once thoroughly cold, tie down with double paper and place a tile on top.
To serve, place the pot in boiling water for 1 minute to release the venison whole.
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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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together957 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
- Forms the main meat that becomes tender during long, slow cooking.
- Fat bacon
- Adds fat that bastes the lean venison from within as it cooks.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat over the top that keeps the meat moist during slow baking.
- Fresh butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and sets the clarified fat that seals the meat.
The step that matters
Bake at low heat for 4-5 hours. Slow, gentle heat breaks down the connective tissue in venison, so the meat turns tender. Sealing the pot keeps moisture in, and too much heat would dry and toughen the meat.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, pepper, nutmeg, butter, beef):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, pepper, nutmeg, butter, beef. 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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