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To Stew a Shoulder of Venison

A whole shoulder of venison is seasoned, wrapped in mutton fat, and slow‑cooked in port wine and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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

Directions

Prepare the venison

  1. Let the venison hang until ready to dress it.

  2. Remove the bone and beat the meat with a rolling pin.

  3. Layer soaked mutton fat slices among the meat.

  4. Sprinkle pepper and allspice over the meat in fine powder.

  5. Roll the meat tightly and tie it.

Stew and serve

  1. Place it in a stew-pan that just holds it.

  2. Add mutton or beef gravy and port wine.

  3. Simmer covered on low heat for 3 to 4 hours until tender.

  4. Remove the tape.

  5. Place the meat on a dish.

  6. Strain the gravy over it.

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. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Venison + port winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together239 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Venison + muttontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together279 recipes

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

  4. Port wine + allspicetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together400 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 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 shoulder
Forms the main body of the stew, becoming tender through long, slow simmering.
Mutton fat
Adds richness and moisture, basting the lean venison as it cooks.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth to the gravy as it reduces with the meat.
Mutton or beef gravy
Provides liquid and savoury body, keeping the meat moist during simmering.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic flavour that permeates the rolled meat.

The step that matters

Simmer covered on low heat. Gentle, covered simmering lets connective tissue in the lean venison break down slowly, producing tender meat. Boiling hard would toughen the surface and dry the gravy.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, mutton, port wine, pepper):

  1. Clovefits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, mutton, port wine, pepper. 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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