Why it works: Wine and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,493 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Venison, Broiled
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Crush the juniper berries and simmer them in the vinegar for 10 to 15 minutes.
Add the meat glaze and sauce, and cook gently for 15 minutes.
Strain the mixture, return it to the pan, season to taste, and stir in 1 ounce of butter.
Cook and serve the venison
Flatten the venison slices with a rolling pin and trim neatly.
Heat the remaining butter in a sauté pan and fry the venison slices quickly until browned on both sides.
Arrange the slices on a hot serving dish, pour the prepared sauce over them, and serve.
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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Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,493 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Venison + meattop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together126 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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 slices
- Form the main protein that is flattened, browned and served as the centrepiece.
- Clarified butter
- Fat for frying that browns the venison and carries flavour without burning as quickly as whole butter.
- Veloute or allemande sauce
- Creamy base of the sauce that gives the dish its body and smooth coating texture.
- Wine vinegar
- Acidity that sharpens the sauce and balances the richness of the meat and butter.
- Meat glaze or meat extract
- Concentrated meaty flavour and savouriness that deepens the sauce.
- Juniper berries
- Aromatic flavouring that infuses the vinegar with a resinous, piney note.
The step that matters
Fry the venison quickly until browned on both sides. Thin slices cook fast; high heat browns the surface through the Maillard reaction while the interior stays tender. Overcooking dries the meat and toughens it.
“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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