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To Roast a Haunch of Venison

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Roast a Haunch of Venison

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Wipe the venison with soft, dry cloths to remove moisture.

  2. Dust the surface with freshly ground pepper or powdered ginger to deter flies.

  3. Wash the venison lightly with tepid water or wipe it with damp cloths, then dry it with clean cloths.

  4. Cover the fat side with a large sheet of thickly buttered paper.

  5. Spread a paste of flour and water about ¾ inch thick over the paper.

  6. Cover with 2-3 sheets of stout paper and secure with twine.

  7. Place the haunch over a clear fire and baste the paper with butter or clarified dripping.

  8. Roast for 3.5 to 4.5 hours, depending on weight and quality; doe venison requires 30 minutes less.

  9. Twenty minutes before done, remove the paste and paper, baste the meat with butter, and lightly dredge with flour.

  10. Allow the meat to take on a pale brown color.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  5. Venison + peppertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together955 recipes

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

Butter and flour 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

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