Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Saddle of Venison, Jelly Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Prepare the saddle of venison by trimming it and removing the sinews.
Lard the meat with a larding needle and tie it securely three times.
Roast
In a roasting pan, place the sliced onion and carrot, then lay the saddle on top.
Season with coarse sea salt and spread the butter over the meat.
Roast in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 40 minutes, basting frequently with its own juices.
Before removing from the pan, pour in the Madeira wine and white broth, bringing it to a boil on the stove.
Skim off the fat from the gravy and strain the lean part over the saddle.
Serve
Serve with the hot currant jelly sauce on the side.
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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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Venison + curranttop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together443 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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 saddle
- Lean meat that is the main body of the dish, cooked by dry roasting with basting.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the surface of the meat and helps it brown.
- Madeira wine
- Adds sweetness and aroma to the pan juices that form the gravy.
- Currant jelly sauce
- Provides sweet-tart acidity that balances the rich, gamey flavour of the venison.
The step that matters
Basting during the roast. Venison is very lean, so it dries out quickly in the oven. Frequent basting with the pan juices keeps the surface moist and adds flavour, while the fat and juices help the meat brown.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, onion, carrot, butter, madeira wine, sauce):
- Grapefits better
- Lemonfits better
- Applefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, onion, carrot, butter, madeira wine, sauce. 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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