Why it works: Venison and port wine work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 239 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Venison Stewed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
If the venison is too lean, soak some mutton fat in port wine for several hours.
Cut the venison into pieces, with or without bones.
If using bones, boil them down for gravy. Otherwise, use gravy from other meat.
Season the meat with pepper, salt, and spice.
Roll the seasoned meat with its own fat or mutton fat and tie tightly.
Stew and serve
Place the meat in a pot that just holds it.
Add ½ cup port wine and 1 pint gravy.
Cover the pot.
Stew slowly for 3 to 4 hours.
Strain the gravy over the meat before serving.
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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Venison + port winetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together239 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Venison + muttontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together279 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,442 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mutton + port winetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together344 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Port wine + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,804 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Venison
- Forms the main body of the stew and becomes tender through slow, moist cooking.
- Mutton fat
- Adds fat and moisture to lean venison, helping keep the meat from drying out.
- Port wine
- Adds sweetness and acidity, and its flavour blends into the rich gravy.
- Gravy
- Supplies liquid that keeps the meat moist and carries flavour during the long stew.
The step that matters
Stew slowly and keep the pot covered. Slow, covered cooking at a gentle heat lets tough connective tissue break down into gelatin, so the meat turns tender and moist instead of dry and stringy.
“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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