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 ↓
Roast Haunch of Venison
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the haunch of venison in tepid water and dry it thoroughly with a clean, soft cloth.
Cover the fat side with a large sheet of thickly buttered paper.
Spread a paste of flour and water about ¾ inch thick over it.
Add two or three sheets of stout paper on top.
Secure everything with twine.
Place the haunch in a dripping pan with a little water.
Roast
Roast in a clear, strong fire.
Baste the paper immediately with butter or clarified drippings.
Roast for 3 to 4 hours, depending on weight and quality; doe venison requires 30 minutes less.
About 20 minutes before done, remove the paste and paper.
Baste the meat with butter.
Lightly dredge with flour.
Allow the meat to take on a pale brown color.
Serve
Serve hot with unflavored gravy and currant jelly.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
What each ingredient does
- Haunch of venison
- Forms the main meat; long roasting turns its tough muscle tender and juicy.
- Butter
- Basting fat that adds richness and helps the surface brown gently.
- Flour
- Forms the protective paste that shields the meat from drying in the fire.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and acidity that cut through the rich, gamey meat.
The step that matters
Keep the paper and paste on until about 20 minutes before done. The flour-and-water crust and paper shield the lean meat from drying and scorching during the long roast. Removing them too early exposes the surface to dry heat, so the meat loses moisture; leaving them on too long prevents the pale browning the recipe calls for.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, butter, flour, pepper):
- Lemonfits better
- Red currantfits better
- Limefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, butter, flour, 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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