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Venison, Haunch Of, Roasted

Roasted venison haunch served with brown sauce or gravy and red currant jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Venison and red currant work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Venison, Haunch Of, Roasted

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Saw off the knuckle-bone from the haunch.

  2. Rub the haunch all over with clarified fat or dripping.

  3. Enfold the haunch in well-greased paper.

  4. Make a stiff paste of flour and water, cover the joint with it, and tie securely with string.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 to 4 hours, basting frequently.

  2. Within an hour of serving, remove the paper and paste, dredge lightly with flour, and baste with hot butter until browned.

  3. Serve hot with brown sauce or gravy and red currant jelly on the side.

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. Venison + red curranttop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together81 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + red curranttop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together394 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Venison + saucetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together208 recipes
  5. Venison + flourtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together667 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Venison haunch
Is the main meat, cooked slowly so it stays moist and tender inside.
Flour
Forms the stiff paste that encloses the joint, and a light dusting that helps the surface brown.
Clarified fat or dripping
Coats the meat to add richness and help the outside brown during roasting.
Red currant jelly
Adds sweetness and acidity that balances the rich, gamey meat.

The step that matters

Basting the joint during roasting. Regular basting keeps the surface moist and carries heat and fat across the meat, so a long roast does not dry out. The final butter basting after the paste is removed drives browning, which the paste would otherwise prevent.

Swap the red currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, flour, sauce):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Red currantthe original
  3. Currantfits about as well
  4. Avocadofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, flour, 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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