Venison pie | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is a good accompaniment for venison? ›

As one of Scotland's very best chefs, Tom Kitchin knows a thing or two about putting together a great venison dish. Here he takes the ultimate prime cut – the loin – and pairs it with classic accompaniments like beetroot, celeriac purée, Scottish girolles, root vegetables, blackberries and a simple red wine jus.

Cooking times and settings are much the same as for any other meat. 1½– 2 hours in a medium oven is about right. All meats taste better if browned first. Marinating is not necessary with our tender venison but if you do then it will add extra flavour.

Because stew meat is cut from muscles that do a lot of work during the deer's lifetime (like the neck & shoulder), it offers excellent flavor, but isn't suitable for fast cooking like searing, stir frying, or grilling.

Large cuts of venison taste best when pot-roasted for several hours. If you have access to a crock pot, use any recipe for beef pot roast and you'll be pleasantly surprised. However, instead of cooking for two to four hours, venison may require substantially longer cooking time for the meat to become tender.

I like to cook venison on low heat because I am less likely to over cook it. Venison should only be cooked to about a medium doneness. Anything further will get really tough. I cook the venison on the top rack of my grill and turn it only once before it is done to perfection.

The gamey flavor of venison is a good match for flavors like apples, cherries, raspberries, cranberries, citrus fruits, peaches, pears, raisins, pomegranates, and dates. Try Venison and Cherry Pâté en Croûte, which uses both dried cherries and cherry liqueur.

Venison: Red wines with earthy or smoky flavors big enough for the meat's taste and richness (Mourvèdre, Syrah, Pinot Noir) and strong beer (Porter, Belgian Strong Ale, Double Stout). (Elk pairs similarly.)

Sometimes I combine ground venison and ground beef 50-50 to make a better mix for any recipe that calls for ground meat. If you do this, you can buy the cheaper ground beef that is a 75-25 mix of lean to fat, and when you add the leaner ground venison, you still get a pretty lean mix.

It's lean, don't over cook it

Venison is very low in fat and is best served medium-rare. This equates to an internal temperature of 57°C/135°F if you're using a meat thermometer.

Does venison need to be soaked before cooking? ›

You can make a good marinade from a bit of oil, red wine, a bit of vinegar, minced garlic and onion, salt and pepper (that's just one simple idea, there are lots of recipes for marinades). But in general, venison does not need to be soaked before cooking.

Cooks often find that the stronger flavor of wild game meat can make the meat difficult to season well. Herbs offer the perfect solution. Bay, juniper berries, rosemary, sage, savory, and sweet marjoram all pair well with venison, as well as many other wild game meats.

There's really very little fat in venison, so it's a pretty tricky meat to cook quickly. Most wild game cooks recommend medium-rare because if too much moisture is cooked out of the meat, it'll become tough and chewy.

Heat a large heavy-based frying pan until very hot, and then sear the fillet on all sides until dark golden-brown on the outside (this will take about two minutes). Then reduce the heat to low and gently fry, turning regularly, for 6-8 minutes or until cooked to your liking.

The better cuts of a deer are best cooked quickly with high heat and, because venison is very lean, not past medium-rare. All too often, antlered game hindquarters get ground into sausage, burger and, well, just ground rather than leaving the whole muscles intact.