Voting for Venison

There are times when we can find ourselves yearning for a particular food or dish - perhaps we are deficient in some vitamin or mineral or maybe a single moment of inspiration or a series of events leads us to crave some item we feel we cannot do without.  Edible objects of desire can range from a humble pickled onion to fancy French patisserie - or from a simple slice of sourdough bread to some exotic curry - it doesn’t matter what the target is, the main thing is getting your hands on the dream item and sinking your teeth into it.

Of course, pregnant women are best known for such cravings, but you don’t have to be either female or with-child to become momentarily obsessed with a specific foodstuff - as I discovered this week when I was overcome with a desire to eat a particular kind of red meat. 

It may sound odd, but I can explain why I was suddenly confronted with a yearning for venison… For a start I had just returned from my first holiday in two years - one which saw me, the unrepentant carnivore, spending a fortnight at sea with a boat-load of vegetarians. Not so much as a single chicken drumstick found its way onto that meat-free vessel - no wonder I had cravings for meat! But why specifically the stuff provided by members of the deer family?

Because, on my return to these cold damp shores, my pals at Devon-based Farm Wilder were telling me about their new range of venison which all comes from Forestry England sites across the South West.  To be honest it was the two recipes we’ve included in today’s food pages which really did the trick - there were moments in the early part of this week when cravings for their venison pie made me feel like some kind of drug addict in need of a fix. But there were other reasons why I was wanting to both eat venison and also write about it…

My determination to fight against the ridiculous “all meat is bad” mantra being adopted by so many people nowadays came top of the list. There is a very strong case for arguing that eating the meat of wild deer is good for the planet. It is well known that wild deer populations in this country are getting out of control - numbers in most areas need controlling - so why waste or ignore a perfectly good, healthy and delicious source of food which has nothing to do with climate change or any other environmental concern? 

In fact you are helping the environment by eating wild venison, as an excess number of deer can do untold damage. Just about everyone agrees that deer need controlling as booming populations wreak havoc in woodlands, damaging mature flora and preventing natural succession. The job used to fall to large carnivores but, in a world without wolves and sabre-toothed tigers, deer management is down to us humans. Given this fact of life it would be a criminal waste not to make use of the meat which

happens to be a very good source of protein. Low in cholesterol, it is rich in all manner of things like minerals and trace elements - and of course it really is one of the most toothsome things you can eat, especially in the cooler months of the year when most of us feel the need for something filling and substantial. 

A deer’s wild foraging allows the meat to develop deep and interesting flavours, with lean and tender textures - and of course it does not have the high carbon footprint associated with the industrially created feed given to most farmed animals.

“Encouraging more people to eat wild venison is better for biodiversity and helps protect our future forests”, comments Andrew Stringer, Forestry England’s head of environment. “Our venison is 100 percent wild, lead-free and from well managed forests. With more people becoming aware of the challenges around intensively farmed animals, wild venison is a perfect solution for those wanting to eat less but better meat.”

We have mentioned in these pages before how Farm Wilder supplies meat boxes from Westcountry farms that have adopted regenerative farming methods and which are committed to supporting and restoring wildlife to their farms. Now the community-interest company has become the only supplier of venison from Forestry England’s woodland sites across the South West.

Farm Wilder’s co-founder Tim Martin says: “If you enjoy eating meat, and are able to source sustainably reared wildlife friendly meat like ours, then you can eat it with a clear conscience, knowing that your delicious meal is helping make our countryside healthier and bringing back our wonderful wildlife.”

Looking at my collection of cookery books I spotted the perfect guide - a tome called Ultimate Venison Cookery, by Nichola Fletcher - which is the be-all and end-all on the subject of preparing the meat of deer.  It even has an entire chapter on the making of venison sausages with recipes ranging from a basic banger, to posh-nosh such as the venison with juniper, pine nuts, and Scotch whisky version.  

It also has chapters on the sources of venison (First Catch Your Deer would make any vegetarian swoon with horror), the eating quality of deer meat and another entitled The Venison Toolkit, a treatise on venison enrichments such as jellies, stocks and marinades. There’s a section on light dishes you can make as starters, and even a special subdivision on venison mince. Then, of course there are the main recipes areas such as roasting, dealing with steaks, the aforementioned casseroling, pates, pies and terrines and dealing with the “fifth quarter” - i.e. the offal.

And yes, there are even deery deserts, like reindeer milk ice cream – which sits oddly next door to a proceeding chapter on “skinning and hanging” your venison.

All this fuss is well worthwhile in my opinion because venison is one of the finest meats we have in this country. As the book’s blurb says: “Venison attracts more misunderstanding than any other meat. It is now widely available and eagerly sought-after for its health benefits. However, lack of understanding mean that many people still give out wrong cookery advice based on pre-conceived myths.”

There are no preconceived myths concerning venison in my house - just an out-an-out desire to cook Farm Wilder’s recipe for a proper warming pie made of this most fabulous of West Country meats…

RECIPE

Venison Pie

Game pie is a dish entwined in British history and you can choose from a variety of fillings for example venison, pheasant, rabbit, partridge or even pigeon, the list goes on.  You can either top with pastry or a creamy mash potato.

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 kg stewing venison

1 x 375g packed of ready rolled puff pastry, or short pastry, shop bought

1 beaten egg, for glazing

2 medium carrots, diced

250g sweet potatoes, or butternut squash, diced

1 large red onion, medium diced

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp plain flour

250 ml red wine

600 ml stock, 

2 tbsp red current jelly

1 tbsp teriyaki sauce, optional

3 sprigs fresh thyme

4 crushed juniper berries

Method

Pre heat oven to 140c fan assisted. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan add the venison, cook over a high heat until browned all over. Lift out and drain on kitchen towel and set aside.

Lower the heat, add the carrots, onion, sweet potato or butternut squash and cook stirring for 3 minutes until softened. Add the thyme, juniper berries and stir for 1 minute.  Add the tomato puree, flour and cook for 1 minute.

Now add the venison, red current jelly, red wine and stock, stir and bring to a simmer for a few minutes. Pour into an ovenproof casserole dish, cover and bake in the oven for 1 ½ at 140c fan assisted until the venison is nice and tender.

Remove from the oven and cool. Lightly a flour a work surface and roll out the puff pastry to fit the pie dish.  Pour the venison mixture into the pie dish, place the pastry lid on top of the pie dish, make a hole in the middle of the pastry to let the steam escape and crimp the edges with a fork, brush the pastry with the beaten egg and decorate with any left over pieces of pastry. Bake the pie in a pre-heated oven at 200c, 180 fan, Gas 6 for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is well risen and golden brown.