Thank you to Salt Box for sharing this recipe with us - you can find them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and their website www.wearethesaltbox.co.uk
Serves
5
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
2 - 3 hours
This is a great dish to cook on a lazy Sunday when you have a good few hours to spare. Lovingly tending to a glorious haunch of venison, roasting over the crackling fire! In this recipe, the wild venison haunch is stuffed, tied and cooked slowly. The weight of the leg under the string should be enough to keep it spinning – although every now and again it will need a little helping hand with a quick twist of the wrist.
We’ve kept the stuffing of this leg super simple with a smattering of garlic and herbs, but that’s not to say that the addition of some fiery n’duja wouldn’t make for a handsome kick of heat if you fancied it (whilst also helping to lubricate the joint).
This recipe calls for an incredibly moreish rum salmuera, an Argentinean brine brushed over the meat as it’s cooking, which adds moisture and seasons the meat to its core!
For this recipe, we used a beautiful leg from a roe deer that was merrily skipping round a field munching its way through a local farmer’s crops. Deer have a habit of decimating crops as they move through farmland nibbling away as they go. Having relatively small stomachs they need to feed between 8-12 times a day – now that’s a lot of food!
Roe deer are often seen as both a positive and negative influence in the countryside. They can cause damage to young woodlands and agricultural crops, thus many landowners utilise the stalking of Roe deer and the sale of venison as a substantial supplementary income. It really is essential to balance the needs of a sustainable healthy population of deer with those of the environment.
So pull up a chair, pop the cork of a nice bottle of plonk and watch as the venison transforms before your eyes into a stunning roast for the family.
Ingredients
| For the Rum Salmuera | |
| 80ml | Spiced rum |
| 100ml | Soy |
| 50g | Sugar |
| 1tsp | Dijon mustard |
| 20ml | Water |
| 1tbsp | Salt |
| 1 bunch | Rosemary |
| 1 | Wooden spoon/stick |
| For the Wild Chimichurri | |
| 1/2 bunch | Parsley |
| Large handful | Ground ivy |
| Small basket full | Nettles, blanched, refreshed, and patted dry |
| 1/2 bunch | If you can't find nettles or ground ivy, you can use Oregano |
| 3 cloves | Garlic, finely minced |
| 2 | Spring onions, finely chopped |
| 1 | Red chilli, finely chopped |
| A good drizzle | Olive oil |
| 1 1/2tbsp | Red wine vinegar |
| 1 lime | Lime juice and zest |
| To taste | Salt and pepper |
| For the Venison | |
| 1 | Venison haunch, thigh bone removed |
| 3 cloves | Garlic |
| 2 sprigs | Rosemary |
| 6 sprigs | Thyme |
| To taste | Sea salt and freshly ground pepper |
Take a large bunch of rosemary and tie around a hazel stick or a wooden spoon. Set your herby wand to the side until later.
Place the rest of the salmuera ingredients into a pot. Bring to the boil, and stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Set aside to cool
Finely chop the herbs and place into a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, season well and mix everything together. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Finely chop the garlic, rosemary and thyme. Scatter this over the inside of the leg and season well with salt and pepper.
Roll your joint back up and tie three strings around it to hold it nice and tight. Tie another string through the tendon and around the leg, creating a loop that we can hang the leg from.
Allow the venison to come up to room temperature so it cooks more evenly over the fire.
So now we have everything ready, it’s time to set our fire. Gather some nice, dry tinder, kindling and a wheelbarrow full of logs.
Light a fire in the base of a fire pit. Once lit, we are looking to create a wall of fire, so build up a pile of logs to one side of your bowl, raking some coals into a bed in the centre. In other words, we are aiming for a nice, radiant heat from the pile of logs to cook the haunch indirectly.
Rub the wild venison haunch with some rapeseed oil, and season liberally with salt and pepper. Using the loop of string, hang the haunch from a hook on a tripod over your fire.
Carefully place your hand just in front of the venison, you need to be able to hold your hand there for about 10 seconds. If it’s too hot, rake the fire away a little and if too cool, a little closer. Place a cast iron skillet under the leg to catch any juices that drip from the leg.
After about 15 minutes, apply the first coat of salmuera marinade, using the rosemary bush. Do this every 10-15 minutes, brushing the salmuera all over.
Keep feeding the fire wall with logs to keep a consistent heat throughout, checking that the venison is close enough by holding your hand in front of the leg for 10 seconds.
Your venison haunch will need between 2 to 2 1/2 hours depending on it’s size. Once cooked, a medium rare haunch will have a core temperature of around 57°C.
Remove the venison from the fire when the core temperature is around 50°C, as the temperature of the haunch will continue to rise as the meat rests. Place the venison in a tray, with any extra meat juices from the skillet, and leave it to rest covered in foil.
Rest the venison haunch for 15 minutes before carving.
Carve slices of the stuffed venison haunch, and drizzle over the wild chimichurri. Charred purple sprouting broccoli is the perfect accompaniment to your fire roasted venison. Enjoy!
Protein (100g) |
30g |
Calories (100g) |
111 |
Fat (100g) |
2.7g |
Cholesterol (100g) |
112mg |
Protein (100g) |
30g |