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venison-msg – 3/14/14

 

Medieval and modern recipes for venison.

 

NOTE: See also the files: meat-smoked-msg, organ-meats-msg, roast-meats-msg, sausages-msg, stews-bruets-msg, hunting-msg, butchering-msg.

 

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NOTICE -

 

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

 

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

 

I have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with separate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were removed to save space and remove clutter.

 

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make  no claims  as  to the accuracy  of  the information  given  by the individual authors.

 

Please respect the time  and  efforts of  those who have written  these messages. The copyright status  of these messages  is  unclear  at this time. If information  is  published  from  these  messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

 

Thank you,

   Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous

                                         Stefan at florilegium.org

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Date: Wed, 08 Oct 1997 16:16:56 -0400

From: Aine of Wyvernwood <sybella at gte.net>

Subject: Re: SC - Small Feasts

 

<snip>

 

Later as an adult, each yr for about 12 yrs, I had this running party at new yrs...many told that they came for my venison pot roast.  As I lived in the High

Country of Colorado where mule deer abound, sorta like rats on a wharf...

much of my diet was game.

 

I sear the venison on both sides, then roll in flour to make a light coating then sear again to sorta cook and bronw the flour...oh, before I drop the venison in the bit of hot olive oil, I added some crushed garlic about 2-3 cloves worth....

 

then the meat.  Ater all that I add water to cover, then diced celery, onions

salt peper and a couple of bay leaves, and simmer on very low for ages until the

meat is fork tender.  I serve it sliced with gravy over rice.

the gravy can be thickened one of two ways....with cornstarch or roux.

 

to make a roux you take a dry clean cast iron skillet on about medium heat....

add about 2 cups of flour...dry.... use a spatula or pancake turner to keep the

flour moving, the object is to brown the flour to a medium brown evenly without

burning. I only use a about 2 tablespoons to make the gravy, the rest can be

saved in an airtight container in the fridge for later use....

I add a bit of oil and drop into the broth....the oil melts and keeps the flour

from making lumpy gravy.

 

I use this same recipe with a pork roast as well...but, since my kids think that

garlic [which I love] is in the same category as poison...I only use a tiny

bit...

aine

 

 

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:09:35 -0500

From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com>

Subject: SC - Fw: recipe for venison

 

from one of my friends over in Steirbach...(actually the new Baroness as of

2 weeks from tomorrow)

- -----Original Message-----

Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 3:01 PM

Subject: recipe for venison

 

>Venison with Almonds

> 

>6 servings

> 

>1/2 c  Crushed pineapple                   2 c  Cooked, cubed Elk or Deer

>2 tb Margarine or butter               1/2 c  Sliced celery

>1 1/2 tb Cornstarch                        1/2 c  Slivered toasted almonds

>1/2 c  Pineapple juice                     1 ts Salt

>2 c  Meat stock

> 

> Brown pineapple in the margarine or butter for 5 minutes.  Mix

> cornstarch with pineapple juice.  Add mixture and meat stock to the

> browned pineapple. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until

> thickened. Boil 2 minutes, then add meat, celery, almonds and salt.

> Allow to heat through and serve with rice or chow mein noodles.

 

 

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:09:53 -0500

From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com>

Subject: SC - Fw: more venison

 

from one of my friends over in Steirbach...(actually the new Baroness as of

2 weeks from tomorrow)

- -----Original Message-----

Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 3:03 PM

Subject: more venison

 

>Roast Venison

> 

>6 servings

> 

>      4 lb Venison roast;                       1 lg Onion (sliced)

>           -elk,moose,or deer)                 1 cn Tomatoes (14 oz can)

>      2 tb Flour                                    MARINADE

>      2    Cloves garlic (minced)            1/2 c  Vinegar

>      2 tb Brown sugar                           2    Cloves garlic

(minced)

>      1 ts Prepared mustard                   2 tb Salt

>      1 tb Worcestershire sauce             Cold water to cover meat

>      1/4 c  Vinegar or lemon juice

> 

> Marinade the venison over night in the refrigerator. Season with

> salt, roll in flour and brown in hot skillet. Place in crock-pot

> cooker and add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low 10 to 12

> hours. MARINADE: Mix ingredients together in a bowl just large enough

> to cover venison with water. No need to stir this marinade. Use for

> "red" meats (including rabbits) or game birds.

 

 

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:10:11 -0500

From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com>

Subject: SC - Fw: roast venison

 

from one of my friends over in Steirbach...(actually the new Baroness as of

2 weeks from tomorrow)

- -----Original Message-----

Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 3:05 PM

Subject: roast venison

 

>Roast Leg of Venison, Unmarinated

> 

> 10 servings

> 

>10    Larding strips 1 1/2 - 2"           1 tb Powdered thyme

>(about 1/4-1/2 lb salt pork)            3 tb Flour

>6 lb Leg of venison                             Salt & pepper to taste

>2    Cloves garlic, sliced thin           2 1/4 c  Stock or beef broth

>1/4 lb Butter, softened

> 

>1. Lard the venison with the salt pork, adding the garlic slices after the

>         salt pork has been inserted.

> 

>2. Rub all surfaces of the leg with soft butter and dust with the powdered

>thyme.

> 

>3. Put roast in uncovered roasting pan, add 1/2 cup liquid, and roast at 325¯F

>for about two hours. Venison should be srved rare, but not bloody, so figure

>about 16 minutes per pound.

> 

>4. Turn off oven, open the door, and wave it open several times to reduce heat.

>Place the roast in a metal pan and keep hot--don not roast anymore.

> 

>5. In the roasting pan, combine flour and drippings, stirring in the stock.

>Heat pan on stovetop and cook on high heat, stirring constantly, until gravy is

>thickened to proper consistency.

 

 

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:10:31 -0500

From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com>

Subject: SC - Fw: deer steaks

 

from one of my friends over in Steirbach...(actually the new Baroness as of

2 weeks from tomorrow)

- -----Original Message-----

 

Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 3:06 PM

Subject: deer steaks

 

>Onion Buttered Deer Steak

> 

>1 servings

> 

>Butter sauce:

> 

>    1/2 c  Butter                                1/2 ts Dry mustard

>    1/4 c  Minced onion                      1/2 ts Freshly ground pepper

>    2 ts Worcestershire or soy sauce

> 

>   In small saucepan, combine ingredients.  Heat together until butter

> melts. Broil 3 to 4 inches from heat for 10 to 12 minutes each side

> for rare, 14 to 16 minutes for medium, brushing with butter mixture.

 

 

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:10:49 -0500

From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com>

Subject: SC - Fw: easy venison roast

 

from one of my friends over in Steirbach...(actually the new Baroness as of

2 weeks from tomorrow)

- -----Original Message-----

Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 3:09 PM

Subject: easy venison roast

 

>Easy Venison Roast

>4 servings

> 

>3 lb Chunk of venison roast

>2 tb Liquid smoke

>2 c  Onion - 2 inch dice

>3 tb (or more) Worchestershire

> 

>3 tb (or more) Soy Sauce

>2 c  Potato - 2 inch dice

>1 c  Carrots - 2 inch dice

>1 c  mushrooms sliced

>1/2 c  Beef broth

 

> Put a LARGE oven cooking bag in an oblong baking pan (so

> that the bag fits inside the pan). To the bag, add the venison. Add

> all liquids, then veggies around the meat. Put the 'shrooms on top of

> everything else, then the spices on top of them. You want to have

> about 1 inch of liquid in the bottom of the bag, so if you need more,

> add a little water (or white wine!- white wine is very nice.)

> 

> Seal bag. Poke several small holes in top of bag to let steam escape.

> Bake at 300-325 for 3-1/2 hours. (If you chop the veggies big, they

> won't overcook).

 

 

Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 14:40:03 -0400

From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)

Subject: Re: SC - Subing????

 

>By chance does someone have a period recipe for Deer Stew/Roast <snip>

 

From "Take a Thousand Eggs or More", v2 p. 464:

 

Harleian MS. 4016, c. 1450

6 Venyson in broth.  Take rybbes of venyson, and wassh hem faire in Water,

And streyn the Water thorgh a Streynour into a faire potte, and cast [th]e

Venyson thereto, parcely, Sauge, powder of peper, cloue[3], Maces, Vinegre,

salt, And late hem boile til [th]ei be ynow, & serue it forth.

 

6 Venison in broth.  Take ribs of venison, and wash them fair in Water, And

strain the Water through a Strainer into a fair pot, and cast the Venison

thereto, parsley, Sage, powder of pepper, cloves, Maces, Vinegar, salt, And

let them boil till they are enough, & serve it forth.

 

Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu

renfrow at skylands.net

Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th

Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing

Recipes"

 

 

Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 20:32:21 -0600

From: pndarvis at execpc.com

Subject: Re: SC - Subing????

 

>Loose the dead goat, and no the juniper berries are for flavor[they help

>cover a gamey taste if the deer has one] and you got a good recipe[though you

>might try throwing in some red currents as well as the pine nuts if you like]

>margali

 

Actually I found that if you have a bit of venison you are worried

about being gamey, we (meaning Kateryn and I) found a Middle Eastern

recipe that is completely period that uses vegetable broth that has a

strong onion base and rosemary for broiling the venison first.  You

then add the braised or broiled chunks with whole beans like large

green beans and stewed tomatos, plus some more of the broth.  we found

simmering the venison with the broth mix added better flavor because of

the meat juices being mixed in.  It got rave reviews, but since I'm the

vegetarian I only tasted the broth.

 

Elisabeth the Terrible

shari burnham

 

 

Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 10:14:40 -0500

From: Haynes <"an1197 at arrownet.com" at mail.arrownet.com>

Subject: Re: SC - venison

 

Micaylah wrote:

> And there may also be venison farms, <snip>

 

There is an Deer Farming Organization that takes their venison

seriously: try this URL:  http://www.nadefa.org/

 

There are links to venison producers.

 

Bill

 

 

Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 09:18:13 -0700

From: Susan Fox-Davis <selene at earthlink.net>

Subject: Re: SC - venison

 

Here in the Barony of Angels, we get New Zealand farm venison from

better butchers.  Available in haunches, chops, chopped for stew and

ground. One of my best 'improve' dishes has been 'Bambi Bourgignon,' a

simple stew of venison, cheap red wine, onions and torn-up rye bread,

those being what I had on hand for thickening.  CHEAP jug wine is

preferred over good drinkable stuff, its acid and tannin content having

a tenderizing effect.

 

> > >It used to be that raising deer, boar, bear, et al for the table was

illegal in the USA.  Why, I have no idea, as we have such a large and

wonderful fish farm program for re-stocking lakes, streams, etc.  Almost

every state has something like that. >>>

 

I don't know why either.  Our local deer, the small mule deer, is said

to be not particularly good eating.

 

Selene

 

 

Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 01:47:04 EST

From: Mordonna22 at aol.com

Subject: Re: SC - Venison

 

wulf at hilconet.com writes:

>       I have an odd request..I need some good medieval recipes for roasts

> of venison. I am not picky about the method of cooking.

 

Not Period, but I do have three ideas:

 

Cover roast in bacon or suet, salt, pepper, parsley, and thyme.  Wrap in

aluminum foil.  Roast over a slow fire.

 

Cut into steaks (1/2 to 3/4 inch thick), hack meat with the open end of a coca

cola bottle or the weapon of your choice until tenderized and about half as

thick. Soak overnight in buttermilk.  Add salt and pepper.  Dredge in plain

flour. Fry in hot oil or lard.

 

Cut into small chunks and grind with an equal amount of beef suet.  Add

seasonings of your choice.  Make patties and grill over an oak or hickory

fire.

 

Mordonna DuBois

Kingdom of Atenveldt

 

 

Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 03:17:44 EST

From: korrin.daardain at juno.com (Korrin S DaArdain)

Subject: Re: SC - Venison

 

On Sun, 15 Nov 1998 19:48:15 +0000 wulf at hilconet.com writes:

>       I have an odd request..I need some good medieval recipes for

>roasts of venison. I am not picky about the method of cooking...it can be on

>spit, or in a conventional oven, but I am getting desperate for some

>variety. This years hunting season is REALLY testing my knowledge of

>game cooking (not that it was very large to begin with lol) and I

>would really appreciate the assistance.

> 

>Lady Elsbeth

>Touen

 

These are the only ones that I have that are medieval.

 

Korrin S. DaArdain

Kitchen Steward of Household Port Karr

Kingdom of An Tir in the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Korrin.DaArdain at Juno.com, (www.geocities.com/NapaValley/Vineyard/1709)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

       Broiled Venison

       The Medieval Cookbook by Maggie Black Chapter 7, “Courtly and

Christmas Feasting” posted by Tiffany Hall-Graham

       The syde of a dere of hie grece. Wesch hem, do hem on a broch.

Scotch hem ovyrtwarte & ayenne crosswyse in the maner of losyngys in the

flesch syde. Rost hym; take redde wyn, poudyr of gynger, poudyr of pepyr

& salt, and bast hit till hit be thorow. Have a chargeour undyrneth &

kepe the fallyng, and bast hit therwith ayene. Then take hit of & smyte

hit as thu lyst & serve hit forth.

       6 x 1-cm/ 1/2-inch-thick slices venison fillet or haunch

       Bacon fat or lard for rubbing

       Pepper sauce for veal or venison to serve

Basting Sauce:

       350 ml/12 fl oz/1 1/2 cups red wine

       3 tablespoons oil

       1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

       1/8 teaspoon Salt and

       1/8 teaspoon Black pepper

Venison fillet was the most prized cut. It might be scored in lozenge

shapes with a knife point or parboiled and larded with salt pork before

being spit-roasted whole. Modern farmed venison, however, seems to be

tenderized better by being marinated. Combine all the basting sauce

ingredients and soak the venison slices in the sauce for at least 2-3

hours; elderly meat will need longer. Pour off the sauce into a jug when

you are ready to cook. Put the meat on a board and pat it dry, then nick

the edges of the slices and rub them all over with the fat. Thread the

slices on skewers or lay them on a greased grill grid. Heat the grill to

medium-high and grill the meat like steak until medium-rare or well done,

as you wish. (For well-done meat, reduce the temperature after searing

both sides and cook slowly.) Baste the meat with the reserved basting

sauce while cooking and turn it once using a fish slice; do not prod it

with a fork. When done, transfer the slices to a warmed serving platter,

and serve at once, with the hot Pepper Sauce in a sauce boat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

       Stekys of Venson or Bef (Cinnamon Beef)

       From Halreian MS 279. Posted by Rudd Rayfield (RuddR at aol.com)

       Take venyson or Bef, & leche & gredyl it vp broun; (th)en take

Vynegre & a litel verious, & a lytil Wyne, & putte pouder perpir

(th)er-on y-now, and pouder Gyngere; & atte (th)e dressoure straw on

pouder Canelle y-now, (th)at (th)e stekys be al y-helid (th)er-wyth, &

but a litel Sawce; & (th)an serue it forth.

       (I substitute apple juice and cider vinegar for verjuice.)

       2 pounds lean venison, beef, veal, or pork steaks

       1 T wine vinegar

       1 T cider vinegar

       3 T unsweetened apple juice

       1/4 C dry wine

       1/4 tsp each black pepper and powdered ginger

       Cinnamon to taste

       Trim the steaks and cut them into thin strips about three inches

long. Cook the meat through in a heavy frying pan, over medium heat, or

in a broiler, or on a griddle or grill. In a bowl, combine the two kinds

of vinegar, apple juice, wine, pepper and ginger. Place the meat on a

serving dish, pour the sauce over it, and sprinkle it with cinnamon

before serving. Serves four to six.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 15:54:51 -0600

From: "Diana Skaggs"<upsxdls at okway.okstate.edu>

Subject: SC - Venison recipe OOP

 

   If the venison came from a young buck or doe, I've chunked or ground

   it and made "Deer Stroganof"

 

   1# venison stew meat

   Flour, salt & pepper

   1 Tbsp vegetable oil

   1 bay leaf

   1 large onion, chopped

   4 oz can mushroom ends & pieces

   2 cups beef stock

   1/4 cup dry red wine

   8 oz carton of sour cream

   Cooked rice or noodles

 

   Make a dredge of flour, salt & pepper.  Heat the oil over medium heat.

   Dredge the venison in the flour mixture and fry in batches until just

   browned.  In the same pan, cook the onion until translucent.  Return

   meat to the pan, add a couple of tablespoons of the dredge to the pan

   and stir until browned.  Add beef stock and red wine.  Stir and cook

   until it begins to thicken and meat is cooked through.  Remove the bay

   leaf.  Add mushroom ends & pieces then sour cream.  Heat, but don't

   boil.  Serve over noodles or rice.

 

 

Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 00:24:47 EST

From: geneviamoas at juno.com

Subject: Re: SC - Venison - OOP cookbook

 

While it does not have Period recipes as such I have a cookbook entitled

_The Complete Venison Cookbook_ by Harold W. Webster, Jr. ISBN

0-937552-70-4 (c)1996 Quail Ridge Press. It is over 400 pgs of recipes

for Venison in all its incarnations and the good stuff that goes with it.

Here is their recipe for (pg 107)

Herbed Venison Round Roast in a Salt Crust.

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup grated onion

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp dried basil leaves

1/2 tsp. dried marjoram leaves

1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 (2 1/2 to 3 lb.) venison round roast

1 (3 lb.) box Morton Coarse Kosher Salt

1 1/4 cups water

 

Combine olive oil, onion, garlic salt, basil leaves,marjoram leaves,

thyme leaves, and black pepper in a heavy 1-gallon plastic bag and mix

well. Add venison roast and marinate in a refridgerate overnight. Line a

roasting pan with aluminum foil. Combine salt and water to make a thick

paste. Pat 1 cup salt paste into a 1/2" thick rectangle in the bottom of

the pan. Pat roast dry and insert a meat thermometer.  Place roast on the

salt layer; pack the remaining salt paste around the meat to well.  Bake

at 275 degrees until meat thermometer reads 140 degrees: 1 1/2 to 2

hours. Steam may cause the salt crust to crack slightly during the

roasting. Remove the roast from the oven; let stand for 10 minutes.

Remove and discard the calt crust.  Serves 8 - 10.

 

Loads of yummy looking recipes and no hunters... Heavy sigh..

Genevia

 

 

Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 06:45:06 -0600

From: vjarmstrong at aristotle.net (Valoise Armstrong)

Subject: Re: SC - Venison

 

Lady Elsbeth wrote:

>       I have an odd request..I need some good medieval recipes for roasts

>of venison. I am not picky about the method of cooking...it can be on

>spit, or in a conventional oven, but I am getting desperate for some

>variety.

 

Not an odd request at all. Here are a couple of venison recipes from Sabina

Welserin. You might also think about mincemeat pies. One of my first SCA

cooking experiences was making mincemeat pies from scratch. IIRC (this was

15 years ago and my memory isn't what it used to be) the recipe called for

moose or some such beast but, those being nonexistent in central Texas, we

substituted beef. Best mincemeat I ever ate. I know I've seen recipes for

game pies in German sources. I don't have time to look them up now, but if

you like, I can do it this evening.

 

Here are Sabina Welser's venison recipes:

 

7   To make a sauce in which to put a haunch of venison

 

   Lard it well and roast it and make a good sauce for it. Take Reinfal and

stir cherry syrup into it, and fry Lebkuchen  in fat and chop good sweet

apples, almonds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, ginger, currants, pepper and

raisins and let it all cook together. When you want to serve it, then pour

the sauce over it. It is also for marinating a boar's head. Then cook it in

two parts water and one third vinegar. The head of a pig is also made in

this manner.

 

167   To make venison sausage

 

   Take the liver and the lungs from a red deer, also good roast meat and

deer fat, bacon, spices, saffron, ginger and mace as well, chop it all

together and cook the sausage in a suitable broth.

 

Valoise

 

 

Subject: venison

Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 11:33:36 -0600

From: "Diana Skaggs"<upsxdls at okway.okstate.edu>

To: <stefan at texas.net>

 

   Stefan, my husband hunts deer every year, with varying luck.  We found

   out years ago that the butcher shops can not or will not process deer

   meat the way we like it.  So, we cut and wrap our own.  In the

   stroganof recipe, I use approx 1 pound of ground or chunked venison

   for 4 servings.

 

   A couple of deer cooking hints (if you don't already know).  Cooking

   bones along with meat will make the resulting dish more gamey tasting.

   I have had better luck with thinly sliced venison cooked quickly.  Of

   course, the age of the deer and what they've eaten also affects the

   flavor.  Marinating the venison in milk or salt water will help remove

   some of the "wild" flavor.

 

   At 3 Kings, I made a venison stew that everyone loved.  OOP, but

   easier than peeling vegetables all day!

 

 

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 22:07:13 EST

From: LrdRas at aol.com

Subject: SC - Elk recipe-OOP

 

Deborah.Schumacher at iac.honeywell.com writes:

<< I had been  hoping That  the esteemed Ras would come forward with

suggestions on the preparation of Elk , but I guess I was wrong.

 

Zoe Valonin the spice trader ( does this make me a medieval spice girl???)

>> 

 

Tsk! Tsk! Oh, ye of little faith! :-) This recipe was intended originally for

venison but the only time I ever had elk given to me I used this recipe and

it was WONDERFUL!!!!!:-) Enjoy.

 

Marinated Elk Roast

 

5 lb elk roast

2 cups Dry red wine

4 ozs Olive oil

2 Bay leaves

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsps Dry mustard

1 tsp Rosemary, crumbled

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Black pepper, coarsely ground

4 slices Bacon

3 T Flour

4 ozs Red currant jelly

 

Place the roast in a deep bowl. Combine the wine, oil, bay leaves, garlic,

mustard, rosemary, salt and papper, and pour over the elk. Cover with foil

and refrigerate two days, turning the meat several times.

 

Preheat oven to 435 deg F. Drain the elk and reserve the marinade. Place the

meat on a rack in a shallow pan and cover with the bacon strips. Roast for 30

mins., basting several times with the reserved marinade, then reduce the heat

to 350 deg F and continue to roast for another 40-60 mins. until interior

temperature reaches 130 deg F (rare), 140 deg F (medium) or higher (well-

done).

 

Put the roast on a serving platter and keep warm. Set the roasting pan on a

burner, add the flour to the pan drippings, and cook until it is browned.

Strain the remaining marinade and stir into the pan, cooking until smooth and

thickened. Add the currant jelly; cook only until the jelly is melted and

blended with the sauce. Carve at the table the way you would a roast of

lamb, with the gravy in a sauceboat.

   - The Fanny Farmer Cookbook (New Edition)

 

 

Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 15:45:46 EST

From: Aldyth at aol.com

Subject: Re: SC - Need venison advice!

 

I have never had good luck with the taste of the broth when I used venison

bones, so by and large I toss them after I butcher.  I do roast the ribs

though, if I have not stripped them down for jerky.  Be careful giving the

bones to your dogs, though.  Venision is higher in protein then they may be

used to, and it can have some nasty consequences to clean up, so to speak.

Make sure you remove all visible fat before you package and freeze, or you

can get the same gamey taste.

 

Aldyth

 

 

Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 20:38:09 -0500

From: "Alderton, Philippa" <phlip at morganco.net>

Subject: Re: SC - Need venison advice!

 

Definitely save those bones and use them for broth! The gamy taste which so

many people object to actually comes from the fat, and while I like it, it

is definitely an acquired taste. If you're not used to it, don't make a

stock without roasting the bones first- roasting helps render more of the

fat away, so the flavor in that direction isn't as strong, and you'll get

more of the browned flavor.

 

If you want to cook venison, remember it's a very lean meat, so you'll have

to add extra fat- pork is the most common. Larding or barding help a lot

with roasts- a ham hock or some fat back or bacon with soups and stews, and

if you grind some up for burger, add some mayonaisse to your burgers or

meatloaf- just add your normal ingredients, and the mayo to bring it up to

the normal texture you'd want for beef burgers or loaves.

 

Woodsy smelling spices are my favorites- I love adding juniper berries,

sage, pepper, rosemary, and like that, though as usual, garlic and hot

pepper always find a place.....

 

Phlip

Philippa Farrour

Caer Frig

Southeastern Ohio

 

 

Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 21:46:07 EST

From: LrdRas at aol.com

Subject: Re: SC - Need venison advice!

 

JGedney at dictaphone.com writes:

<< (I hope you saved some of the innards...

Venison heart, sliced thin, peppered, breaded, lightly fried in oil and then

braised in red wine... yummm) >>

 

The tongue is also good boiled and then sliced and served with blackberry

jelly sauce or currant sauce. The testicles are also good eating if boiled,

skinned and diced then served with a cameline sauce or as an ingredient in

spaghetti sauce.

 

Ras

 

 

Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 08:08:04 EST

From: WOLFMOMSCA at aol.com

Subject: Re: SC - Need venison advice!

 

Take all the bones and leavings and put them in a covered roasting pan with

enough apple cider & scotch to cover.  Roast them at 250 degrees for a long,

long time.  Eventually, you'll end up with some really great juice.  You can

then use this juice to marinade beef.  We did this at a feast once, and we

fooled everyone.  Even the seasoned hunters/venison gourmets thought they

were eating roasted venison, when in actuality it was just roast beef, soaked

in venison juice.  Super stuff.

 

Wolfmother

 

 

Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 22:27:08 EST

From: LrdRas at aol.com

Subject: Re: SC - Need venison advice!

 

The best advice I know of to give to cooks regarding the preparation of

venison is to NOT cook it to death. Cook it just EXACTLY as you would cook

the corresponding beef cut. The longer you cook it the stronger it tastes. If

you cook it like beef it is a wonderful food and LOW in cholesterol for those

who really think such statistics have any real meaning.

 

Ras

 

 

Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 17:52:50 -0500

From: "B. M. Crumb" <kerelsen at ptd.net>

Subject: Re: SC - Meat for 250

 

Steven Cowley wrote:

>

> Well its off to the races for me.  Time for our baronial birthday feast

> and revel.  It also happens to be the investiture for a new baron and

> baroness.  You know the type...King and Queen, all of the baronial

> cousins, etc.

>

> Historically, this has been a potluck event...no worries, just come, eat

> and enjoy.  And, oh by the way bring a period dish that feeds eight

> people.  Result, a potluck feast with quasi period food at best and fun

> was had by all ;-)

>

> Well the new baron wanted a semi prepared feast (i.e. the barony

> provides the meat and the populace brings potluck side dishes).  "I

> signed up for this?  What was I thinking of?"  Well, cooking that much

> meat for that many people isn't a problem, a little bit of beef, poultry

> for those who don't eat red meat and wahlah...dinner is served.

> Everything will be cooked on site, the feast coordinator deals with the

> cleanup and I am left with a dozen dutch ovens to clean (no small task

> in and of itself, but no one touches my dutch ovens).

>

> Now for the dilemma.  The new baron secured about 35 lbs. of venison (a

> donation from a brother-in-law) and all of a sudden its a three meat

> affair, venison, beef and peacock.  Now, I have eaten  venison a time or

> two, but I have never cooked it.  Is venison one of those meats that is

> better if cooked on the rare side like beef or the well done side like

> pork?  Hmm...I guess I could chop it up, throw it all together in a pot

> and make a stew <wicked smile>.

>

> But seriously, any suggestions would be a big help.

>

> Steffan of the Close

 

Being that venison is a game meat, you should avoid rare due to

the possibility of parasites.  We usually do our steaks and

roasts to medium... a bit of pink in the center is fine as long

as you don't have "bloody" juices. Because the meat is so lean,

"well done" is too dry.  

 

If by chance they've given you the tenderloin (it's a pair of

muscles about 8-10 inches long and about an inch and a half to

two inches in diameter, found on either side of the backbone

behind the kidneys when you butcher deer), slice it into scallops

and panfry with butter and a bit of garlic and black pepper...

This is the absolutely most tender cut of venison in existence.

:)

 

If you are going to roast it, be sure to wrap the roasts in fatty

bacon because otherwise the meat will be too dry.  I'm not sure

if it's a period method, but I've found that braising the meat,

and cooking the liquid down to almost nothing, gets you very

tender, moist meat plus a great deglaze to make a sauce. I

usually put the meat on a warm platter and pour in a cup of apple

cider (I'm told wine works well too but I don't do alcohol),

dissolve the pan drippings, bring to a boil, and thicken with

seived breadcrumbs and finely ground almonds.  Season to taste

with salt and pepper.

 

The latter is not taken from any specific period source. I did

the sauce based on some of the saucemaking techniques I've seen

mentioned on this list.  So it's more "peri-iod" rather than

period.

 

Bernadette

 

 

Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 16:47:30 -0500

From: "Alderton, Philippa" <phlip at morganco.net>

Subject: SC - Apicius Venison Sauce Recipes

 

I just typed this in for a friend, and I thought some of you who don't have

Apicius yet might like a copy.

 

Flowers and Rosenbaum , Book VIII, section II

 

1. Ius in Cervum- Sauce for Venison

 

Crush pepper, lovage, caraway, origan, celery-seed, asafoetida root,

fennel-seed; pound well, pour on liquamen, wine, passum, a little oil. When

it comes to the boil thicken with cornflour. Moisten the cooked stag inside

and out, and serve.

 

2. In Platoneum- For Fallow Deer

 

and for every kind of venison you can use the same sauce.

 

3. Aliter- Venison, Another Method

 

Boil the stag, and roast lightly. Pound pepper, lovage, caraway,

celery-seed; add honey, vinegar, liquamen, and oil. When hot thicken with

cornflour and pour over the meat.

 

4. Ius in Cervo- Sauce for Venison.

 

Pepper, lovage, Welsh onion, origan, pine-kernals, Jerico dates, honey,

liquamen, mustard, vinegar, oil.

 

5. Cervinae Conditura- Sauce for Venison

 

Pepper, cumin, herbs, parsley, onion, rue, honey, liquamen, mint, passum,

caroenum, and a little oil. Thicken with cornflour when boiling.

 

6. Iura Ferventia in Cervo- Hot Sauce for Venison

 

Pepper, lovage, parsley, cumin, toasted pine kernals or almonds. Add honey,

vinegar, wine, a little oil, liquamen, and stir.

 

7. Embamma in Cervinum Assam- Sauce for Roast Venison

 

Pepper, spikenard, bay-leaf, celery seed, dried onion, fresh rue, honey,

vinegar, Liquamen: add Jerico dates, raisins, and oil.

 

8. Aliter in Cervum Assum Iura Ferventia- Hot Sauce for Roast Venison,

Another Method

 

Pepper, lovage, parsley, soaked <dried> damsons, wine, honey, vinegar,

liquamen, a little oil. Stir with a bunch of leek and savory.

 

Phlip

 

Philippa Farrour

Caer Frig

Southeastern Ohio

 

 

Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 14:01:45 +1000

From: Lorix <lorix at trump.net.au>

Subject: Re: Subject: Re: SC - How do you know a dish was well liked or hated?

 

<snip>

Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin . From handwritten manuscript, Augsburg, 1553.

ed.. by Hugo Stopp, trans. by Ulrike Giessmann. Heidelberg: Carl Winter

Universitv§tsverlag, 1980.

http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html

 

Wild game marinated in peppersauce (4)

ìBoil fresh game in two parts water and one part wine, and when it is done, then

cut it into pieces and lay it in a peppersauce. Let it simmer a while therein.

Make [the sauce] so: Take rye bread, cut off the hard crust and cut the bread

into pieces, as thick as a finger and as long as the loaf of bread is. Brown it

over the fire, until it begins to blacken on both sides. Put it right away into

cold water. Do not allow it to remain long therein. After that put it into a

kettle, pour into it the broth in which the game was boiled, strain it through a

cloth, finely chop onions and bacon, let it cook together, do not put too little

in the peppersauce, season it well, let it simmer and put vinegar into it, then

you have a good peppersauce.î

 

To make a sauce in which to put a haunch of venison (7)

ìLard it well and roast it and make a good sauce for it. Take Reinfal and stir

cherry syrup into it, and fry Lebkuchen in fat and chop good sweet apples,

almonds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, ginger, currants, pepper and raisins and let

it all cook together. When you want to serve it, then pour the sauce over it. It

is also for marinating a boar's head. Then cook it in two parts water and one

third vinegar. The head of a pig is also made in this manner.î

 

How to cook a wild boar's head, also how to prepare a sauce for it (5)

ìA wild boar's head should be boiled well in water and, when it is done, laid on

a grate and basted with wine, then it will be thought to have been cooked in

wine. Afterwards make a black or yellow sauce with it. First, when you would

make a black sauce, you should heat up a little fat and brown a small spoonful

of wheat flour in the fat and after that put good wine into it and good cherry

syrup, so that it becomes black, and sugar, ginger, pepper, cloves and cinnamon,

grapes, raisins and finely chopped almonds. And taste it, however it seems good

to you, make it so.î

 

 

Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 18:21:06 -0400

From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net>

Subject: Re: SC - Venison recipe request

 

Actually there's a recipe in To the King's Taste...yeah I know, a lot of you

don't like the book, but this is a good recipe...for Roo Broth:

 

Take the lire of the deer other of the roo; parboile it on smale peces. Seeth it

wel, half in water, and half in wyne.  Take brede and bray it with the self

broth, and drawe blode thereto and lat it seeth togedre with powdor-fort of

gynger, other of cannel and macys, with a grete porcionn of vynegar, with

raysons of courannte.

 

Their redaction is:

 

3 Tbsp. bacon fat

1 medium onion, minced

2 # venison, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes

1/4 cup flour\

1 1/2 cups boiling water or beef stock

1 1/2 cups red wine

2 tsp. finely minced fresh ginger or 1 tsp. powdered ginger

1 tbsp. (or more) vinegar

1/2 cup currants

salt

1/2 cup bread crumbs (optional)

fresh deer blood if available

 

1. Melt bacon fat in a large saucepan

2. Saute onion in fat until transparent

3. Dredge venison cubes in flour

4. Brown cubes in skillet, combining them with onions

5. Combine water or stock, wine, ginger, vinegar, currants and salt to taste.

Stir to blend.

6. Pour liquid over meat.

7. Cover and simmer about 2 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.

8. Add bread crumbs to thicken, if desired.

9. If blood is available, remove pot from flame a few minutes before adding it,

as it should not boil.  The blood will thicken and flavor the sauce as well as

darken the color.

 

You could either use their redaction or do your own...your choice!

 

Kiri

 

 

Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 12:23:37 EDT

From: ChannonM at aol.com

Subject: SC - Platina- Venison in Pepper Sauce- KINDA LONG

 

I've been a busy little beaver and was hoping to share with you all my recent

recipe development. I am working with Platina, the Milham version and have

below the original and a potential redaction.

 

I just began the marinade that will sit till tomorrow, in anticipation I

present to you the following;

Hauviette

 

 

Venison with pepper sauce

Pepper sauce-

(P)Make pepper sauce with whatever wild meat you want this way; put in a

large bowl as much dry dark wine as water and wash the meat very well in it,

then strain the liquid and add as much salt as the situation demands. Put the

same liquid in a copper kettle on a fire. When the meat is cooked, take it

out and divide it in dishes. Toast bits of bread on a grill. When  they are

toasted, let soften in vinegar. When they have soaked up enough vinegar,

break them up well with a pound of raisins. The blood of the animal itself

may be suitably added to it, or itís ground up liver, if this can be done.

Then mix this with itís own juice and add a little condesed grape or

condensed must with the vinegar in which you had soaked the bread. Afterwards

pass all this together through a sieve. Put in a pot and sprinkle with

pepper, cloves, and cinnamon as you want; boil in evenly for half an hour

over the coals, stirring rather often with a beater or spoon. Finally, serve

the meat, fried in lard and divided into dishes with the seasoned pepper

sauce to your guests. It nourishes much and usefully, it nurtures the stomach

, and it fattens the body; however, it harms bilious people and makes stone,

more or less according to the composition of the ingredients themselves.

 

- --------

As for this recipe, I haven’t worked it out completely but here’s my

first sketch of how it will go

 

Venison roast, fat removed cut into chunks

deep red wine*

 

Marinate roast in 1.5 cups wine, 1.5 cups water overnight

 

 

Partially cook the venison in the marinade by simmering 10 minutes. Remove

and set aside meat. Then, combine marinade with the following ingredients

that have been blended in a food processor:

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup bread crumbs soaked in 1/2 cup red wine vinegar.

1 pound yellow Thompson raisins

1/2 cup boiled down must (boiled down 2/3 from original volume)

 

Strain the sauce and add pepper (1/2 tsp), cloves (1/4 tsp), and cinnamon

(1/2tsp)

 

Cook over med heat for 20-30 minutes.

 

Fry venison in bacon fat

 

Serve meat with sauce.

 

Wine used;

1996 Masi Campoforiorin Ripasso 13% alcohol

Verona grape varieties, particulary Corvina, using the techniques of

ìappassimentoî (semi drying of the grapes)  and refermentation (submerged cap

method- holding down the skins so that more air can get to the wine and the

yeast in the skins can better react with the wine). Rich, full bodied, round

and velvety,and has an aging potential of 10 to 15 years.

 

This wine is a step down from the wine I had hoped to use, namely an Amarone,

which is even fuller and more velvety, but at $25 bottle it was out of my

price range for cooking. I thought about it, but when I realized that I may

need two bottles, (I am cooking for 30 people as a gift), I made up my mind

to use the Campoforiorin Ripasso

 

The origin of this wine can be traced back to Roman passum (possibly an

etymological origin for Repasso?) through a description of the method used to

creat the wine by  Columella.

He gives two elaborate recipes for the preparation of passum (found in

Flower and Rosenbaum' Apicius)

_Mago gives the following directions how to make the best passum, and I have

made it myself like this. Gather early grapes when they are fully ripe,

removing muldy or damaged berries. Fix in the ground gorks or stakes 4 feet

apart to support reeds and join them together with poles. Then place the

reeds on top and spread your grapes in the sun, covering them a night so they

do not get wet from the dew. Then, when the have dried, pick the berries off

the stalks and put them in a cask or wine-jar and poor the best possible must

over them so that the berries are completely covered. When sturated put them

on the sixth day in a wicker basket and presss them in the wine press and

extract the passum. Next tread the grape-skins, having added freshest must

which you have made from other grapes that were lseft to dry in the sun for

three days. Mix together and put the whole mash through the wine-press , and

this passum of the second pressing put immediately in vessels which you seal

so that it does not become too rough. Then, after 20 or 30 days, when it has

ceased fermenting, strain it into other vessels, seal their lids with gypsum

immediately, and cover with skins.

If you wish to make passum from the ‘bee’ grapes gather the whole grapes,

clear away damged berries  , and throw them out. Then hang them up on poles.

See to it that the poles are always in the sun. As soon as the berries are

sufficiently shrivelled pick them off and put them without stalks in a vessel

and tread them well with your feet. When you have made none layer of them

sprinkle old wine on and tread another layer of grapes over it and sprinkle

this also with wine. Do the same with a third layer and after having added

wine, leave for five days. Then tread with your feet and press the grapes in

a wicker basket. Some people prepare old rain-water for this boiling it down

to a third of its volume , and then when they have made raisinns in the

manner described above, they take the boiled-down rain-water instead of wine,

doing everything else in a manner where there is plenty of wood, and in use

it is even sweeter than the passum described above."

 

 

Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 12:19:12 -0400

From: "Gaylin J. Walli" <gwalli at ptc.com>

Subject: Re: SC - Platina- Venison in Pepper Sauce- KINDA LONG

 

Hauviette wrote in part for her venison redaction:

>Partially cook the venison in the marinade by simmering 10 minutes.

 

and also

 

>Fry venison in bacon fat

 

I would consider carefully watching these cooking times.

Venison cooks VERY fast. Overcooking will detract

from your dish. Not having personally *boiled*

the venison ahead of time, I can say that frying it

will cook it soundly from a bloody raw steak in

less than 4 minutes. Much longer than that and

you have a tough cut or bambi has been out in the

swamps sucking on frogs. :)

 

I have tried recipes similar to this in the past and I've

found that the initial cooking in the marinade was enough

to cook the meat completely. I needed less than half of the

10 minutes and the frying lasted for a matter of seconds.

It could have been the size of the chunks of meat in my case,

but it all cooked VERY fast.

 

jasmine

Iasmin de Cordoba

 

 

Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 16:50:47 EDT

From: ChannonM at aol.com

Subject: SC - Review; Venison in Pepper Sauce

 

I won't repost the recipe but will say these things;

 

1. Cooking time way too long (like Iasmine says), next time I will follow the

recipe (remember the mantra- "put your trust in the recipe, it will not lead

you astray") and not marinade. Will cook only for a few minutes.

 

2. The cut of meat may have been wrong for this process. I had venison

labelled "chops", which may have just been wrong for this recipe. Someone has

kindly offered me some venison roast, which I will be tryiing out next.

 

3. The cubes of meat were too small. I had cut them 1" by 1". I will cut them

to 3X3 next time. Seems like all the flavour was leached out by the boiling.

 

4. Use proper juice for sappa. Since I had not obtained the Valpolicella

must, I was (oh, cooking gods, please forgive me) forced to use (at gunpoint,

I swear) Welch's Concord Grape. It was too sugary, not enough flavour to it

 

5. This recipe was too sweet. Since Platina denotes the amount of raisins to

use, I have to decrease the amount of sappa. This will need to be

re-evaluated once I have the proper type of sappa to compare to the Welch's

swill, I currently have in my refridgerator.

 

6. Spices were kinda insipid. Up the quantities a bit- more cloves

 

7. For the final frying of venison, have lots of pork fat rendered so that

the meat can absorb some. Do not fry on as high heat. The crunchy portions

did not compliment the consistency of the sauce.

 

Next trial, I'll repost the results. If at first you don't

succeed........feed it to your dog

 

Hauviette

 

 

From: "Weems, Lora" <Lora.Weems at ssa.gov>

To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 10:33:59 -0600

Subject: [Sca-cooks] RE: Sca-cooks digest, deer recipes

 

Food content: Took my first deer this Monday. I'd love to see some good

venison recipes.

 

Grif

 

Try this favorite of my family:

 

take the backstap (loin) and remove the silverskin (the sinew along the

outside of the long muscle).  (If you know anyone who does black-powder

re-enactments or buckskinning, they would love you if you gave it to them)

 

Butterfly the backstap, and fold it out until you have a piece of meat

that is about 3/4" to 1" thick. (You can use a meat hammer or bottom of

a heavy pot or skillet)

 

Marinade overnight or longer in the fridge:

port wine

ginger

garlic, mashed

sage

any other spices you are fond of that aren't too salty

a little liquid smoke

(If you have a vacuum sealer, you can vacuum marinade it, that is faster)

 

Take 1 part each brown and wild rice, and cook it half done.

You can use stock if you have it, water works ok. You

can add mushrooms and/or nuts, if you want (pecans or walnuts)

(and, if you don't mind cheating, or are in a hurry,

use Uncle Bens', they have some really tasty seasoned rice mixes)

 

Remove the meat from the marinade, and reserve the liquid.

Spread the rice over the meat, and tie as you would a

rolled roast.  Place in a roasting pan on a rack.

Cover the roast with fatty bacon (Or, if you can get it

from the butcher, a sheet of beef fat).

 

Cook, covered with foil, at low temp (250 F or so) until the

rice is done.  This usually takes about an hour or an hour

and a half.  Then, uncover and put under the broiler to crisp

the bacon.

 

For the sauce, take the reserved marinade and add an equal amount

of stock or water.  Season to taste, and reduce to however

thick you want it.

 

Slice the roast, and serve with the sauce.  This is a Christmas

favorite, and works well with deer, elk, moose and caribou.

 

Leofwynn

 

 

Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 16:31:54 -0800 (PST)

From: Tomasia <taelyne at yahoo.com>

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Venison Stock

To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

 

According to "Food in England" by Dorothy Hartley To

make a proper stock put the bones and trimmings of

venison to boil with some shallot, and a small piece of

nutmeg or mace.

 

This is what I did this year with our venison when we

processed it. I put it in a roaster covered with water

and used nutmeg because I had no whole mace. I

simmered it at 250 for about 24 hours. Then strained

it. I froze some of the stock in ice cube trays and

then measured out half cup to cup portions and froze

it.

 

The ice cubes are used when making pastry for say

shepherds or meat pies for a really good added flavor

to pastry. I use the larger portions when making

things like stroganoff or venison tips instead of

using beef base. Really adds good flavor to venison

dishes since venison can be dry.

 

Tomasia da Collivento

 

 

Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:46:36 -0400

From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Game sources (bunny, venison) question

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

On Oct 12, 2007, at 3:37 PM, Michael Gunter wrote:

> I'd love to budget even small venison chops over frummenty with

> powdre forte. But that's a dream right now.

 

If it ever becomes an issue, Denver legs (basically top and bottom

rounds, completely trimmed of all fat and connective tissue) are da

bomb. Slice and pound as cutlets, you can serve a small amount cooked

medium rare, and when there's almost no waste, not even to shrinkage

in cooking, that price tends to look a _lot_ more attractive...

 

Adamantius

 

 

Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:43:14 -0500

From: Michael Gunter <countgunthar at hotmail.com>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A question about venison

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

<<< I've been given some venison steaks, and am

seeking suggestions of how to season and

cook them. Does anyone have a favorite way

of preparing them?

 

Talana >>>

 

I love venison as minute steaks. A quick pounding

with a meat mallet and dredged in seasoned flour

then pan fried. Make sure to use the dripping for

gravy!

 

Here is what I served at the Central Regional 12th

Night to rave reviews. I even made a version of this

recipe with firm tofu for the non-Bambi eaters.

 

Basic Marinade Ingredients

1 bottle of Burgundy or red wine

1 large peeled and finely chopped white onion

4 dessertspoons of dark brown Muscovado sugar

2 tablespoons of 'extra virgin' olive oil

2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

2 large finely chopped carrots1 sprig of fresh Rosemary

1 sprig of fresh Thyme

1 sprig of Parsley

6 large bay leaves

6-10 whole peppercorns

3 large whole cloves of garlic (crushed)

 

Method

Sweat the vegetables in the oil then pour in the Burgundy. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring slowly to the boil.

 

Simmer for twenty minutes and then leave to cool.

 

When absolutely cold, place the venison in a pot and baste thoroughly with the marinade. Cover with tinfoil place in the bottom of a fridge and leave to marinate for as long as possible (2 days is good). Remember turn the meat before you go to bed and turn it again when you get up in the morning.

 

When you are ready to cook remove the venison from the marinade and let it drip dry, saving the marinade to make gravy. Don't forget to strain it to remove surplus solids.

 

Roast the venison until it matches your requirements. We tend to like it cooked medium rare.

 

Make your gravy in the roasting pan using the meat juices and strained marinade to provide additional taste.

 

Gunthar

 

 

Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:46:17 -0400

From: rattkitten <rattkitten at bellsouth.net>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A question about venison

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

Ok now you are going to get a ton of suggestions... but I simply treated

mine like steaks and marinated them in Balsamic Vinegar overnight.  Then

cooked them to Medium Rare (I was being cautious since it was wild game

meat...) ((Usually I eat it straight off of said animal...))

You will also hear about soaking the steaks in Buttermilk to remove the

"gamy taste" but I mean hey it is what eating the damn meat in the first

place is about right? Getting the flavor of the meat!!!!

I have also marinated them in Bourbon.

Both times the meat was delicious.

 

Nichola

 

Jennifer Carlson wrote:

<<< I've been given some venison steaks, and am seeking suggestions of how to season and cook them.  Does anyone have a favorite way of preparing them?  

 

Talana >>>

 

 

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:15:09 -0400

From: euriol <euriol at ptd.net>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison Recipes Wanted

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

Here is one I have cooked for a couple of feasts with good results:

 

Original Recipe taken from Libro de Arte Coquinaria, by Maestro Martino,

written about the middle of the fifteenth century.

 

Per Fare Civero de Salvaticina - Civet of Venison

Per fare civero de salvaticina in prima coci la carne in aqua miscolaa con

altrectanto aceto, et come ? cotta cavala fori del brodo, azio che se

sciucchi. Asciutta che serr? frigila in bono lardo; et volendo fare duo

piatelli del dicto civero, togli una libra de uva passa, et mezza libra de

amandole senza mondarle, et pista bene queste chose. Dapoi togli una libra

de pane tagliato in fette, et siccato al foco, ma non troppo bruscolato, et

ponilo a mollo in uno poco de vino roscio, et pisalo con le predicte chose,

poi distemperale col brodo de la dicta carne, et passale per la stamigna in

una pignatta, et ponila su la brascia longi dal foco, facendola ben bollire

per spazio de meza hora; dapoi vi metti zenzevro, et cannela assai, che sia

dolce o forte secundo el commune gusto, o del tuo Signore. Dapoi tolli una

cipolla, et cocila in una pignatta et macinala molto bene, et ponila

insieme col lardo, nel quel ? cocta; et metti ogni cohsa in la ignatta ne

la qual sono le chose predicte, lassandola bollire anchora un poco pi?;

poi fa li piaelli de la prefata crne, et de sopra gli metti de questo

civero, et mandali a tabula.

 

English Translation:

The Art of Cooking (pg 51-52)

To make a game-meat civet, first cook the meat in water mixed with an equal

amount of vinegar, and when it is cooked take it out of the broth so it can

dry. When it is dry, fry it in good pork fat; and if you want to make two

plates of his civet, take a libra of raisins and half a libra of almonds

without skinning them and crush these things well. Then take a libra of

bread cut into slices and dried at the fire, but not too burnt, put it to

soak in a little red wine, and mash it with those things, then thin it with

broth from the meat, and put it through a sieve into a pot, and put it over

the embers, far from the fire, and let it boil well for a half hour; then

add plenty of ginger and cinnamon so that it be mild or strong according to

the collective taste, or to the taste of your master. Then take an onion

and cook it in a pot and mash it well; mix it with the pork fat in which it

was cooked and add it all to the pot containing the aforementioned things,

letting it boil a little longer; then serve out that meat, and over it put

some of this civet, and send it to table.

 

My Interpretation:

 

Ingredients

 

2 pound Venison

1 cup Water

1 cup Vinegar

3 tablespoon Olive oil

1/2 cup Raisins

1/2 cup Almonds

3 tablespoon Bread crumbs

3/4 cup Wine red

1/2 teaspoon Ginger ground

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon ground

 

Instructions

 

Simmer meat in water and vinegar for 1? - 2 hours. Remove meat from broth

and let dry. Braise meat in Olive Oil. Grind raisins and almonds together

and put in pot with meat, bread crumbs, wine and spices. Cook onion in pan

in which meat was braised until translucent and add to pot. Let cook a few

more minutes and then serve.

 

Euriol

 

 

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:50:36 +0200

From: " Ana Vald?s " <agora158 at gmail.com>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison Recipes Wanted

To: euriol at ptd.net, "Cooks within the SCA"

        <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

I cook often venison since we have a lot of game in Sweden. A couple of

friends are good hunters and provide me with good venison, deer, elk,

reindeer.

 

We usually cook it with honey, dark ale (porter) and mustard and it tastes

just wonderful. You can also make a marinade with mustard and honey as well.

We serve it with chantarelles and lingonberries.

 

Ana

 

 

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:24:39 -0500

From: Michael Gunter <countgunthar at hotmail.com>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison Recipes Wanted

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

This isn't exactly period but I did use this

recipe for my 12th Night Feast and got

rave reviews:

 

Venison (modern marinade)

Basic Marinade

 

Ingredients

1 bottle of Burgundy or red wine

1 large peeled and finely chopped white onion

4 desert spoons of dark brown Muscovado sugar

2 tablespoons of 'extra virgin' olive oil

2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

2 large finely chopped carrots

1 sprig of fresh Rosemary

1 sprig of fresh Thyme1 sprig of Parsley

6 large bay leaves

6-10 whole peppercorns

3 large whole cloves of garlic (crushed)

 

Method

 

- Sweat the vegetables in the oil then pour in the Burgundy. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring slowly to the boil.

- Simmer for twenty minutes and then leave to cool.

- When absolutely cold, place the venison in a pot and baste thoroughly with the marinade. Cover with tinfoil place in the bottom of a fridge and leave to marinate for as long as possible (2 days is good). Remember turn the meat before you go to bed and turn it again when you get up in the morning.

- When you are ready to cook remove the venison from the marinade and let it drip dry, saving the marinade to make gravy. Don?t forget to strain it to remove surplus solids.

- Roast the venison until it matches your requirements. We tend to like it cooked medium rare.

- Make your gravy in the roasting pan using the meat juices and strained marinade to provide additional taste.

 

One thing to remember is don't overcook the venison.

It is so lean it gets dry easily.

 

Gunthar

 

 

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:37:07 -0500

From: Michael Gunter <countgunthar at hotmail.com>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison Recipes Wanted

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

<<< I just might have to try this with beef! I

never get my hands on venison - my cousins all prefer theirs ground,

or as summer sausage. And, it's not quite deer season in MI yet

(unless bow season has started...)

 

Ilsebet >>>

 

It should do fine with beef. I also provided this

with a firm, broiled tofu for non-bambi eaters

and it was very good.

 

Gunthar

 

 

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:17:27 -0400

From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison Recipes Wanted

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

Barbara Benson wrote:

<<< I have had a request from a cook that I mentor for suggestions for

tasty, period, venison recipes. I have absolutely no experience

cooking Bambi so I told her I would pass her request on to this august

list.

 

Serena da Riva >>>

 

Recipes for period dishes involving venison can be located through

www.medievalcookery.com of course.

 

If she needs some suggestions on how to handle venison in general

maybe she should check out  Nichola Fletcher's Ultimate Venison Cookery

by Nichola Fletcher.

 

She's the author of Charlemagne's Tablecloth.

http://www.nicholafletcher.com/food_writer.html

 

I always suggest that people check out Cabela's for game cookery books.

http://www.cabelas.com/home.jsp;jsessionid=20ZCY41AV3NT1LAQBBJSCNNMCAEFIIWE?_requestid=111822

 

If I had wanted one, I could have struck one or two bambi's crossing the

street in town on Tuesday at 9 am.

There were eight of them in the mini herd. (stupid rats on hooves)

 

Johnnae

 

 

Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 10:40:08 -0400

From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Gervase Markham and "faux venison"

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

On May 27, 2009, at 9:55 AM, Vandy J. Simpson wrote:

<<< I'm working on a menu for a late-period feast. One of the books I'd  

been reading, Tudor Food and Cookery, mentions that "Gervase Markham  

suggested that by marinating beef or ram-mutton in vinegar, beer and  

turnsole (a bluish colourant) you could produce counterfeit venison  

for a pie!" >>>

 

"111. Of baking red deer, or fallow, or anything to be kept cold.

 

"When you bake red deer, you shall first parboil it and take out the  

bones, then you shall if it be lean lard it, if fat save the charge,  

then put it into a press to squeeze out the blood; then for a night  

lay it in a mere sauce made of vinegar, small drink, and salt, and  

then taking it forth season it well with pepper finely beaten, and  

salt, well mixed together, and see that you good store thereof, both  

upon and in every open and hollow place of the venison; but by no  

means cut any slashes to put in the pepper, for it will of itself sink  

fast enough into the flesh, and be more pleasant in the eating: then  

having raised the coffin, lay in the bottom a thick course of butter,  

then lay the flash thereon and cover it all over with butter, and so  

bake it as much as if you did bake great brown bread; then when you  

have draw it, melt more butter, with three or four spoonful of  

vinegar, and twice so much claret wine, and at a vent hole on the top  

of the lid pour in the same till it can receive no more, and so let it  

stand and cool; and in this sort you may bake fallow deer, or swan, or  

whatever else you may please to keep cold, the mere sauce only being  

left out which is only proper to red deer.

 

"112. To bake beef, or mutton for venison.

 

"And if to your mere sauce you add a little turnsole, and therein  

steep beef, or ram mutton; you may also in this manner take the first  

for red deer venison, and the latter for fallow, and a very good  

judgement shall not be able to say otherwise than that it is of itself  

perfect venison, both in taste colour, and the manner of cutting."

 

               --Gervase Markham, "The English Housewife", ed. Michael R. Best,  

1986 McGill University Press

 

It appears to me that what's happening here is that venison is being  

marinated [hence "mere sauce"] overnight before being baked in a crust  

in an otherwise pretty straightforward manner. Markham is presumably  

advocating adding a little bluish coloring to the marinade to enhance  

the purple-red shade of the meat and create the illusion of venison.

 

I have no idea what that would do to the flavor, but with plenty of  

pepper, wine, salt, vinegar, and a ton of butter, one never knows.  

Texturally, my own experience is that  one long-baked red meat in a  

pie and served cold, is very much like another, with a dense and  

almost waxy mouth feel. Season any two alike, and there'll be some  

similarities. Season any two and color one to resemble the other, and,  

well, it'll resemble it to some extent.

 

Adamantius

 

 

Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 07:59:55 -0700

From: edoard at medievalcookery.com

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Gervase Markham and "faux venison"

To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

-------- Original Message --------

From: "Vandy J. Simpson"

 

<<< I'm working on a menu for a late-period feast. One of the books I'd been reading, Tudor Food and Cookery, mentions that "Gervase Markham suggested that by marinating beef or ram-mutton in vinegar, beer and turnsole (a bluish colourant) you could produce counterfeit venison for a pie!"

 

I'm thinking this may have been something they culled from one of their commentary sources, since I don't see Markham listed in the bibliography. (It's an old faded photocopy...) I *feel* like I've seen something like this somewhere else, but maybe I'm just convincing myself I have.

I've poked through what I can find of Gervase Markham on line, Kirrily Robert's website, but I'm not seeing a recipe that seems to relate to this.

 

Does anyone out there have any further suggestions? Sources? Memories? I've reached the point where I've read and re-read so many things, my eyes are crossed! >>>

 

This appears to be a popular trick.  In addition the recipe from

Markham's that Adamantius posted, there are three in Menagier:

 

And if you wish to make a piece of beef taste like venison of deer or

bear, if you are in bear country, take numble or leg of beef, then

parboil and lard it, spit and roast; and let it be eaten with (a sauce

of) wild boar's tail. Let the beef be parboiled, then lard it along its

length and cut into portions, and then put the hot boar's tail (sauce)

in a dish over your beef which first is roasted or boiled in boiling

water and taken out soon, for this is more tender than deer.  [Le

Menagier de Paris]

 

BEEF Like BEAR VENISON. A leg of beef. Do it in a black sauce of ginger,

clove, long and grain pepper, etc. And put in each bowl, two pieces, and

it will taste like bear.  [Le Menagier de Paris]

 

To Counterfeit Bear Venison from a Piece of Beef. Take flank, and let it

be chopped in large chunks as for loin stew, then parboil, lard and

roast: and then boil a boar's tail, and let your meat boil a little, and

throw sauce and all in a dish.  [Le Menagier de Paris]

 

- Doc

 

 

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:25:33 -0400

From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison, baked or roasted

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

On Aug 20, 2009, at 1:38 AM, Alex Clark wrote:

<<< I have a few questions about the recipe "To bake venison" in the new

TI. Unfortunately, for such a short recipe a few questions put  

almost everything into question. >>>

 

I didn't see the article. Does this assume a period recipe in which  

venison is baked in a pan in the oven? If so, that would seem pretty  

unlikely.

 

<<< Firstly, in its original context the recipe is between recipes for  

pie and roast venison. >>>

 

Given that there aren't a while lot of detailed instructions for  

roasting meats, this could still be interesting.

 

<<< The recipes in general are not well sorted, so I would certainly not  

suppose just from this that the baked venison has something to do  

with pie, but it is clear that a distinction is being made between  

baking and roasting. It is my understanding that the usual way to  

bake would have been in a crust, and not in what modern people call  

a roasting pan. Perhaps that is why the pan is still said to be for  

roasting, even though it is used in an oven? >>>

 

Yes. And probably why we roast beef but bake ham. We're simply  

omitting the pastry in the latter.

 

<<< In addition, there are references to venison pasties at least since  

the 15th century. Might this baked venison have been otherwise known  

as a pasty? >>>

 

Yes. Very generally, a pasty is used as part of another cooking  

process (see some of Taillevent's fish dishes), or is otherwise  

consumed fairly quickly; pies could be used for longer storage, the  

air spaces filled originally with a custardy wine sauce (which would  

be acid and exclude air), later with butter, and still later with wine  

or stock-based jelly.

 

<<< Finally, the original recipe says "if the Venison be lene lard it  

through with bakon." The modern interpretation calls for the bacon  

to be laid on top, but doesn't "lard it through" mean to thread  

lardons through the meat? >>>

 

Yes. Fat laid on top is generally known as barding, and AFAIK, doesn't  

turn up much or perhaps at all in the English medieval/renaissance  

corpus. Larding, on the other hand, is stuck into the meat. At least  

one of the early texts goes to the trouble of distinguishing between  

larding with fat and studding with cloves or slivers of ginger.

 

Speaking very generally, with few exceptions, when a period recipe in  

English speaks of baking, it's some kind of pie, or else something  

that has evolved from a pie, like the pasties in a pot that appear in  

some of the French sources, or the modern baked ham.

 

Adamantius

 

 

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:55:36 -0400

From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison, baked or roasted

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

 

Alex Clark wrote:

<<< I have a few questions about the recipe "To bake venison" in the new

TI. Unfortunately, for such a short recipe a few questions put almost

everything into question.

 

Firstly, in its original context the recipe is between recipes for pie

and roast venison. The recipes in general are not well sorted, so I

would certainly not suppose just from this that the baked venison has

something to do with pie, but it is clear that a distinction is being

made between baking and roasting. It is my understanding that the

usual way to bake would have been in a crust, and not in what modern

people call a roasting pan. Perhaps that is why the pan is still said

to be for roasting, even though it is used in an oven? >>>

 

For people who don't have TI or have a copy at hand of

 

   A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye,

the recipes for those two in the 1575 edition are as follows:

 

To bake Venison.

Take nothinge but Pepper and

salte, but lette it have ynoughe, and if

the Venyson be leane, Larde it through

with baken.

 

To roste Venison.

Rosted Venison must have Veniger suger,

and Cinnamom, and butter boyled

upon a chafingdish with coles, but the

sauce may not be to tarte, and then lay

the Venison upon the sauce.

 

(from medievalcookery.com)

 

Or in the Frere edition, as per Thomas Gloning they are

 

 

   To make Pyes

 

Pyes of mutton or beif must be fyne

mynced and ceasoned wyth pepper and salte,

and a lyttle saffron to coloure it, suet or

marrow a good quantite, a lyttle vyneger,

prumes, greate raysins and dates, take the

fattest of the broathe of powdred beyfe, and

yf you wyll have paest royall, take butter

and yolkes of egges and so tempre the flowre

to make the paeste.

 

 

   ?. To bake Veneson.

 

Take nothynge but pepper and salte, but

lette it haue ynoughe, and yf the Veneson be

leane, larde it throughe wyth bacon.

 

 

   ?. To Rooste Veneson.

 

Roosted Veneson must have vyneger,

Suger and Cinomome and butter boyled upon a

chafing dyshe with cooles, but the sauce maye

not bee to tarte, and then laye the Veneson

upon the sauce.

 

----

My impression is that "To bake Veneson" is related to the preceding

recipe "To make Pyes". Mutton and beef are covered

in that recipe. Oh, we should also mention venison, so we'll just put in

a note about using venison.

 

The next recipe "To Rooste Veneson" mentions the usual way that we would

handle venison. There we have taken care of venison.

By the way, "Baken Veneson" appears as a dish in the second course of a

Flesh Day dinner and again at a supper..

 

---

Now let me play librarian and bibliographer.

I have done quite a bit of work with these early English printed

cookbooks and this one is of course quite interesting.

We have 4 editions of A Proper New Booke of Cokerye-- the 1545, the

undated circa 1557 one, the 1575, and the 1576. There is ONE surviving copy

of each. We can estimate that there at least 2000 printed copies of

these 4 editions and perhaps as many as 4000 were printed.

Out of all those copies, 4 survive.

What we don't have for this book is any sort of an original manuscript

or copybook or even a reason why suddenly in 1545

the book appears and then reappears.

----

 

<<< In addition, there are references to venison pasties at least since

the 15th century. Might this baked venison have been otherwise known

as a pasty? >>>

 

There are of course other earlier baked venison recipes in English

manuscripts.

From Harl 279

.xix. Venyson y-bake.?Take hog?es of Venyson?, & parboyle hem in fayre

Water an Salt; & whan ?e Fleyssche is fayre y-boylid, make fayre past, &

cast ?in Venyson ?er-on; & caste a-boue an be-ne?e, pouder Pepir,

Gyngere, & Salt, & ?an sette it on? ?e ouyn, & lat bake, & serue forth.

 

from Har 4016

Venyson? ybake. ? Take hanches of Venyson?, parboile it in faire water

and salt; ?en? take faire paast, and ley there-on? ?e Venyson? y-cutte

in pieces as ?ou wolt have it, and cast vnder hit, and aboue hit, powder

of ginger, or peper and salt medylde togidre, And sette hem in An?

oven?, and lete hem bake til ?ey be ynog?.

 

Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), &

Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS.

553, & Douce MS. 55

Thomas Austin.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cme;cc=cme;rgn=main;view=text;idno=CookBk

 

Not everything has to be a pasty.

 

<<< Finally, the original recipe says "if the Venison be lene lard it

through with bakon." The modern interpretation calls for the bacon to

be laid on top, but doesn't "lard it through" mean to thread lardons

through the meat? >>>

 

Yes, of course it should be larded through using a larding needle, but

my guess is that Master Hogge opted for simple.

(Of course the recipe also fails to note at what temperature or for how

long or to what internal temperature the venison

should be roasted for serving today. I would mention that these recipes

were submitted off his website. )

 

Johnnae llyn Lewis

 

 

Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:30:04 -0400

From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Venison article

 

Readers might like to know that the regional newsletter for

Pentamere has been posted online as a .pdf

http://www.midrealm.org/pentamere/

It contains an article on deer and venison with a number of recipes.

 

Hope you enjoy it

 

Johnnae

 

 

Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 16:34:57 -0700

From: lilinah at earthlink.net

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Venison, not necessarily deer meat?

 

While tracking down those suggestions by Thorvald

for potential Cameline-type recipes in Lancelot

de Casteau, i came upon this recipe (note i am

reading the French and translating myself)

 

Original

Pour heuspot de venaison, soit de sanglier ou de

cerf, prennez pain brusl?, & faictes poiure

passer l'estamine, & mettez dedans noix muscade,

poiure, claussons & pouldre, succre, canelle, vin

rouge, deux ou trois oignons haschez menus,

fricassez en beurre, & faictes les bien bouillir

ensemble tant qu'il soit luysant.

 

My Poor Translation

"For hochepot of venison, either of boar or of

red deer, take toasted bread, & pass pepper

through a sieve [although i wonder if one isn't

supposed to sieve the toasted bread into crumbs],

& put in nutmeg, pepper, "claussons" [i am not

finding this... clausson is a small pastry,

unlikely; or clous = cloves] & powder [probably

poudre fine], sugar, cinnamon, red wine, 2 or 3

onions finely chopped, fry in butter, & boil them

well together so that it is glistening."

 

 

It seemed odd to me that venison was either boar

or red deer, since i think of venison as meat of

a not specified species of deer.

 

So i checked a French dictionary, which said that

"venaison" was (my translation) "flesh of large

"gibier", such as red deer, fallow deer, roe

deer, boar." Looking up "gibier" it said (my

translation) "edible wild animals that one takes

in the hunt", and "the meat coming from such

animals".

 

This made me curious...

 

Granted Casteau wrote his cookbook around 1585,

although it was not published until 1604, so it

is rather late. But i began to wonder: does

"venison" or spelling variations of it in

SCA-period English cookbooks merely mean some

sort of more or less generic "deer" meat, as i

think most Americans assume, or does it really

signify what the French does - meat from any of

several large game animals?

--

Urtatim [that's err-tah-TEEM]

the persona formerly known as Anahita

 

 

Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 19:44:49 -0400

From: Saint Phlip <phlip at 99main.com>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison, not necessarily deer meat?

 

Actually, venison as large animal meat is known to most serious

hunters, because it crops  up in various hunting manuals, but

generally, since most large animals available to hunt are deer and

related species, it tends to be thought of as  specific to deer

meat, similar to the way "corn" tends to refer specifically to maize

here in the US.

 

On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 7:34 PM,  <lilinah at earthlink.net> wrote:

<<< Granted Casteau wrote his cookbook around 1585, although it was not

published until 1604, so it is rather late. But i began to wonder: does

"venison" or spelling variations of it in SCA-period English cookbooks

merely mean some sort of more or less generic "deer" meat, as i think most

Americans assume, or does it really signify what the French does - meat from

any of several large game animals?

--

Urtatim [that's err-tah-TEEM] >>>

--

Saint Phlip

 

 

Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 18:48:30 -0500

From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>

To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison, not necessarily deer meat?

 

Middle English "veneson" derives from the Latin "venetio" (hunting) via Old

French. In its archaic form, it refers to the meat of any game animal being

used as food.  The limitation to deer meat is a more modern definition.

 

Bear

 

 

Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 18:01:22 -0600

From: James Prescott <prescotj at telusplanet.net>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison, not necessarily deer meat?

 

One source suggests: "stag (of the European red deer), doe (of the

European red deer), fallow deer, roe deer or hare".  Also, boar is

included. So yes, the meaning of venison to the French is, I think,

fairly inclusive.

 

Thorvald

 

 

Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 20:48:05 -0400

From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison, not necessarily deer meat?

 

I did an article on Venison in 2009 for the regional newsletter.

My opening paragraph was:

 

"In this region of Pentamere where white tailed deer abound, it may  

come as a shock to learn that in the medieval period, venison wasn?t  

always the flesh of a deer. In fact venison might have been the flesh  

of any game animal killed by hunting or through the chase. Venison  

might extend to the flesh of a boar, a bear, a hare or rabbit, as well  

as the flesh of a deer. As late as 1672, Josselyn?s New England?s  

Rarities would record ?Bears are very fat in the fall of the leaf, at  

which time they are excellent venison.? In Scotland venison could even  

refer to the flesh of a goat, although that meaning is listed as  

archaic and rare."

from Venison. Contributed by Johnnae llyn Lewis, CE which appeared in  

the Gauntlet, October-December, 2009.

 

Johnnae

 

 

Date: Fri, 20 May 2011 22:03:23 -0700

From: lilinah at earthlink.net

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject: [Sca-cooks] What is "claussons"?

 

I had some questions on this recipe from Lancelot de Casteau:

 

Original

Pour heuspot de venaison, soit de sanglier ou de

cerf, prennez pain brusl?, & faictes poiure

passer l'estamine, & mettez dedans noix muscade,

poiure, claussons & pouldre, succre, canelle, vin

rouge, deux ou trois oignons haschez menus,

fricassez en beurre, & faictes les bien bouillir

ensemble tant qu'il soit luysant.

 

My Poor Translation

For hochepot of venison, either of boar or of red

deer, take toasted bread, & pass pepper through a

sieve [although i wonder if one isn't supposed to

sieve the toasted bread into crumbs], & put in

nutmeg, pepper, "claussons" [i am not finding

this... clausson is a small pastry, unlikely; or

clous = cloves] & powder [probably poudre fine],

sugar, cinnamon, red wine, 2 or 3 onions finely

chopped, fry in butter, & boil them well together

until it is glistening.

 

I looked in a 1611 French-English Dictionary for

"claussons" and couldn't find it. So my question

is, what is it?

--

Urtatim [that's err-tah-TEEM]

the persona formerly known as Anahita

 

 

Date: Sat, 21 May 2011 00:39:51 -0600

From: James Prescott <prescotj at telusplanet.net>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] What is "claussons"?

 

Indeed, cloves.

 

Thorvald

 

-----------------

At 10:16 PM -0700 5/20/11, wheezul at canby.com wrote:

Looks like clove:

 

http://books.google.fr/books?id=QVMpAQAAIAAJ&;q=clousson&dq=clousson&hl=fr

 

Katherine in An Tir

 

<<< I had some questions on this recipe from Lancelot de Casteau:

I looked in a 1611 French-English Dictionary for

"claussons" and couldn't find it. So my question is, what is it? >>>

--

Urtatim [that's err-tah-TEEM]

the persona formerly known as Anahita

 

 

Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2012 15:02:24 -0500

From: Sharon Palmer <ranvaig at columbus.rr.com>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison . . .

 

<<< I have acquired 5 lbs of venison "pieces".

Any ideas for seasoning and/or sides? >>>

 

From Rumpolt

Hirsch 22.  Take the venison roast from the back/ and cut it not

completely too thin/ as thick as a knife back/ salt and pepper it on

both sides/ lay it on a grill/ and roast it swiftly away/ baste with

finely chopped bacon/ and when you dress it/ then pour a nice brown

broth over it/ and pepper it well/ since the venison must be well

peppered/ Or take a semmel (soft white roll)/ and hollow it out/

hold against the fire/ that it dries out/ baste with a beef fat/ and

when it is dry from the fire/ then lay the carbonada (the grilled

meat) in the hollowed out weck bread/ cover it with the cover/ that

you have cut from the bread/ dress it in a dish/ and cover with

another/ that it comes warm to a table/ then it is a good thick soup/

is meat and bread together/ you might eat from one as well as from

the other.

 

Hirsch 23.  Take the back roast from the meat/ slice it thin and

long/ beat it with the back of a knife/ and chop beef fat small/ with

green well tasting herbs/ sprinkle pepper/ salt/ and a little caraway

over it/ wrap the meat over each other/ together with the fat/ stick

it on a bird spit.  However if there is fat left over/ then lay the

spit with the fat on a board/ and spread the fat over the hattele

(meat rolls)/ that it stays hanging on it/ lay it to the fire/ and

roast it/ then it is made nicely clever?? / while it is also fat

inside. Because it has one not always the time/ that he bastes it/

and one must roast such a roast only in the juice/  When it is

roasted/ then give it dry on a table/ or with a brown broth/ while it

is warm/ like this the pepper emphasizes?? the salt.

 

Hirsch 27.  Roast made with lemon/ or braised with juniper/ lemon and

onions chopped together/ and let simmer with it/ mixed with spices/

pepper/ and a little saffron/ that is nicely sour.

 

Ranvaig

 

 

Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2012 12:47:08 -0500

From: Alexander Clark <alexbclark at pennswoods.net>

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Venison . . .

 

On Thu, 8 Mar 2012 19:16:24 -0500, I <alexbclark at pennswoods.net> wrote:

<<< If you cut tenderloin steaks, then you could grill Stekys of venyson

from Harleian MS 279 and Austin:

. . . >>>

 

P. S. I understand that the quality of venison steak is likely to

decline rapidly if it gets past medium, and especially if it goes all

the way to "well" done. Cook them fast, watch them like a hawk, and

take them off just as soon as they're ready, and they should be good.

 

Medium rare might be a better plan than medium, since venison is not

notorious for things that live in the meat. (Its main problem is

things that live on the skin.)

--

Henry/Alex

 

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