NICHOLA FLETCHER'S ROAST HAUNCH OF VENISON WITH ROWAN AND RHUBARB SAUCE 

Use either rolled haunch or a bone-in one. You can cook this pink or cook it slowly till well-done.  The shape of a joint on the bone is always nice, but when being served pink, I think the bones don't have all that much time to do much, especially when it is a small joint.  

This sauce is really delicious. Early rhubarb is coming into the shops now. Outdoor rhubarb has better flavour, but the paler indoor rhubarb is sweeter, so adjust the final flavour to suit. As long as you don't all clamour at once, we should have enough stock bones to make the stock, just ask.

 Ingredients for 6

1 - 1.3kg / 2½ - 3 lbs rolled haunch OR

1.3 - 1.9kg / 3-4½ lb bone-in haunch

250-350g/8-12 oz rhubarb

300ml/½ pt very concentrated venison stock or consommé

Rowan jelly     

Salt, pepper, sugar to taste

Chop the rhubarb and simmer it in the stock until pulped.  Rub through a sieve and return the purée to the pan. Add rowan jelly and seasoning to taste - use a really strong jelly rather than one made insipid with apples; i.e ours!    Roast your venison to taste (see below) and serve, amalgamating all juices with the sauce. 

(c) Nichola Fletcher

Nichola Fletcher's tips for roasting venison

Before you cook your venison, you must decide whether you want to have your joint rare/pink, or whether you prefer to have it well done.  Because venison is so lean, it is important to choose the right cooking method so that you don't dry out the meat. It is not necessary to marinate our venison to make it tender, but by all means do so if you enjoy the rich winey flavour of marinated meat.  Remember that children sometimes dislike marinated meats.

FOR RARE AND MEDIUM RARE VENISON. Suitable cuts: saddle, sirloin, haunch. You can choose from two cooking methods. For both methods, a meat thermometer is a great help because you can see exactly to what stage the meat has cooked. Rare meat will have an internal temperature of 60º, medium rare 65º.  If roasted beyond this temperature, venison may dry out. Larding is completely unnecessary because when cooked to rare or medium, the juices mean it is impossible for the venison to be dry. You won't get much gravy because all the juice is still in the meat, so you may want to prepare a sauce in advance.   Fast method: To cook your venison this way, first of all brown it all over for flavour then roast it in a very hot oven, but for only a short time so that you undercook it. Then leave it to rest in a warm place (a plate warming drawer is ideal) to complete the cooking, relax the meat, and distribute the pink juices evenly.  A rough guide is 10-12 minutes per 500g/lb in the hot oven and the same length of time resting but the total time depends more on the thickness of the meat rather than its weight. Therefore a 500g /1 lb and a 900g/2lb piece of sirloin both only need 10 minutes in a very hot oven (Mk8, 450ºF, 230ºC) followed by 10 -15 minutes resting, whereas a chunky 900g/2lb joint may need 15-20 minutes in the hot oven followed by 15 minutes resting time, and a huge joint much longer.  If using a meat thermometer, remove the meat from the hot oven when the temperature is 5-10º below its final desired temperature (see above), then allow it to rest while the temperature rises to Rare or Medium as desired. 

60º Slow method : Thanks to Sue Style for sending me this interesting Swiss method.  This is suitable for slim joints up to 7cm / 3½" diameter.  Brown the joint thoroughly all over including both ends. Cook very slowly at Mk ½, 150ºF, 80ºC until the meat thermometer reaches 60º. This depends on thickness and will take just under an hour for a small sirloin roast, up to 2 hours for a plumper rolled haunch joint.

FOR WELL-DONE VENISON. Suitable cuts: haunch, shoulder.  Joints with the bone in a re particularly good cooked this way. If you don't like your meat pink, then it is best to cook it slowly, and you need to take steps to prevent it from drying out. You do get marvellous gravy this way, and it doesn't need such careful timing as the fast method. You should lard the meat, brown it, then cook in a covered dish with some liquid (water, wine, orange juice or ale) and  vegetables if wished. The flavour of the liquid will alter the rich gravy, and any fat used in larding can be skimmed off afterwards. To lard the meat, cut your preferred fat (butter, lard, margarine) into small fingers and pop them in the freezer to harden.  Take a small sharp knife and make holes deep into the meat.  Press the strips of fat into the holes.  Brown the meat, add preferred liquid, cover, and cook slowly for 2-4 hours.  Use oven temperatures similar to cooking a stew (Mk3, 300ºF, 150ºC).  Baste from time to time. When the joint is cooked, you can skim off any excess fat from the gravy.

(c) Nichola Fletcher