Time & Yield
| Yield | |
|---|---|
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Categories | Game |
About this recipe
Venison is another word for deer meat, and it is lean because deers get a shitload of exercise. The term "barding" refers to wrapping it in bacon or another fatty substance in order to help it keep moist while it cooks.
The sauce will be reminiscent of a classical French creation, complete with the stocks and the deglazing and the rest. If you are using homemade stock, or really really good store bought luxury stock, this sauce may be one of the greatest things youve ever had with meat in your life.
Ingredients
- One nice venison steak per person. Or a roast of venison which you have sliced into equal sized medallions.
- Bacon, pancetta or other thinly sliced fatty pork product you can wrap around something.
- 4 Shallots, diced
- 2 Carrots, diced
- 2 Celery stalks, diced
- Tomato Paste
- Port Wine, 1 cup
- 4 cups Game or Veal stock,
Method
Meat: The venison steaks will be individually wrapped in bacon and then normall set on a hot oiled pan, or grill at high heat for about 3 minutes a side for rare. The sauce should be made beforehand.
Sauce: Start by heating butter in a pot over medium heat. When butter subsides, add shallots and let them sizzle for five minutes and then add carrots and celery. This is called the "mirepoix". Let this cook for another 10 minutes until you see it start to brown a bit. This is the caramelization of the sugars. Now, turn the heat up, and when you can feel the heat, drop in your port wine and let this boil until you have a thick syrup left of it amidst the mirepoix. While you do this, scrape the bottom of the pan to pick up all the nice caramelized bits from the mirepoix. You just performed "deglazing". Now turn the heat down, and add a tablespoon of tomato paste. Stir well.
At this stage you are going to add in the stock and the herbs. The aim will be to simmer this whole concoction until it has reduced to half a cup, or if you want to not be scientific about it, until theres really not much left, and its super concentrated and tastes really awesome. At this stage you will strain this whole thing and make sure its all strained into a small sauce pot.
Once you have done this, add 1/3 stick of butter and really, you want this to be able to coat the back of a spoon. Its got to be velvety, smooth and taste like me, rich and powerful. Only now do you correct the flavor with salt and pepper. Finally, spoon the gently heated sauce over your steak or just around the plate.
This sauce should really be a labor of love and an exceptional thing. Here's a couple tips if my estimates did not work out for you. Use more stock to make more sauce. A lot of stock is needed for a little bit of sauce. If it is too tomatoey, forget the tomato paste. Use game stock for a stronger sauce, if this one is too light for the venison.
