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Hi,

When I was in our local trade suppliers, my eye happened to fall on some shoulder of red deer (cerf we call it here) from Poland being sold at a more than reasonable price. So I cleaned up a pound or so, (bit niffy) and made an experimental batch of terrine for a snack last night. It was good enough for me to decide to make the rest into tins to give to our B&B guests next year.

So- this is the recipe.

Venison Terrine

3.2 kg venison; small cubes
3.2 kg fatty pork; small cubes
1.6 kg smoked streaky bacon; 5x5x50mm strips
500 g pistachio nuts; coarsely chopped
25 g juniper berries; coarsely ground
7 tablespoon mixed peppercorns; ground with
2 1/3 tablespoons dried thyme; and
7 tablespoon nitrited salt (0.6%)
1 litre dry white wine

You will also need 35 280 g tins

(1st attempt:- used 3 kg belly, weighed prepared plus 600 g gorge. )

Method

First of all, place the cubed venison and pork in a large bowl. Grind the
juniper berries, place them in a smaller bowl. Grind the salt, pepper and
thyme together. Add to the juniper and mix thoroughly. Now sprinkle this
over the venison and pork, and mix thoroughly. Pour over the wine and
allow to marinate 8 hours or overnight

Once marinating is finished, mince the meats, return to the bowl, and add
the bacon matchsticks and the chopped pistachio nuts. Mix gently but
thoroughly with a large cook's fork. Take a patty, fry it and check the
seasoning. Add whatever is needed (needed none). Pack into tins, seal
down and sterilise as usual. 1h30 to come to the boil, 2 hours once boiling.
Remove and label.

Recipe: loosely based on Delia Smith's Winter Collection

Yield: 35 280g tins

Notes. "Gorge" is throat meat, which is about 70% fat. The pork belly was fairly lean, with perhaps 20% fat. So as the venison was totally lean, the total weight of fat was 600g from the belly and 420g from the throat. Call it 1 kg in a total weight of 6.4 kg or around 15% which what I aim for in a terrine to avoid it being too dry.

Looks interesting Ian. Do you 'tin it' in cans or bottles?

Phil

As a general rule i would not use white wine in a venison terrine as it lacks the necessary body. A good claret and or port mixture is better suited. Also marination is suitable with plenty of juniper, fresh rosemary sticks fresh bay and fresh thyme. Also a good quantity of belly pork is needed to counter balance

Ian's already got one and a half times more fatty pork and smoked bacon than venison, I doubt he'd need belly in there as well. Delia's normally quite good at balancing her ingredients and presumably chose white wine for a reason, maybe to better compliment the pistachios than a claret or port which might be a bit overpowering?.

Dave

Hi,
First of all, sorry Phil, I didn't see your question till just now. I sterilize in cans.

Greyham, thanks for your comments. I take your point about using a wine with more body, but I did use red wine for a wild boar terrine I make, and found that it gave a very agressive "red wine" taste for about a year after canning. Because this red deer one uses so few flavourings (when compared with my pork terrine, for example) I chose a recipe that would keep thngs lighter to let the deer flavour dominate. Having tried it a couple of times after canning, I'm pretty happy with it as it is, thanks.

Dave. Quite agree. I'm a great believer in treating someone else's recipe with respect. If I don't respect the writer, then in general I don't make their recipe! So I tried out Delia's recipe with a relatively small quantity as I said, as an advance batch, and was sufficiently pleased with it to make the rest up exactly as written.

But if any one else wants to try it with red wine, or Port, or substituting belly for the pork fat or bacon, I'd love to know how they get on.

As it happens, and since last I wrote, I made another batch of wild boar terrine, but this time cutting back on the red wine and using part red wine and part port, and it must be said that it is much more approachable straight after canning.

I may be out of touch for a while, as I'll be back in the USSR (oops, sorry, the UK) from tomorrow onwards. I don't know how my access will work.

Ianinfrance wrote:I'll be back in the USSR (oops, sorry, the UK) from tomorrow onwards.

c'mon Ian, I live in the uk and love it. As far as I'm concerned you can shove France. We all have an opinion and thats mine.

Are you still picking up a Bradley while you are over Ian?

Dave

Hi Dave,

I guess so, though that depends upon the generosity - or depth of pocket - of father Christmas.

Oddley.. who rattled your cage? I've been digitizing a load of LPs, and was quoting the title of a Beatles track. But thanks for your opinion all the same.

God_Rest_You_Merry_Gentlemen
Chill out chaps its nearly Christmas

Dave

PS recording courtesy of Edison Records 1917

The Beatles are my all time favourite band.

Here are some more:

All you need is love
With a little help from my friends

That present I mentioned getting for my wife for Christmas is Rock Band The Beatles Collection So if you love the Beatles, stay away from our house as we will no doubt massacre their songs...

Dave

I just got ALL the remastered cd's. Real anorak stuff from me.

You know me:
start a fight in an empty room.
I saw the Beatles in the Early sixties (the end of the rock and roll era) they were a supporting act for Roy Orbison (not very r&r) they were terrible. Never reckoned em
Des OConner was the compare and he was marginally better than the Beatles.
Good on yer Oddley

Jim

I saw the beatles in the sixties too, along with the whole stable they came with, Cilla etc. Rubbish if my memory serves me . However, I was lucky enought to see Jimi Hendrix, wow, and an early Stones gig before they became massive, fab! These days I'm more into Stevie Ray Vaughan and Mozart.

I saw some beetles in my back garden once.....