How do I make venison melt in the mouth?

10
Dec
2009

How do I make venison melt in the mouth?

"Please can you ask Jose Souto how I can slow roast venison so it is not so tough? I have tried slow roasting it in a gravy, but although it falls apart when I serve it, it is still a bit chewy and tough. What can I do to get the melt in mouth consistency that I've tasted elsewhere?" Eloise.

H&C blogger and game chef Jose L Souto replies: "Hi Eloise, firstly there are only certain joints that can be slow-roasted and they tend to be large joints. What you are describing is not roasting, but sounds like braising. Here are the definitions than may make things clearer :

Roasting: Joint may be sealed in a pan first or placed into the oven raw, oiled and seasoned then cooked with an all round dry heat and no liquid.
Braising: Joint seasoned and sealed, then placed in a liquid such as a stock or a sauce, brought to the boil on the stove, covered, placed into the oven to cook slowly with the liquid just ticking over.
Pot roasting: Joint seasoned and sealed then placed onto a bed of vegetables (or in the case of pot roast pheasant, Normand apples) with a small amount of liquid, which could be wine, stock or some other alcohol brought to boil, covered and placed into an oven to cook slowly.

Roasting is a quick cooking method for first class joints with little or no sinew such as The Saddle, The Loin, The Rump and parts of The Leg. All of these joint can be roasted in a relatively short time and should all be served Pink. The reason for this is that Venison has no fat travelling through the muscles it is all on the outside of the carcase because of this the tender first class cuts will dry out if over cooked and become tough.

Braising is a slow method of cooking for second class joints that have sub-divide muscles encased in sinew such as the shoulder, the scrag (neck), shanks and parts of the leg. All these joints need a long time to cook . The hot liquid around the meat is at just below boiling point and this helps the cooking process by breaking down the sinew and allowing them to melt into the meat keeping it moist and giving flavour. Sometimes we add a little fat to these joints to help keep it moist. We do this by cutting strips of pork fat and weaving or pushing it in to the muscles so that, as the meat cooks, it melts into the muscle and keeps it moist but this is mainly done with larger joints.

Pot roasting is again a slow method of cooking for second class joints that have sub-divide muscles encased in sinew such as the shoulder, the scrag (neck), shanks and parts of the leg. All these joints need a long time to cook. But unlike braising, where the joint is within a liquid, there is only a small amount of liquid and the meat cooks by being held in a sealed, moist environment and cooking slowly in the hot vapour, the natural juices of the meat and the bed of vegetables. This helps the cooking process by breaking down the sinew and allowing them to melt into the meat, keeping it moist and giving flavour. The vegetables can then be served as part of the dish and the liquid as a sauce.

Hope this helps; as you have not told me what joint you were cooking, I can not advise you on which would be best for you but this should give you a guide as to what to do with what joint. Please also read my blogs on venison - there are a few and they will give you a bit more info.
Thanks
Jose."