The Escoffier Series, Chapter 9: Game
We’re moving along in Le Guide Culinaire. Game meats now, with the primary focus on properly cooking venison.
Three other game meats come into the discussion lightly, pheasant, ostrich, and wild boar.
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The Escoffier series continues. We’re in chapter 9 now, game.
Hunting season is here.
It was the case in my high school that the opening day of deer hunting was an unofficial day off of school. In my high school, just about half of the students were gone for a day or two.
Venison was the goal. It’s a good goal. Very tasty.
Escoffierr starts the chapter with venison. He moves to wild boar, then hare and rabbit, then the feathered game, pheasant, partridge, and quail. He discusses some smaller birds, thrush and woodcock, but those are rare and not found in the wild game section of the grocery store with sells domesticated wild game. Or at least farm-raised wild game. Oxymoronic, isn’t it?
One bird he doesn’t mention that deserves to be mentioned is ostrich.
Another farmed bird and exquisite.
Wild venison is different than the farm-raised venison. Feed is the main difference and so therefore the flavor of the meat and the color of the fat. Farm-raised venison will probably be fatter than wild deer.
Just like on beef and lamb, there are preferred cuts of meat. The Backstrap also sometimes called the saddle is the long loin piece that is the top of the deer. One lone piece of meat on each side of the vertebrae. Underneath and attached to the hip bone is the tenderloin. Those are probably the most sought-after cuts for they are the most tender and leanest. Deer have cuts like a cow and there’s a sirloin and a brisket, but that brisket is puny.
The hindquarters has a lot of meat and not all of it is tough. The forequarters are stringy, even in a young deer, and suitable for sausage or stew. That’s the chuck area, and you might find suitable steaks there, but I tend to use it all as tough meat.
The first kitchen I really learned about game was at the Golden Mushroom which was owned and cheffed by a Certified Master Chef, Milos Cihelka. Milos always marinated his venison, no matter the final use, except if it was to be sausage or pate.
There’s an adage for compatability that what grows together goes together. So it goes with venison. An irony is that juniper and lavender leaves are excellent accompanying flavors for venison and they don’t eat those. At least not here. There’s a load of lavender and juniper and deer and the plants are not diminished even in the middle of winter.
For Escoffier, tender pieces, mostly loin cuts, are the preferred cuts. Part of that reason is aesthetics, and part of that is practicality. The tender pieces will cook faster which preserves the venison flavor.
Game meat, even farm-raised game meat, will develop unpleasant flavors when overcooked. And, for game, overcooked steak and whole-muscle meats is about medium.
As with lamb, venison gets two words for pretty much the same portion: Cutlett and noisette. Escoffierr identifies the best end, which is the part that starts at the hip bone and moves forward to the 6th rib as the best end. It is the thicker, rounder piece of meat and more tender.
In both cases, cutting not more than ¾ of an inch thick is the idea. The chief goal for sauteeing game meats, particularly cutlets and noisettes is to cook them in a very hot pan with clarified butter and only to medium rare.
In the classical kitchen, long before the meat hit the pan, the saucier would have made stock and then sauces from the stock, and the cook would have that sauce at his station to finish each dish. That task is much more difficult at home. Beef stock will work. Roasted chicken stock or lamb stock will work. The point of the sauce is at least twofold. The first task of the sauce is to deglaze the pan and then the final additions. In nearly every case the sauce will be finished with a small pat of butter swirled into the finished sauce and then draped over the plated meat.
And, here’s one more twist. Escoffier was fond of putting beef tornadoes on croutons of Brioche. The toasted bread gives some height to the dish. The crouton also keeps the meat from sitting in its own juices, and the crouton absorbs the juices from the meat and also absorbs the sauce for some amazing bites.
You are not required to take these extra steps, but they do add to an impressive presentation and eating experience.
Game meat, venison, wild boar, and even that ostrich—even though it’s a bird, the meat eats like steak, really—can tolerate some bold powerful flavors. If stock isn’t something you have or wish to make, and for this avoid the boxed stuff, there’s an alternative. Deglaze the pan with some brandy. If you have a gas burner, turn the burner off for a moment. Brandy in a hot pan makes fat particles fly and the alcohol around an open flame will do predictable and hot things: It will flame up. If your face is too near the pan, that will not be a happy moment.
Add some green peppercorns or whole-grain mustard to the pan and then some heavy cream. Scrape the bits off the pan into the sauce, let it reduce, check the seasoning, and drape the meat. Cream sauce does not need a pat of butter at the end.
I mentioned earlier that venison might be marinated. The marinade is an excellent source of flavor for deglazing the pan. Use that before you add the stock and also work the sticky bits off the pan into the sauce. You can also use the marinade if you are making a cream sauce. The color will be interesting but the flavor will make up for any curious coloring.
Stewing is stewing except for flavor profiles. I once made, and didn’t write it down as far as I can tell, and I’ve been looking off and on for years, the most amazing venison stew. I am certain I borrowed the basic idea from Paul Bocuse and that was a venison stew with prunes, lavender, and unsweetened chocolate. OMFG. It was amazing. I’ve come close to repeating that a few times, but never as good as the first one.
If you find venison in a grocery store or an online source, there’s a better-than-fair chance you can’t get the chuck or rump. Maybe you can get shanks for Osso Bucco and probably you can get the loin. If you live near a proper butcher, maybe they can help. If you know a friend who happened to hit a deer and calls you and asks if you want it, maybe you do. Roadkill in the winter time at least is refrigerated. In the course of my time on the planet I’ve gotten a deer that way. And some quail. Not road kill, exactly. A friend’s dog scared them and they flew into a window and each broke its neck.
As an aside, don’t be fooled by the plumage. A bird is half the size after you get the feathers off.
Escoffierr recommends either barding or larding your venison. Barding is wrapping the meat with thin slices of pork fatback; larding is using a special larding needle to pierce the meat and sew a piece of fatback, 3/16 of an inch by 3/16 of an inch by three inches or so into the muscle of the meat. I’m not sold on the effectiveness of those procedures. I’ve done them both and the most barding has to redeem it is that it prevents the flesh of the pheasant breast from getting tough and stringy. Larding looks interesting but I’ve never noticed the meat much improved for the fat being there.
I’ll leave Rabbit for the next episode. Hare isn’t something I’ve seen in a store. I have seen them on the mountain behind my house. They’re big and fast and have huge ears.
When sauteeing cutlets or noisettes, first, cut them smaller than larger. Cook in a very hot pan to not more than medium rare. Make a crouton, not exactly the same as you buy for salads, for the meat. Cut the crusts off a piece of bread and what remains is cooked slowly on the stovetop in clarified butter until it is crisp and golden brown on both sides. That’s a proper crouton for meat.
Sauce it up and deglaze the pan. Game meat is rich, so a nice pickle or something a touch acidic is a good contrast.