Salt Venison - 'Veniham'
Servings:
10
Brining is the process of salting meat in a brine – it’s as simple as that, this is the process that turns beef into salt beef or pork leg into ham – hence the silly name we have given the dish. It takes a little time and commitment, but it is beyond worth it in our opinion. Once made you can’t help but keep on coming up with more ideas of how to use this versatile and handy cut - be it cold, hot, in sarnies, pies, soups and scotch broths the ideas just keep on coming. We hope you love it like we do.
Ingredients
To brine
- 1 kg venison haunch
- 40 g salt
- 40 g dark soft brown sugar
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 4 fresh bay leaves
- 6 cloves
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- 1 dried whole chilli
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 500 ml water
To cook
- 1 small onion peeled and sliced
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
Instructions
- Fling all the brine ingredients in a pan and bring them to the boil, then, tip them out into a bowl and add either 500g ice or a further500ml nice cold water – this just helps to cool the brine and dilutes the salt to the correct level.
- Once the brine is cool (no warmer than room temperature),add the meat into this and place it in the fridge (you may transfer the wholething to a plastic tub or similar).
- Turn the meat in the brine every now and again for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, remove the meat from the brine, discard the brine and you are ready to go! You might want more than 24 hours if the piece of venison is very thick, or less if it’s a nice thin long piece – you will be able to feel when the meat is well salted as it will firm up – allow that to guide you, but 24 hours will be right for more or less 1 kg of meat.
- Place the salted venison into a large cooking pot with the onion, bay leaf & rosemary.
- Cover everything with clean fresh cold water and place on the stove to bring to a boil, once the water is boiling, you must simmer the meat slowly in the water for 45 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow the venison to just sit in the stock for a further 45 minutes.
- You now have Veniham and a good amount of cooking liquid atyour disposal!
Recipe Notes
The venison ham will not remain pink when you cut it without adding a nitrate salt, which we prefer to leave out. It's not needed as is purely aesthetic in this instance, we’d advise you to do likewise.
Brining is the process of salting meat in a brine – it’s as simple as that, this is the process that turns beef into salt beef or pork leg into ham – hence the silly name we have given the dish. It takes a little time and commitment, but it is beyond worth it in our opinion. Once made you can’t help but keep on coming up with more ideas of how to use this versatile and handy cut - be it cold, hot, in sarnies, pies, soups and scotch broths the ideas just keep on coming. We hope you love it like we do.
Ingredients
To brine
- 1 kg venison haunch
- 40 g salt
- 40 g dark soft brown sugar
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 4 fresh bay leaves
- 6 cloves
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- 1 dried whole chilli
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 500 ml water
To cook
- 1 small onion peeled and sliced
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
Instructions
- Fling all the brine ingredients in a pan and bring them to the boil, then, tip them out into a bowl and add either 500g ice or a further500ml nice cold water – this just helps to cool the brine and dilutes the salt to the correct level.
- Once the brine is cool (no warmer than room temperature),add the meat into this and place it in the fridge (you may transfer the wholething to a plastic tub or similar).
- Turn the meat in the brine every now and again for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, remove the meat from the brine, discard the brine and you are ready to go! You might want more than 24 hours if the piece of venison is very thick, or less if it’s a nice thin long piece – you will be able to feel when the meat is well salted as it will firm up – allow that to guide you, but 24 hours will be right for more or less 1 kg of meat.
- Place the salted venison into a large cooking pot with the onion, bay leaf & rosemary.
- Cover everything with clean fresh cold water and place on the stove to bring to a boil, once the water is boiling, you must simmer the meat slowly in the water for 45 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow the venison to just sit in the stock for a further 45 minutes.
- You now have Veniham and a good amount of cooking liquid atyour disposal!
Recipe Notes
The venison ham will not remain pink when you cut it without adding a nitrate salt, which we prefer to leave out. It's not needed as is purely aesthetic in this instance, we’d advise you to do likewise.
