Venison haunch

Ingredients
1 bone in haunch of venison
2 tbs goose fat
250-500g butter

The Game Chef
www.thegamechef.co.uk

Serves 8

Venison, the meat of kings, presents a stately centrepiece and a true sense of banquet and celebratory feasting. Using my cooking times below will guarantee the meat is perfectly cooked.

Season the joint well with salt and pepper, and when I say well I mean with gung-ho wild abandon as the meat will take a good dousing of seasoning to bring out its best. Heat the goose fat in your largest frying pan until almost smoking, and brown the joint all over.

Smother the meat in butter; a 2kg joint will need 200g. This may seem excessive, but it gives you plenty with which to baste the joint.

Place in the oven for 15 minutes at 220˚C to get it going, then reduce to 150˚C and roast on for 8 minutes per 500g, or 7 minutes if you like it properly rare. Baste the joint well every 15 minutes.

When the cooking time is up, remove from the oven, place the rest of the butter, sliced, on top, cover loosely with foil, and leave to rest in a warm place for a minimum of 30 minutes, ideally an hour. Transfer to a carving dish and parade the haunch to the table in suitably grand fashion, ideally reciting fine poetry.