Juniper-flavoured Venison Steaks with Berry Compôte and Kale
Ask someone to name a staple of British cooking and they’ll invariably start to list the usual suspects: a Sunday Roast (find our take here), fish and chips, the meat pie, a treacle sponge “pudding” (which is a catchall upper-class phrase for desserts and not, confusingly, a custard-sort of dessert)… But having binge-watched several seasons of Masterchef UK, it’s clear to me that the real gem in British cuisine is the tradition of GAME-INSPIRED COOKING.
We’ll talk more about the merits of cooking game and where to get it after the recipe, but this venison steak dish is one we put together after a few weeks of thinking what the best way to venture into the wooded world of game cooking.
We did lots of research outside of MasterChef, including reading Scottish chef Tom Kitchin’s Meat and Game (London: Absolute Press, 2017). We came up with this dish and it blew us away:
Two 150g steaks cut from venison tenderloin pan-fried in butter and herbs and topped with roasted juniper berries, accompanied by a blueberry bramble compôte and garlic kale. We paired it with potato dauphinoise and a glass of red wine. Cooked while slightly tipsy on scotch.
Pan-fried venison steak loin with berry compôte and garlic kale
Equipment
- Chef's Knife
- Heavy sauté pan (cast iron, e.g.)
- Small Saucepan
- Medium Saucepan
- Colander
Ingredients
- 2 150g venison loin steaks
- 10 g Juniper berries (crushed)
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme (or 10g dried thyme)
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary (or 10g dried rosemary)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 40 g butter
- 150 g blueberries
- 150 g blackberries
- 30 g brown sugar
- 1/2 lemon (juiced)
- 200 g curly leaf kale
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
For the Compôte
- Put your small saucepan over medium heat and dump the blueberries, blackberries, sugar, and lemon juice in there. The blueberries will start bursting at their little seams as the sauce comes to a boil. After this, lower the heat so the sauce simmers, and cook it for 15-20 mins until the sauce is reduced. Taste throughout, adding more sugar or lemon as needed.
Garlic Kale
- Bring water to boil in your medium saucepan. Salt the water if you’re the salty sort. Add the kale and cook for 45-60 seconds and then drain into colander. Lower the heat of the saucepan to medium-low and add the half of the butter and half of the garlic to the pot and cook for 1 minute. Put the drained kale back into the pot and let the ingredients acquaint themselves. Cook for 4-5 mins or until soft.
For the Venison Loin Steaks
- Timing is imperative here. Right before you start cooking, generously coat the venison steaks with salt and pepper and rub them all over with the vegetable oil. Take your heavy sauté pan and crank the heat up to high.
- Once it’s sizzling, throw the steaks there and sear them for 1 minute on each side. Take the pan off the stove and lower the heat to low.
- Add the butter and garlic to the pan, being careful not to burn the butter. Put half the spice sprigs on top of the venison and the other half in the butter. Put the pan back on the stove and cook for 4-5 mins but no longer. Keep basting the venison with the butter. You don’t want to overcook the venison. Err on the side of undercooking.
- Let the venison sit for 2 minutes off the stove while you plate everything else.
Plating
- Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the compote onto the centre of the plate. Add the garlic kale to the plate and whatever other accompaniments. Add the venison steaks on top of the compôte and add the crushed juniper berries on top. Go and enjoy it.
On the Merits of Game Meat
If you’re like me and you don’t want to give up on eating meat, opting for game meat achieves two things: 1) the animal you’re eating almost certainly lived a better life out in nature than a farm animal would; 2) wild game doesn’t contribute negatively to our carbon output, and culling certain wild animals is a necessary act for many ecosystems. We got our venison steaks from The Wild Meat Company, together with a couple of more things, and we’re sure we’ gonna go back to them. If you’re based in the UK, definitely give them a try because the quality is excellent.
From a culinary perspective, game meat opens up a bunch of new flavours. In terms of land animals, Americans are pretty much only exposed to beef, chicken, and pork, with Turkey featuring once a year. Lamb is more common in Europe, but that’s a pretty confined list of animals when you consider what else is out there: venison, wild boar, grouse, snipe, woodcock, pheasant, quail, wild rabbit, hare, partridge, duck, and pigeon…
These meats have different flavour profiles that require you to adapt and expand your cooking. As a general rule of thumb, wild berries pair well with many of the meats, which tend to be cooked on the rarer side. Making pan sauces while cooking them greatly contribute to the flavour.
On the Venison Steaks
As far as the venison steaks are concerned, it’s most similar to beef and lamb in that it’s a red meat whose steaks should be served rare. The flavour of the venison depends heavily on the species of deer, the environment the deer lived in, and what vegetation it grew up eating.
In Britain, there are six different species of deer, with the fallow and muntjac species being the most commonly harvested. They’re much leaner than imported venison (usually from New Zealand), so it’s important to cook it carefully to ensure the meat doesn’t dry out. With steaks (either from the loin or haunch), getting a nice sear over high heat before lowering the temperature is typically the best way to prepare it.
Venison pairs nicely with wild berries and a hearty green like spinach or kale. Cavolo nero is a particular type of kale that is a regular feature on Masterchef UK, but harder to find than the standard curly leafed kale. A potato dish is the most obvious starch to accompany the meal — we suggest our potato dauphinoise. But other options include classic roast potatoes (the best you’ve ever had linked here) or puréed/mashed. Finally, do not underestimate the power of the crushed juniper berries on top of the venison. It’s a very small and easily overlooked trick, but it does make a massive difference.