Slow Cooked Roe Deer Venison Shoulder

 

Slow cooked venison shoulder with chilli and garlic mash

Venison is probably the King of Scottish Wild Game - at least of all the land-sourced varieties, anyway. The type of deer will vary from the large red deer to the small roe deer with several types in between but the delicious, rich, gamey flavour is present in all varieties. If venison does present one particular challenge when it comes to the cooking process, it is that the meat in many instances requires to be cooked long and slow in an appropriate fashion to avoid being served dry, tough and unpalatable.

Venison shank and shoulder are separated

In this instance, I had a whole roe deer foreleg in my freezer which I fully defrosted in my fridge over a thirty-six hour period. I then used a large chef's knife to separate the shank and the shoulder. The shank was used in a separate recipe in the preparation of venison broth.

Venison shoulder ready for slow cooking

Depending upon the size of the venison shoulder and your slow cooker, it may be that you can fit the shoulder whole into the cooking device. In this instance, it was not possible, so I had to separate the shoulder at the joint and place the two pieces separately into the chamber, along with half an onion, a teaspoon of dried thyme, salt, pepper and enough water to ensure the meat was comfortably covered. I then switched the slow cooker on to the low setting and cooked the shoulder for 8 hours.

Slow cooked venison shoulder

A large slotted spoon and a carving fork were used to lift the pieces of shoulder from the slow cooker when done to a large plate. They were then covered and left to rest.

Straining venison stock

It may of course be that you have no use for the stock that is now remaining in your slow cooker after the venison shoulder has been removed but, in this instance, I intended using it the following day in the soup that would be prepared with the venison shank. I therefore allowed it to cool slightly before lining a sieve with a sheet of kitchen paper and suspending it over a large bowl. The stock was slowly ladled into the sieve and allowed to strain. You will likely have to change the paper 2 or 3 times as it becomes clogged with fat. The strained stock should then be covered, allowed to cool completely and refrigerated overnight until required. 

I kept some of the shoulder meat to go into the soup with the meat from the shank and the following is the full recipe for how I served some of the remainder as shown in the photo at the top of this post.

Cook Time (not including venison loin)

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 20 min

Ready in: 30 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 2 medium baking type potatoes, peeled and chopped to 1.5 inch (4cm) chunks
• Salt
• 3 Chantenay carrots, trimmed
• Generous handful frozen peas
• Butter
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed or grated
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley
• 1 small birds' eye chilli, finely sliced
• Generous pinch caraway seeds
• Black pepper and malt vinegar 
• Venison loin meat slices/chunks as required

Method

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and add the chunks of potato. Adjust the heat to achieve a gentle simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are just softened.

Add the carrots to a second pot of boiling, salted water to simmer for 10 minutes.

Drain the potatoes through a colander at your sink, return them to the empty pot and set aside to let them steam off and partly dry out for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the frozen peas to a small pot of boiling salted water and simmer for 3 minutes.

Butter is added to potatoes prior to mashing

Add a little bit of butter to the potatoes and mash until just smooth with a hand masher. Drain the carrots, return to the empty pot and also set aside to briefly steam off.

Various flavourants are added to mashed potatoes

Add the garlic, parsley and chilli to the mash and stir well with a wooden spoon to fully combine.

Drain the peas, return to the empty pot and season with malt vinegar and black pepper to taste. Gently swirl the pot to combine.

Butter and caraway seeds are added to carrots

Add a little butter and the caraway seeds to the carrot, swirl the pot to evenly coat and plate your meal for service.