Venison

Creamy cheese spiked with jalapeño peppers in this roulade of cumin- and garlic-flavored venison keeps the lean meat moist. This is one of my husband’s favorite ways to share his deer harvest each winter.

Harry Van Heerden, my son’s godmother’s father, comes to visit each year from Durban, South Africa. Even at eighty-two, the silver-haired gent is quite a handful. When the sun starts to get low in the late afternoon he’ll holler out “Vaapgae!” the Afrikaans word for “barrel.” That’s the cue to bring him a brandy. Harry shared this mustard recipe with me and it does wonderful things for game, whether gemsbok or whitetail.

“Up until the time I was eleven or twelve years old, people would ask me where I was from and I’d always say Leland. I never wanted to claim Texas . . . I loved Mississippi. All the blues in the world came from there.” A tall, lanky albino almost certainly isn’t what springs to mind when you think of a blues guitar-man. But, once you listen to Johnny Winter, all that changes. His parents lived in Leland, Mississippi, before moving to Beaumont, Texas. As a kid Johnny spent his summers in the small Mississippi town on Highway 61—the Blues Highway. These biscuits bake up a little on the pale side, but that’s all right.

If Big Bob Gibson was nowhere to be found at the restaurant, there was a good chance he would be on the lake or in the woods. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed not only hunting and fishing, but also cooking his catch. He passed this love of the outdoors on to his kids, especially Cotton, who would leave for the family hunting camp in mid-October and return home in February. As word spread of Big Bob’s smoked venison with white sauce, hunters started dropping their fresh deer meat by the restaurant to have it cooked. During hunting season, venison appeared with regularity on the pits. This dish, similar to a large pot roast with chunks of tender vegetables, is a favorite of local hunters. To this day, the rich aroma of venison can sometimes be smelled in the kitchens of Big Bib Gibson Bar-B-Q, especially during the fall and winter months of hunting season.

The gjetost or brown goat cheese in this recipe is not made from milk but from whey that is cooked until caramelized. It is also known as fudge cheese, and a version called Ski Queen can be found in many American markets. Lars Tyssebotn's brown goat cheese makes this dish one of my favorites.

A gentle seasoning and overnight marination lets venison's lean, clean mouth-filling meatiness shine.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from chef Paul Flynn of The Tannery in Dungarvan, Ireland. Once widely eaten, game lost its popularity in Ireland in modern times, as palates became unaccustomed to its distinct flavors. But smart breeders of venison are now creating meat with a milder and more mainstream taste without losing any of the noble game's intrinsic qualities. Irish chefs are happy to pay their tribute. At The Tannery, the garlic used in this recipe is wild, gathered from nearby hedgerows. Irish butter, with its high fat content, will add a particularly rich flavor, but regular American butter can be substituted.

Our all-time favourite snack — salty, spicy, dried meat — also makes a great garnish for salads, soups and vegetables when finely shaved with a sharp knife. Creative cooks even blend it into pâté to spread on toast. Drying meat and fish was a necessary method of preservation prior to refrigeration. The concept isn't the sole preserve of Afrikaners, though. An earlier delicacy — tassal meat — was similarly prepared: strips of meat were rubbed with salt and coriander, laid in vinegar for a time, then panfried. In rural communities, black tribes would cut up and dry the flesh of animals that died accidentally or of natural causes (cattle were seldom slaughtered for food). The Swazi people call it umcweba or umcwayiba. Coriander seeds, formerly brought from Asia, are an essential ingredient in the preparation of good biltong. The name is Greek for bedbugs — nasty goggas that the seeds resemble!

Venison is best served rare to medium, as it is a very lean meat that toughens and develops a strong flavor if overcooked. The following recipe may also be made with a 2 1/2-pound beef fillet.

In this dish, the richness of the venison is balanced by the sweet-tart fruit compote.

If venison isn't for you, beef tenderloin is a good alternative (see cooks' note, below). Because beef is not as dense and rich as venison, the portions are slightly larger (cooking times and temperatures will also be different).

Chef Kenny, of the Crookedwood House, in Mullingar, Ireland, prepares this entrée in the winter with fresh cranberries. We call for canned cranberry sauce, which is available year-round. The chef likes sautéed currants as a garnish, and braised cabbage and baked potatoes as side dishes.