The Venison Leg with Slow Cooker is one of the dishes from the Slow Cooking Menu of the column “Build the Menu”.
The roe deer is part of the cervids and, like the deer, fallow deer, and moose, it is a firm meat, with a strong flavor.
The venison meat is low in fat and rich in proteins, B vitamins, and iron.
The venison leg weighs about 4.4 lbs. The meat has short fibers and a very dark red color.
It is divided into: round with false tenderloin, rack, iliac muscle, and nut.
Low-temperature cooking is the most beloved technique for preparing game; the meat becomes particularly tender this way.
The risk with venison is that it may dry out too much.
To prevent this from happening, and thus avoid the meat becoming stringy and dry, it is larded, meaning it is covered with fatty substances like slices of lard, bacon, or pork fat, pork mesh or fat, or it is larded by inserting strips of fat or lard between the meat fibers by hand.
Before any preparation, venison must be frozen for at least a week, thawed, and then marinated.
My slow cooking involves using a slow cooker, on the HIGH setting for 4 and a half hours.
I served it with a potato and spinach gratin.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 10 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 servings
- Cooking methods: Other, Slow cooking
- Cuisine: Contemporary
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 1 venison leg
- 1 l red wine
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves
- 1 carrot
- to taste juniper
- 3 leaves bay leaves
- 5.3 oz butter (or lard)
- to taste salt and pepper
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
Tools
- 1 Pot slow cooker
Steps
Marinate the leg pieces in red wine (17 oz), with onion, cloves, chopped carrot, juniper, bay leaves, covered, in the fridge for at least 8/10 hours.
Sauté the meat in oil, with salt and pepper.
Place the pieces and the sauté in the slow cooker, add the wine (another 17 oz) and the butter. Cover with water.
Cook on HIGH for 4 and a half hours.
Serve with potato and spinach gratin: boil the potatoes, slice them and place them in a container, preferably stone or terracotta, add the boiled spinach, cream, and grated cheese.
Grill mode, in the oven at 356°F for 20 minutes.
For more on game meats, you can find a text online.
