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Title: Roast Leg Of Venison Or Caribou
Yield: 1 Roast

Ingredients

      1    leg of venison or caribou;
           -bone in
      6 oz fat larding pork or
      6    strips of bacon
      1 ts salt
    1/2 ts pepper
    1/2 tb ground ginger [opt'l] or
    1/4 ts allspice and
      1    oregano leaves or
      1    marjoram leaves or
      1    sprigs of rosemary or
      1    sage and garlic
      2 tb vegetable oil
      1 c  butter; melted
      2 c  meat stock; beef or venison
      1 c  dry sherry; divided
    1/3 c  flour
      2 tb butter; melted
      5 ts dry red wine
    1/4 tb grated orange rind
      2 tb tart currant or cranberry
           -jelly

Instructions

Yes, this recipe uses both sherry and red wine together. If using
allspice, you can also add a pinch of cloves and substitute apple
cider for the wines. If using garlic and herbs, chianti is good.

Before being butchered, venison should hang in a cool place for at
least three or four days after the kill. Wipe it and dry well. Remove
all skin, membrane and sinews. Wrap and freeze until used.

Defrost the roast. Pre-heat oven to 450 F. The fat pork should be cut
into strips about 1/3" wide and 2" long. Then roll the pork strips in
seasonings and insert them in a larding needle. Pull the strips
through the meat at regular intervals, allowing the fat to show
outside the meat at both ends.

If no larding needle is available, use smoke-cured bacon draped over
the roast, sprinkle roast with the spices and herbs and cook at 275
F., 50 minutes per pound. Or better yet cut gashes in the roast about
2 inches apart and part way through the roast. Place in each gash a
pinch of herbs, a slice of bacon and optionally a slice of garlic.
Baste often.

Now rub the roast with oil and place it in a roasting pan. Pour the
melted butter over it. Put in oven and turn down heat to 300 F. Or,
more trouble but better, brown the meat on all sides in hot oil in a
skillet and then transfer the meat to the roasting pan and roast at
300.

Roast for 4 to 5 hours, or until meat is brown and very tender. It
should be basted every 15 minutes with a mixture of the meat stock and
half of sherry. At the end of the cooking time, remove the meat from
pan; skim off all the fat from the gravy.

Make a smooth paste of flour, butter and stock; add wine and orange
rind and stir in the gravy in the pan. Bring to a boil, stirring as
the gravy thickens. Add the rest of the sherry and the jelly. Now
finish the roast in a slow oven [250], basting frequently with the
completed gravy, for about 30 minutes to an hour.

Serve remaining gravy and more fruit jelly with the roast.

Jim Weller

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