In September 2006,
Yvonne bought a surprisingly cheap venison roast in
the Central Market, and we had roast it as recommended; that wasn't a complete success. The
meat was OK (at $8 a kilogram, obviously not first choice), but the method of preparation
wasn't appropriate. Next time we'll try something like a German Wildgulasch. On this
occasion, we decided to prepare the last 300 g remaining as a terrine, and that's what I'm
describing here. The choice of recipe was complicated by:
-
The lack of certain basic ingredients in Australia (not even fat!). This isn't
limited to Australia; in Germany we had similar problems, but in Germany they're easily
solved by a quick journey across the border to France. Here we have to make do with what we
can find. If any Australians reading this know of sources that I don't, please let me
know.
-
Lack of good recipes. Here, the French don't help. I have a recipe book called
“vieilles recettes de nos villages : Terrines Patés”, but the recipes in there
seem all to be variations on a specific theme, and there's no explanation. I also have a
book originally published by Time-Life and translated into German as “Die Kunst des
Kcohens/Methoden und Rezepte: Terrinen, Pasteten und Gelees”, which goes into
considerable detail about the background, but also doesn't come close to addressing the
ingredients I have or could get.
So: I interpreted the various sources and came up with this:
Ingredients
| Quantity |
Traditional |
Ingredient |
Step |
| 300g |
|
venison, pre-cooked |
1 |
| 60 ml |
|
cooking brandy |
1 |
| 300 g |
|
smoked pork fat, in large piece |
2 |
| 300 g |
|
chicken livers |
3 |
| 500 g |
|
pork chops |
3 |
| 1 g |
1 tsp |
dried oregano |
3 |
| 1 g |
1 tsp |
dried thyme |
3 |
|
|
5 |
bay leaves |
3 |
|
|
6 |
juniper berries |
3 |
| 0.1 g |
1 |
clove |
3 |
| 50 ml |
|
cooking brandy |
3 |
| 10 g |
1 clove |
garlic |
3 |
| 125 g |
2 |
eggs |
4 |
| 300 g |
|
lard (reduced pork fat) |
4 |
| 15 g |
|
pistachios |
4 |
| 15 sq cm |
|
fresh orange peel |
4 |
| 8 g |
|
salt |
4 |
| 7 g |
|
green pepper |
4 |
| 250 ml |
|
venison gravy, reduced |
4 |
|
|
10 |
bay leaves, for decoration |
5 |
Method
-
Chop the venison into small stripes and marinate in the brandy.
Pre-heat the oven to 150°.
-
Cut the fat
into slices 2mm thick and line the terrine with them:
Place in the fridge while performing the remaining work.
-
Debone the pork chops, remove strings from liver. Mince all finely and leave to stand
for at least 2 hours total.
-
Remove the pith from the orange peel and blanch for about 30 seconds. Chop the garlic and
orange peel finely. Chop the pistachios coarsely. Melt the lard until it is barely
liquid. In sequence, mix in the ingredients with the minced meat and livers, making sure
that each component is well mixed before adding the next. Make sure the lard is last; it
will thicken the mixture and make it easier to use.
Lay a layer of the mixture in the terrine, then add some of the venison.
Cover and repeat until finished:
-
Place the bay leaves on top of the mixture:
-
Cover the terrine with another layer of fat:
place in the oven and cook for 75 minutes. I don't (yet) have a temperature that the
inside should reach.
-
The terrine will be spongy. To get the correct texture, it needs to be compressed.
Either put a weight on the terrine, or use cable ties, as I have done:
