Sauces for Game

[cabrales]

Liza -- As you may know, the Troisgros salmon dish has been mentioned in other threads, including:

"Chef of the Century" under "General", p. 3 (Bocuse's meal served to VGE included Troisgros' salmon dish)

"Frozen Truffles Not Bad At All" under "Cooking" (my meal involving the salmon dish)  ;)

[cabrales]

Liza -- Consider some variation of Troisgros' sorrel sauce, used for the famed salmon with sorrel dish. . . .

There's another version of the recipe (unclear whether the same) in the English version of the Troisgros' "Hachette"-published books (both the Pierre/Jean collaboration and the Pierre/Michel edition).  ;)

Here's how the sorrel sauce is described in Jean and Pierre Troisgros' book "The Nouvelle Cuisine" (Papermac, first published 1982).

For four people, the ingredients are listed to be: 80 g fresh sorrel, 2 shallots (not included in the current Troisgros website's recipe), 500 ml "fish fumet" (there is a separate recipe for this stock that I will not include), 4 tablespoons dry white wine (e.g., Sancerre), 2 tablespoons white Vermouth, 400 ml double cream, 40 g butter, lemon juice (from 1/2 lemon), salt and pepper.

Paraphrasing the instructions:

The sorrel should first be trimmed and washed. Large leaves should be rendered smaller. The shallots should be finely chopped. Utilize a saute pan for the fish stock, white wine, Vermouth and shallots. Put the pan over the heat until there results an almost glaze-like "glistening syrup".  Then, following the addition of the cream, allow the mixture to boil until there is a slight thickening. Incorporate the sorrel and, after about 25 seconds, remove the pan from the heat and include small pieces of butter. During this stage, the pan should be shaken about to allow the sauce to emulsify (no whisk). Finally, add lemon juice, salt and pepper.

The book lists indicative simple menus, and suggested "advanced menus", for readers. The advanced menus section includes the following:

Salad of Hen Pheasants

Troisgros Salmon Escalopes with Sorrel

Peaches and Almonds in Beaujolais

[fifi]

A Texan is invading again. I have had some wonderful sauce piquante but I don't have history of preparing it. In anticipation of more game from The Nephew's hunt, is there some direction here on the preparation of such a thing? What is the essence of a sauce piquante?

[Mayhaw Man]

What is the essence of a sauce piquante?

What makes you think we are going to tell you? That's like asking what's the big deal with beans in Chili?

The essence, to give you a straight answer, is tomatoes.

Here is a recipe that I am making up on the fly. I am making out like I have a couple of hours to kill and someone has requested piquant. The meat in this dish can be substituted with any game you might have-venison, squirrel, alligator, etc (you Texans may use armadillo if you so desire )

This does call for canned rotels, but you certainly could use good canned Italian and throw in some fresh peppers, but I am the one making this up, and I usually use Rotels (a Texas product, come to think of it ).

Venison Sauce Piquant

2 lbs. cubed venison

2 cups coarse chopped onions

2 Cups B.P.

2 Cups Celery

1/3 cup peanut oil (you can use any oil, but I like peanut because it is hard to burn)

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/4 cup chopped parsley (some cilantro might be nice as well)

2 Cups Pureed can tomatoes (good ones, italian if you can get them)

1 Cup Rotels (medium or hot, as desired)

1 small box button mushrooms, sliced thin

2 tbls. Lea and Perrin's (two famous Cajuns)

3 or 4 basil leaves or the dry equivelant

1/4 tsp. Oregano

1/4 tsp. Rosemary

Marinate Venison in Red wine and some chopped garlic overnight

Sautee O, BP, and C in oil until golden brown

Add Tomatoes (both kinds)along with seasonings and simmer 10 min.

Add mush. and meat

Cover tightly and cook on medium simmer for about 45 min.

Uncover and add green onions and parsley and cook for 15 more minutes, uncovered

Serve over Texmati Rice ( always buy local )

Simple, easy and delicious. I will stick this in recipe gullet sometime shortly so it will be easier to find.

Incidentally, a little okra would not hurt this at all.

[fifi]

Why was I thinking that this was more complicated and took a lot longer to cook?

At various "parties" I always had the impression that "the guys" sat around tending their pots for a long time. (Probably smokin' their okra. )

[Mayhaw Man]

Why was I thinking that this was more complicated and took a lot longer to cook?

At various "parties" I always had the impression that "the guys" sat around tending their pots for a long time. (Probably smokin' their okra. )

"The Way of the Guy" is a long and difficult road. Training takes years and many never reach the top of the mount. The way is fraught with peril and temptation. Only those who can focus on the ultimate goal will make it.

Actually, it does take years to look busy while watching a pot boil. The great part is that once you have figured out the routine, no one will question you or your cooking methods again. Men are free to drink beer and tell lies uninterrupted by observers and potential diners, who refrain from any questioning out of fear and a lack of understanding of "the way".

[Lucille]

hahahaha! so elequent too. The men I know around that fire are not capable of that sort of vocabulary.

funny...

[SobaAddict70]

I usually make this sauce with fresh berries, but frozen (as in your case) could work just as well:

coarsely chopped berries

finely minced scallions

coarsely chopped brined green peppercorns

raspberry or blackberry vinegar

sugar

chopped tarragon

fleur de sel

Mix ingredients together and macerate for at least an hour to an hour and a half prior to service. Wonderful with fish, chicken or pork chops.

------

You could also try making a blackberry coulis. Add a splash of liqueur, such as cassis, if you want.

Soba

[Shel_B]

I'd like to try making a blueberry sauce for venison tenderloins.  I've only just heard of combining blueberries with venison, so I'm in the dark about how to create a blueberry sauce - and it's been years since I've cooked venison as well.  Any suggestions here?

Edited May 14, 2014 by Shel_B (log)

[Shelby]

We eat a lot of venison.  My husband is an avid hunter.  Tenderloin should be a thick cut.  Sear quickly at a high heat.   Don't over-cook.  I like to sear it in butter.  I can't help on the sauce…we don't care for fruits with our meat.

[Plantes Vertes]

I would try combining the meat juices with oil and cooking some shallots, then adding port, sugar and balsamic vinegar and reducing, and finally adding the berries and some thyme and seasoning and simmering for a few minutes, then finishing with butter off the heat.

[mercenaryblade]

personally I'm partial to demi-based fruit sauces for red meats... blackberries and cherries in particular.

[ChrisTaylor]

Do you have a copy of the 2009 edition of Larousse? This recipe may be in older editions but I don't have access to them. Anyway. pp185-186 has a recipe for caribou tenderloin with blueberries. In summary:

 

• The meat is cooked in a pan. Just like you're planning on doing.
• Meat is removed to rest. Into the pan goes a lone diced shallot and 45 g wild blueberries. Cook for a minute. This makes enough sauce for 1.2 kg meat so adjust accordingly, I guess.
• Deglaze above w/ 50mL aged balsamic and 200mL red wine.
• Add 200mL veal or game stock.
• Reduce by half. Drop heat to low. Add 45g wild blueberries, some green peppercorns and a knob of butter. Season.

I can't vouch for the sauce. I just remembered that Larousse Gastronomique had something the moment I saw the thread title.

[Violin_guy]

Last Christmas I cooked a loin of venison, and tried a new (to me) sauce. Victorian superstar chef Francatelli's black currant sauce for venison. Here's the original recipe, with my notes in brackets:

 

Bruise one stick of cinnamon and twelve cloves (I lightly crushed these in a mortar), and put them into a small stew pan with two ounces of sugar, and the peel of one lemon pared off very thin, and perfectly free from any portion of white pulp; moisten with three glasses of port wine (I used about 300mls of Taylor Fladgate LBV), and set the whole to simmer gently on the fire for a quarter of an hour; and then strain it through a sieve into a small stew pan containing a pot of blackcurrant jelly (I used about 200mls) Just before sending the sauce to the table set it on the fire to boil, in order to melt the currant jelly, so that it may mix with the essence of spice etc.

 

A sauce based on red currants is traditional with game, and Francatelli notes that "it (blackcurrant) is preferred by many to the other, as it possesses more flavour". 

 

[Violin_guy]

We drank a Chateauneuf du Pape.

[Eatmywords]

Pretty dish.  How did you cook the loin?  The sauce seems a bit sweet.  Was it?  (I have several loins [did one in a lomein last night that I'll post in Dinner] but have been lazy about trying new recipes so this is inspiring, thanks!) 

[Violin_guy]

@EatmywordsI cut the loin into sections,  made a rub out of juniper berries, rosemary and black pepper, and just seared in a hot pan. I thought the sauce would be sweet as well, but the bitterness of the blackcurrant really helped to balance out the flavours. Let me know how it works out for you. 

[Violin_guy]

@Shel_B I've made a blueberry sauce with duck, and it would be great with venison. Put a few handfuls of wild blueberries in a pan, when they burst, deglaze with balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and quite a bit of black pepper.

[paul o' vendange]

I will often do a fruit sauce with flying game - typically, something local if I can, stock (game - specifically, the game in question, if I can), sometimes herbs, and an acid that works.  

 

Poivrade family, of course.

 

I had a venison plate with a twin-saucing of juniper-syrup (acid contributed by Sauv. Blanc - not too cloying) and a pomegranate jus.  People enjoyed it