Pulled Venison Shoulder
Finzean Farm Shop’s Pulled Venison Burger.
You might have been lucky enough to try this dish in the farm shop a few weeks ago, when it was on the specials board as a tester. Sanjay wanted a recipe that would use the shoulders of some Roe deer that he had butchered, and adapted a simple recipe for pulled pork with a slight twist, to suit the flavours of venison and use some autumnal ingredients. It was very popular, and we thought you might like to try making it at home too.
Paired with a creamy, tangy fennel slaw, some pickles and a brioche bun, it makes a great burger! The end result could also be used for filling burritos, or baked with mac & cheese for a game twist on some traditional pulled pork classics.
We’re butchering several Roe deer this week, and if you’d like to try this at home please let us know and we can keep whole or half shoulders set aside for you to buy. Sanjay is more than happy to split the shouders for you, so that they can fit into your cooking pot!
If you can’t make it into the farm shop this week to get some venison, don’t worry - this recipe would be equally suited to pork shoulder. Just bear in mind that it will be a bit fattier, and will need some of the fat skimming off after it’s braised. We use shoulders as they are a cut of the animal that braises really well, without drying out.
Sanjay’s also testing a slightly different format for the recipe - a bit more casual. Let us know if it’s still easy to use!
Serves 6-8
You’ll need an oven-proof casserole dish with a lid to best braise the venison in the oven. For a shoulder, an oval shaped dish is ideal to fit it all in the pot, but you’ll most likely still need the shoulder chopped into two pieces
Alternatively, you could use a deep baking dish and cover it with foil, but you’d need to make the braising liquid separately in this case, before transferring it to the dish with the shoulder and topping it up to cover the meat.
For a smaller serving, you could halve this recipe and use a half shoulder with good results. But with a long, slow cook, it’s often easier to do a bigger batch and freeze the end result!
INGREDIENTS
For the Pulled Venison
1 whole shoulder from a Roe/similar small deer, or half a shoulder of a Red Deer, cut into sections to fit into the pot.
3 tbsp neutral cooking oil, such as sunflower or rapeseed
2 onions, red or white, sliced roughly
2 apples (any variety), cored and sliced roughly
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp each dried oregano & thyme (you can use mixed herbs instead)
1 piece star anise
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 tsp whole cloves
1tbsp smoked paprika
500ml stock - vegetable, beef or chicken would all work.
500ml apple juice
100g dark muscovado sugar
50ml maple syrup, honey or golden syrup
2tbsp cornflour
Apple cider vinegar, to taste
Salt to taste
For the Creamy Fennel Slaw (optional, as featured with our burger)
1 head fennel, finely sliced
1 small handful of mixed chives, parsley and dill, finely chopped
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 a lemon, juiced
Salt & Pepper to season
Combine all slaw ingredients and season to taste
METHOD
Preheat your oven to 150°C (fan). On the stovetop, heat your pan to medium heat and add the cooking oil, apples, onions, and garlic. Gently sweat until they start to color, then add all the spices and herbs to the pot.
Fry the spices until they are nice and aromatic — about 5 minutes — keeping the heat on medium. If it starts to catch, you can add a splash of water to the pan and scrape well to deglaze it. Once smelling delicious (and faintly of Christmas!), add the apple juice, stock, sugar, and syrup and stir so everything dissolves. Bring the mix to a simmer, and gently place your shoulder pieces into the pan, ensuring they are just about covered. If necessary, top up the liquid with some boiling water.
Transfer the dish to the oven and top with the lid slightly ajar, not fully seated. Counterintuitively, this helps the meat cook more slowly. You’ll need to braise this for 3-6 hours (longer if you’ve scaled up this recipe) until the meat is nice and tender. Check after 3 hours by inserting a fork into the meat and twisting. The fork should turn easily without much resistance. During cooking, you may need to top the braising liquid up with some extra boiling water to make sure that most of the meat remains covered.
Once tender, remove the dish from the oven and let it cool for at least 30 minutes. Using tongs, carefully remove the pieces of meat from the braising liquid and transfer them to a rimmed baking sheet or plate. They should come out as intact pieces, but if the meat falls off the bones, don’t worry!
Strain the remaining braising liquid through a colander or sieve into a wide saucepan to catch all the whole spices and any meat that has come off the bone. Carefully pick out the whole cloves, star anise, and cinnamon and discard. The onions and apples will be very soft. Transfer them to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
Place the pan full of braising liquid back onto the hob and bring it to a simmer. You’ll want to reduce this down to approximately 500ml of liquid, which will take about 30-45 minutes of simmering. Stir frequently, as if it gets too thick, it can start to burn on the bottom. Don’t worry though, as you can add some water at any point.
In the meantime, start removing the meat from the bones. It should come away without much resistance. Use scissors to trim away any remaining tendons/cartilage, leaving just the meat in large pieces. You can wear a clean pair of Marigolds to assist with this, which helps if the meat is still very hot, but it’s easiest to do this while the meat is hot, so persevere.
Transfer the meat to the bowl with the onions and apples. Using your hands, scrunch and tear the meat into large strands/pieces. Don’t break it up too much, as you want a bit of texture in the final dish.
Once the sauce has reduced down and started to thicken, bring it to its final consistency by adding a cornflour slurry — simply mix the cornflour with 4 tbsp water and whisk together to remove any lumps before stirring into the hot braising liquid. This will thicken the sauce up substantially, so add enough hot water to get it to the thickness of pouring cream. Taste, and season with plenty of salt, black pepper, and apple cider vinegar if it’s too sweet.
To the bowl of pulled meat, add just enough sauce to bring everything together — you don’t want it to be too sloppy! This is now ready to use in whatever you’d like: burgers (as pictured), burritos, or on top of mac & cheese. Simply reheat it gently in a pan or in the oven, adding more sauce if it starts to dry out.
