Now Jack Hennessy is in my territory, dropping a literary reference. As an old English major, I can proudly say that I plowed all the way through James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” but his “Finnegan’s Wake” so snowed me that I only made a few pages in and I gave up.
I digress.
Interesting how Hennessy adds a venison twist in a traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal.
Here is his recipe:
FINNEGAN’S VENISON
Growing up, corned beef and cabbage was a St. Patrick’s Day tradition in our household though, to my knowledge, no one actually eats the stuff on the Emerald Isle itself.
Corning venison is incredibly easy. To learn how to do so, I consulted James-Beard-Award winner Hank Shaw’s method at Honest-Food.net. Whenever I want to try something new and get it right the first time, I look to Hank. The guys’ a scholar and technician when it comes to wild game.
For cooking the corned venison, I adapted a recipe from my former stomping grounds, The Elk Public House in Spokane, Washington. Surprise: It involves cooking the corned venison in beer – Walnut River Brewing’s Warbeard Irish Red, in this instance, though any dark ale or amber will do.
No Irish meal would be complete without some amazing potatoes. My oven is terrible so I rely on a baking steel by Steelmade USA. It never leaves my oven, as it basically turns my low-grade electric into a convection oven with how it radiates heat. In this case, I cooked the potato slices directly on the baking steel for amazing-tasting crispy red potatoes. Doused in The Bearded Butchers Original spice mix, they were quite the treat.
Curing ingredients (four servings):
3- to 5-pound venison roast (round roast works great)
1/2 gallon water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup sugar
15 ml Instacure No. 1 (sodium nitrite)
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
6 bay leaves
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Other ingredients:
36 ounces Irish red or dark ale
48 ounces chicken stock
1 yellow onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 tablespoon stoneground mustard
2 tablespoons corn starch slurry
Salted butter
Freshly minced baby dill, optional for garnish
Four to six large red potatoes
1 whole cabbage, cut into sixths (stem attached)
24 ounces hard apple cider
1/2 cup malt vinegar
Kosher salt and black pepper
Before adding venison roast, mix all curing ingredients in a large pot and bring to a low boil. Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Remove and cool in fridge.
Add venison roast and allow to cure for minimum 1 week.
After 1 week, rinse off roast and place in large pot. Cover with beer and chicken stock. Barely simmer for minimum 3 hours, until desired texture is reach (venison roast should have some give and not feel rock hard).
In a separate pot, cook finely diced yellow onion on low in butter until carmelized (likely 45 minutes). Add liquids in which corned venison cooked – along with stoneground mustard, white wine vinegar, and sugar – and bring to a boil.
Allow liquids to reduce to approximately half. To make corn starch slurry, do so 1 tablespoon at a time. Add drops of cold water to corn starch in a bowl and mix with fingers until it’s a slurry. Add to liquids to thicken. Continue to add corn starch slurry until desired thickness is reached (should resemble a glaze).
Cut cabbage into six pieces (do not remove stem) and cook in a large pot in hard cider and malt vinegar with a dusting of kosher salt and pepper. Add water to cover if necessary.
Wash and cut potatoes into 1/2- to 1-inch slices and dust with spices. Rub with sunflower oil (or canola or vegetable oil) and cook in oven at 450 degrees.
Once all ingredients are cooked, sliced corned venison and cover in glaze and garnish with baby dill and enjoy!
