Wild Venison and Cider Ragù Recipe
Slow cooked wild venison ragú, richly flavoured with tomato, onion, garlic, Scottish cider, homemade rowanberry jelly, fennel seeds, mace, allspice, star anise and seasoning.
Glen Dye Recipe Series
Caroline Gladstone, co-founder and 35 year resident at Glen Dye, can really cook. As co-founder and curator of food at Hawarden Estate and Glen Dye, Caroline’s passion for good food runs deep. So, when the opportunity arose to source, prepare and sell our very own wild Glen Dye venison Caroline didn’t hesitate.
In this series we share her favourite recipes that are tried, tested and universally adored.
Caroline’s Glen Dye Wild Venison and Cider Ragù Recipe
I’d never cooked venison until I moved to Glen Dye in 1990 and had rarely eaten it, but I was curious, and in the spirit of embracing and learning everything I could about where we had moved to, I began to experiment. I started simply, with venison sausages, usually served with buttery mash, braised Puy lentils and salsa rossa. Then came venison sausage casserole, sometimes with mushrooms, sometimes with butter beans, sometimes with nduja and the experimentation began in earnest. Juniper, mace, bay, all spice, star anise, cinnamon, rowanberry jelly, fennel seeds, thyme, rosemary, flat leaf parsley have all played a part in the development of my recipes. Sometimes experiments fail and there are certain ingredients I wouldn’t use again, like tarragon or cardamom, raisins or beer. But on the whole, venison is very forgiving and is happy to be paired with most herbs and spices, which is what makes it such a fun and satisfying meat to cook with, and why my recipes are ever evolving. The recipes I have produced for these recipe cards are my favourites, but feel free to change up the ingredients and make the recipe your own!
A note on Wild Venison
A thriving population of red and roe deer roam freely on the hills and in the forests of Glen Dye, grazing on heather, wild plants and grass. But because they have no natural predators, these populations need to be managed to ensure they remain healthy and are kept in balance with their habitat.
This makes venison one of the most sustainable meats available in Britain. Not only is it delicious, but it is also incredibly healthy: it’s naturally low in fat and high in iron, potassium, zinc, and vitamins B6 and B12.
By buying local venison, you are also ensuring the lowest possible carbon footprint.
If you’ve never cooked venison, the thing to remember is that because it is very low in natural fat, it can become dry if it is overcooked. Use it instead of beef in bolognese, in casseroles, in chilli or in a cottage pie. Whatever you make, you can rest assured it will be delicious.
Wild Venison and Cider Ragù
Slow cooked wild venison ragú, richly flavoured with tomato, onion, garlic, Scottish cider, homemade rowanberry jelly, fennel seeds, mace, allspice, star anise and seasoning.
Ingredients
- 1 kg minced Glen Dye wild venison
- rapeseed oil
- 1 brown onion (peeled and chopped)
- 1 garlic clove (peeled and crushed with a pinch of salt)
- 2 tsps fennel seeds
- 1 tsp ground mace
- 125ml cider
- 1 tbsp rowanberry jelly
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 2 star anise
- salt and pepper to season Serve with
- pasta or rice and a crunchy green salad
Equipment
- Ovenproof casserole dish
- Greaseproof paper cartouche
Directions
- Heat the oven to 160°C.
- Place an overproof casserole dish over a medium heat. Add a tablespoon of oil and the chopped onion and sweat for 5-10 minutes until translucent.
- Add the garlic and sweat for another 5 minutes.
- Add the fennel seeds and mace and cook for a couple of minutes until nicely fragrant.
- Add the venison mince, season well and increase the heat to high. Brown the mince all over.
- Once the meat has browned, add the cider and stir well until the liquid has all but evaporated.
- Add the rowanberry jelly, chopped tomatoes and star anise and stir well.
- Cover with a cartouche of greaseproof paper, put on the lid and cook in the oven for 2 hours. The meat should be really tender.
- Serve with pasta or rice and a crunchy green salad.
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