Culinaria: JP McMahon cooks wild venison

The word venison originally applied to any furred game caught in the wild, but now it only applies to deer.

There is a rich tradition of eating deer in both Ireland and England. Nowadays, deer farms supply Northern Ireland and England with venison all year round, but I prefer the wild variety, which is only available from late autumn to late winter.

Deer meat should be hung for between 12 and 22 days before eating. This process helps tenderise the meat and develop its flavour. Historically, before the advent of the refrigerator, the meat would have been rubbed with ginger and black pepper to keep flies away.

Venison is an extremely lean meat. A common way to cook it in the past involved larding it (sewing pork fat through the meat with a larding needle). This would keep the meat nice and moist.

Venison pies were very popular from the middle ages up to the 19th century. In a 1605 recipe, the author recommended a thick rye and lard pastry to enclose slowly cooked venison meat that was spiced with ginger and cinnamon.

For me, venison loin or fillet should always be cooked rare and well rested in a warm place. It pairs well with autumn fruits (blackberries, apples and plums) and goes wonderfully with salt baked beetroot.

You should cook venison loin as you would a steak, in a pan with a little oil over a high heat, then finishing with some butter to baste and a sprig of thyme.

For the salt baked beets: mix 700g of white flour, 300g rye flour, and 400g salt. Add 600ml of water to form a dough. Wrap the dough around some six to eight small, peeled beetroots and bake for about 45 minutes.

Allow the salt dough to cool and then remove the beetroot and dice it into cubes. Carve your venison and serve with the salt baked beetroot. Garnish with some blackberries, raspberries and a few toasted pumpkin seeds.