As you are all no doubt aware, today is Scottish Venison Day and your 5pm blogger recently attended a venison tasting event to help publicise this tasty natural resource.
It was fascinating. For example, I learned that deer are not related to animals such as gazelles, kudos and antelopes. They all have horns which are permanent whereas deer have antlers which fall off and regrow each year.
Not that anyone is going to be eating the antlers. Instead, under the guidance of venison farmer, chef and writer, Nichola Fletcher, our little group sampled around a dozen different pieces of roe and red deer, the two types most commonly available in Scotland.
Whether they were wild or farmed; hung for three days or three weeks; marinated or not and casseroled or pan fried – each variation produced subtle differences in the taste and texture of the meat.
Perhaps surprisingly, the difference between wild and farmed red deer (roe deer is never farmed) wasn’t hugely pronounced. What made a bigger difference was the age of the animal when it was culled.
Venison becomes tougher the older the animal is at death. Farmed venison is usually harvested at the age of two or less when the meat is still very tender.
The other big difference was that in texture between roe and red deer. The meat of the smaller roe deer was more finely grained than that of the red which was looser.
Apparently, in-the-know chefs prefer roe deer. There wasn’t much in it but I think I would just about come down on the side of meat from red deer.
Either way, it’s a very healthy meat. Venison is now recognised as being one of the most nutritious of all red meats and is remarkably low in fat. It is not marbled in the same way as beef and lamb. With less than 2% fat (that’s less than skinless chicken), no salt and no sugar, venison shows green all the way on the ‘Traffic Lights’ scheme. And because it is so low in fat, venison is a good source of healthy protein.
Farmers markets; butchers with a game licence and even the supermarkets stock the increasingly popular meat. The Scottish Venison Information website is a good resource for stockists and recipes.
If you would prefer to leave it in the hands of the professionals then 5pm restaurants such as The Sisters in Glasgow and the Edinburgh Larder Bistro often have venison on the menu.
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