Venison saddle with red wine and blackcurrant sauce

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1.2 kg venison loin with bone
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• Peppercorns, black
• Salt
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp oil, neutral, e.g. rapeseed oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 shallots
• 3 carrots
• 100 g bacon slices
• 400 ml red wine, strong
• 1 bay leaf
• Thyme
• 1 tbsp juniper berries
• 200 ml cream
• 50 g currant jelly
• 50 g butter

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 3 hours

To prepare, bone the venison loin, remove all skins and tendons, and wrap it in a cloth soaked in a mixture of 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 4 tablespoons of red wine. Refrigerate overnight. Reserve all tendons, bones, and skins and use them for the sauce. Roast the bones and trimmings in oil. Add the tomato paste, roughly chopped shallots, and carrots and fry. As soon as the roasted vegetables are browned and sticking to the bottom, deglaze with a small splash of red wine. Use a spatula to scrape up any browned meat from the bottom. Repeat this process several times until you have a nice, dark sauce base. Transfer to a pot and add enough water to just cover all the ingredients. Then simmer for about an hour. Season the venison loin with salt and sear it well on all sides in olive oil. Cover the meat with the bacon and roast in a preheated oven at 180°C for 20-30 minutes until pink. Baste with the meat juices frequently. Test for doneness with a probe thermometer. At an internal temperature of 65°C, the meat will be pink on the inside, and at 70°C it will be cooked through. Fifteen minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the bay leaf, thyme, lightly crushed juniper berries, and coarsely crushed peppercorns to the sauce base. Remove the bones, then pass the sauce through a fine sieve and reduce to 400ml while boiling vigorously. Add a quarter liter of red wine, the cream, and the blackcurrant jelly to the sauce and continue reducing. Season with salt. Shortly before serving, use a hand blender to mix the ice-cold butter into the sauce to create a light thickening. Serve with the venison saddle. Red cabbage and dumplings go very well with it.