Venison goulash with red wine and bacon

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 1 ½ kg venison for goulash
• 100 g smoked bacon, e.g. pancetta
• 2 tbsp clarified butter
• 3 large onions
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp flour
• ¼ liter red wine, strong (e.g. Rioja or Shiraz)
• 400 ml Game stock
• 3 bay leaves
• 8 juniper berries
• 4 tbsp jelly, (currant jelly)
• 50 ml cream

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours 15 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 45 minutes

deliciously seasoned with currant jelly

Cut the pancetta into small cubes and fry in a hot casserole dish; the bacon will melt almost completely, but it will add a lovely aroma. Remove the bacon greaves. Add clarified butter to the bacon fat and fry the trimmed venison goulash until crispy and golden. It’s best to fry the meat in three batches, turning only when the underside is brown and crispy. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the meat and briefly fry the diced onions in the cooking juices. Add the tomato paste and sauté briefly. Dust everything with flour and continue to sauté, stirring continuously. Be careful not to form any lumps. Add the meat and its juices, mix everything well, and pour in the wine, half a liter of water, and the stock. Carefully scrape off any cooking juices from the bottom of the dish. Add the bay leaves and juniper berries. If you use a paper tea strainer or a spiced egg for the spices, they can be easily removed towards the end of the cooking time. Bring everything to a boil and simmer for about 1.5 hours. Then remove the spices, add the bacon cracklings back to taste, season with the jelly (it also tastes good if you mix in a handful of dried cranberries and simmer them one hour before the end of the cooking time), and simmer the goulash for another 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the cream. Serve with napkin dumplings or homemade spaetzle.