Venison saddle in salt crust with wild mushroom goulash

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 30 g bacon, streaky
• 4 shallots
• 40 g celery
• 50 g carrot(s)
• 10 peppercorns
• 20 juniper berries
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp cranberries
• 250 ml red wine
• 250 ml cream
• 40 ml gin
• 3 pinch(s) salt and pepper
• 800 g mixed mushrooms (wild mushrooms)
• 200 g onion(s)
• 30 g butter
• 2 apples
• 40 ml white wine
• 1 dashes vinegar (fruit vinegar)
• 2.2 kg venison loin
• 5 slice(s) bacon, streaky
• 1 kg salt, coarse
• 1 egg white
• 1 sprig(s) of thyme and 1 fir branch

Instructions

Working time approx. 50 minutes; Total time approx. 50 minutes

For the sauce, dice the bacon, shallots, celery, and carrots. Brown the bacon, then add the vegetables, peppercorns, 10 juniper berries, and bay leaf and fry. Add the tomato paste and cranberries, along with the red wine and a little water, so that everything is covered with liquid. Simmer gently for about an hour. Strain the stock and then reduce. Reduce the sauce with the cream and gin, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and puree in a blender. Keep warm. For the wild mushroom goulash, clean the mushrooms, dice the onions, and apples. Sauté the onions in butter, then deglaze with the wine and fruit vinegar. When the onions are cooked, stir in the apples and let them stand for a minute. Then add the chopped mushrooms to the onion and apple mixture and let them stand for a short while. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. For the venison loin, season the meat with a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper, stud it with ten juniper berries, wrap it with bacon, and season with pine needles and thyme. Mix the coarse salt with egg white and a little water to make it slightly moist for further processing. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spread the salt dough on it 1 cm thick. Roll the venison loin in the dough and cook in a preheated oven at 250 degrees Celsius for about ten minutes, then at 150 degrees Celsius for about 18 minutes. Remove the meat from the oven and let it rest for about four minutes. Then cut open the salt crust with a knife and serve the venison loin with the sauce and mushroom goulash. Dumplings or red cabbage are good side dishes.