‘Are you with the church group?’ I'm asked by the pleasant, almost serene congregant as we wait for the cinema to clear after the Sunday morning happy gathering.
‘Oh god no, we’re here for the Wolf of Wall Stre....’ Uncomfortable, awkward, seeing as this movie as it unfolded and at 18+ (plus your parents’ permission at any age), would be the polar opposite of a new age church gathering. So, with not a small amount of catholic guilt, I wait outside until the flock clears the cinema and avoid their disapproving eyes.
Let's see if I can make you a little uncomfortable with this week’s tale.
There's probably been some concern about recent lessons of good health, exercise and oat bran. To dispel any thoughts that this will be my new direction - rather than the promise of paddock to plate, nose to tail eating - I give you this little pearler.
There is very much this one-upmanship when it comes to hunting and gathering. The weirder the better. Scouring the landscape for wild mushrooms is trumped by scraping lichen of seashore rocks; finding truffles with just your nose and a teaspoon is gazumped by bringing down an elk with just a knife and loin cloth.
So when a couple of friends turn up, independently and each with a deer, I know it's going to be a good week – stuff is going to happen, shit is going down and afterwards I’ll have plenty to write about.
One of these local characters, who will remain nameless, arrived with a glint in his eye and an esky and blew me away with what was in it.
A bit of background. Years ago, chef Cheong Liew was preparing a special dinner for a group of winemakers in South Australia. We winemakers are an adventurous lot and generally won't back down from a challenge. Well, Liew laid down his hand this night. Among the many and varied courses was a soup. Apparently, it was quite gamey and brothy with little diamond-shaped things floating in it. Nothing too unusual until it was revealed that the flotsam in the soup bowl was actually, I kid you not, a deer's penis.
It's gone quiet, hello. Is there anyone out there?
This appendage is not uncommon in Chinese cuisine and medicine. Like cordyceps and ground stag horn, eating weird, rare and phallic things is thought to be restorative, an aphrodisiac and good for the joints. In fact, this soup would not have been out of place in this epic movie by Scorsese on the excesses of the late ‘80s.
So out of the little esky, along with some nice-looking venison sausages, is this deer’s dick. Lots of things come to mind, like, wow, I haven’t tried that before, and you know, it’s been OK. Being a forward thinker and practical as all get out, he also brought a recipe. Which is basically to cook it in a vinegary solution for many hours. This would obviously be full of cartilage so you need an acidic stock to tenderise it, I’m just saying. Then, the recipe goes, slice it thinly and serve in a light soup. Sounds like something from the Silence of the Lambs.
I need time to think about this and I put it in the freezer, carefully labelled, of course. That’s not a conversation you want to have when you’ve been away, ‘Honey, umm, did you see what happened to the deer’s penis?’
This deer was, obviously, a young male, quite large, apparently, with an impressive set of antlers as well as the penis. I’m aware this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I can assure you it was slaughtered quickly, with a bullet from 500 metres, after a free-ranging life. As opposed to the cow that last night’s steak came from, which would have been kept in paddocks and feed lots, just waiting in line for its turn. So either don’t eat meat or get over it. Deer is a species introduced for the purpose of hunting is culled to decrease numbers and generally finds its way into pet food at best.
This deer fed a small community and was pretty good. The best was the neck, which was the size of a small pig’s neck. The two meaty sections were cut out and a stock made from the neck bones. The neck meat is cooked in this stock at a low temperature until it just falls apart. You can serve this with pasta, or gnocchi is perfect. A meal fit for a king, a queen, or indeed a wolf.
Deer neck is hard to find, but you can use veal, beef or lamb shank for the same result. Just ask the butcher to leave the muscle in large portions and keep the bones. If you can find a pair of hares the same dish would be equally spectacular made from the hind legs.
Deer ragu with gnocchi
Ingredients
- 1-2kg neck of deer (or substitute)
- venison stock (see below)
- 6 rosemary stalks
- knob of butter
- handful parsley leaves, chopped roughly
- good quality parmesan, grated
- prepared gnocchi (see below)
- salt and pepper
Method
Season the meat and brown all over in hot oil, drain. In a suitable roasting pan – one that holds the meat comfortably with enough height to be fully submerged - add the meat and cover with the stock. Bake in an oven at 85C for six to eight hours, topping with hot water as needed and check towards the end - the meat should start to fall apart.
Strain. Put the stock back on the heat and cook down to about 500ml. Add the rosemary stalks and steep while the stock cools. Grab some forks and carefully pull the meat apart. Take your time to get it down to muscle fibre. Remove the rosemary from the sauce and add the meat. Warm through to serve.
Cook the gnocchi in rapidly boiling water until they float. Scoop out, drain and toss in the butter. Do this in small batches so the water is always on the boil. Serve with the hot ragu, grated cheese and parsley.
Venison stock
- venison bones
- oil
- 2 onions, sliced
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 star anise
- ½ bottle rich red wine
- 6 sprigs thyme
- 10 peppercorn
- 6 juniper berries
- salt
Rub the venison with salt and oil and bake in a hot oven until brown. Saute the onions, carrots, garlic and star anise in oil until just starting to colour. Add the roasted bones and deglaze with the red wine. Reduce by a half, and add the herbs and spices, plus enough water to cover. Simmer gently for four to five hours, strain.
Gnocchi
- 3-4 medium sized potatoes
- 1 cup flour
- 2 eggs yolk
- salt
Steam or boil the potatoes until they are cooked through but not falling apart. Drain and let them dry off for a few minutes. Make a ring of flour about plate sized and pass the potatoes through a potato ricer or mash into the middle. Make a well in this and add eggs and salt. With a fork, mix the eggs and potato together and slowly combine the flour just a little at a time. Swap the fork for a pastry scraper and start to fold the dough over and over on itself. Not kneading, just in a gently folding action, adding flour until you get to a soft dough that is pliable but not tough. Flatten to an oblong about 1.5 centimetres thick. Cut into strips the same width. Roll these in flour and cut into three centimetre lengths, dusting with flour as you go. Use a fork to roll the gnocchi over to give it that grooved look. Cover until needed.