Smoked loin of venison

Smoked loin of venison

Method

1. Smear the loin with olive oil to prevent it from drying out during smoking.
2. Sprinkle with mustard seeds.
3. Use a deep, strong, foil roasting tray (as used on a Weber) and add all the smoking ingredients at the bottom.
4. Use four foil balls as spacers (between the smoking ingredients and the meat) to ‘hold’ a cooling rack in the corners of the foil roasting tray.
5. Put the loin on the cooling rack and cover the pan with a lid (the same size roasting tray as used for smoking ingredients) or tin foil.
6. Place the foil roasting tray with lid on a gas stove top and turn the large burner to medium heat.
7. When you see smoke escaping from the foil (it will take about 5 minutes), immediately turn off the heat and leave the pan for another ten minutes to continue the smoking process. Eventually the smoke will subside (by now you can remove the lid).
8. Continue cooking the meat over the braai or pan fry in olive oil until done to your liking. You can also position the meat in an oven tray and bake in the oven until done.
9. Stand for 5 minutes and cut into medallions. Serve as a salad or Carpaccio with shaved parmesan cheese and basil oil/Pinotage reduction (see recipe) with rocket leaves, seasonal berries e.g. raspberries or strawberries or roughly chopped dried figs.

Pinotage reduction

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar.
2. Simmer over low heat until the mixture reduces to a syrupy consistency.
3. The Pinotage reduction works well with venison, or on a hamburger with a venison patty.