Venison Loin

A cut worthy of any celebratory meal, venison* loin is prepared from the venison saddle, with the eye of the loin carefully removed from the bone and expertly trimmed of any sinew by our butchery team.

Similar in size to a whole fillet of beef, venison loin can be treated in much the same way. For best results, cook over high heat to rare or medium, followed by a generous resting period.

It’s excellent as steaks, cooked as above, and paired with wild mushrooms and creamed celeriac, or a salad of beetroot, horseradish, and watercress. Alternatively, simply season with coarse sea salt, cracked black pepper, and fresh thyme leaves before searing the whole loin and slicing thinly for a wonderfully alternative carpaccio.

Venison loin is also perfect for tartare, whether prepared in the classic style or with venison-friendly flavours like juniper, caraway, or orange zest.

Chef Valentine Warner inspires:
"This is a most delicious and tender cut that should always be cooked to pink or rare. Do not try to stew this cut. If cooking rare, swiftly sear the outside to a lovely brown then roast at 200°C, remove and rest the venison loin when it's 55°C (or 58°C for those who prefer medium). Leave for a proper rest that it not weep once served and that any runoff may be returned to the sauce or jus.

Cooked gently over charcoal with dried herbs, such as sage or rosemary, then to be  eaten with olives, almonds and preserved lemons would take venison to a more Mediterranean table while roasting and serving with ceps and apples delivers pure autumn joy. Continuing into this season and chestnut risotto would do well to be crowned with such fine meat, perhaps even a braised ossobuco-style cross cut of the haunch. 

Loin is wonderful sliced thinly then tossed in a pokey salad of watercress and horseradish or cut more thickly and laid upon toasted sourdough rubbed with garlic with salsa verde and fresh goat's curd.

Served with burnt spring greens or perhaps a Chinese-style wood ear or oyster mushroom and cucumber vinegar salad and finishing it with a very hot Szechuan pepper oil and it is delicious.

Creamed spinach and French fries are good bedfellows as is roasted chicory, burnt oranges and a simple pass over with walnut oil.

Raw venison is deliciously invigorating! For those foraging enthusiasts, try mixing it with finely chopped wild dittander, black mustard leaves or wild garlic. Young fresh ceps grated raw over the top will also deliver a wildly pleasing and clean tasting joy.

All fungi from hedgehog mushrooms and chanterelles to truffles are fabulous with venison saddle, especially if joined by a flavoursome jus and simple, super crisp duck fat roast potatoes with parsley and garlic.

A well-prepared Venison Wellington can be a fiddlier approach but will certainly deliver good things especially alongside a good gravy and a celeriac and apple purée.

Cold smoked with juniper and pine salt and then sliced very thinly to be served with a soft egg and charred dressed leeks is sublime.

Good ciders should be considered as much as wine to enjoy with venison."

*Swaledale wild venison live a natural life on the Harewood Estate in West Yorkshire. These slow grown fallow deer are free to roam and forage amongst the bounty of the forest and pastures for a nutrient-rich diet of various grasses, herbs, fruit, nuts, acorns and wildflowers. Swaledale wild venison is lean and tender meat, naturally marbled and with a rich and dense umami flavour. All of our venison is dry-aged for 10-days on the carcass to intensify its gamey character. Venison loin is Always Fresh Never Frozen®, butchered to order, vacuum packed, and shipped in recyclable packaging to arrive safely insulated and ready to enjoy.  Please note Swaledale Butchers® work in harmony with the life cycle of wild deer, therefore this is a seasonal product only available from early autumn to late winter.