Selle de Chevreuil aux Cerises

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Snug nonreactive marinating dish or 1-gallon food-safe bag
• •12-inch (30 cm) heavy skillet
• •Shallow roasting pan fitted with a rack
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •1-quart (1 litre) saucepan
• •Carving knife and butcher’s twine

Instructions

1. 1

   Marinate twelve hours

   Prepare the Raw Marinade for Butcher’s Meat or Venison (No. 169) with verjuice in place of its vinegar. Before it touches the meat, reserve ½ cup (120 ml) in a clean covered container for basting and refrigerate it. Season the saddle all over with the salt and pepper, then settle it into the remaining marinade in a snug nonreactive dish, covering it with the aromatic vegetables. Refrigerate for exactly twelve hours, turning the roast three or four times. Don't extend the time: the active verjuice can make the surface mealy rather than more tender.

   Reserve the basting portion before adding the raw meat. Discard everything that has been in contact with the uncooked venison after marinating.
2. 2

   Dry and temper

   Take the saddle from the refrigerator forty-five minutes before roasting. Discard the used marinade and vegetables, then dry the meat thoroughly with kitchen paper. Retie it if the shape has loosened. A wet saddle steams against the pan and throws away the browning the spit once supplied; dry it until the surface feels slightly tacky.

3. 3

   Soak the cherries

   Cover the semi-candied cherries with the hot water and leave them for thirty minutes, as the original directs. Drain them well and blot away the excess water. The soaking softens their candied exterior so they swell into the sauce rather than sitting in it like sweets.

4. 4

   Brown the saddle

   Heat the oven to 450°F (230°C) with a rack in the upper-middle position. Heat the clarified butter in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When it gleams, brown the saddle for sixty to ninety seconds on each broad face and briefly along the sides. Give it real Maillard bronze without trying to cook the centre. Transfer it to a rack set in a shallow roasting pan.

5. 5

   Roast frankly underdone

   Roast for eight minutes, then baste with some of the clean reserved marinade and turn the pan. Continue roasting for six to twelve minutes, basting once more, until an instant-read thermometer pushed into the thickest part registers 50°C or 122°F. Begin checking early. Rest the saddle loosely covered for ten minutes, when it should rise toward 54°C or 129°F. If you overshoot, remove it immediately, rest only five minutes, and carve it thickly. Ça se rattrape with a generous spoonful of sauce, but no further heat.

6. 6

   Build the cherry sauce

   While the saddle rests, put the poivrade sauce and red-currant jelly into a small saucepan in exactly equal volumes. Warm them over gentle heat, whisking until the jelly dissolves and the sauce becomes glossy and unified, then fold in the drained cherries and hold at the barest simmer for two minutes. If the sauce tightens into a sticky glaze, whisk in hot water one teaspoon at a time. Ça se rattrape. It should nap the back of a spoon and flow freely onto the platter.

7. 7

   Carve and serve

   Remove the twine and carve the saddle across the grain into thick slices, keeping every drop of its resting juices. Arrange the slices on a warm platter, spoon the juices over them, then pool some cherry sauce around the meat and pass the rest separately. The centre should remain deep rose to garnet, with a narrow browned edge. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask the butcher for a boneless saddle or loin roast of even thickness, with every strip of silver skin removed. A haunch is a different cut with different demands; this quick, underdone roast depends on the saddle’s natural tenderness.
• •Verjuice means the tart, unfermented juice of pressed grapes, not sweet grape juice and not wine vinegar. It perfumes the venison without the blunt acidity vinegar would bring to this twelve-hour marinade.
• •Use dark semi-candied cherries, not bright cocktail cherries. A good preserved sour cherry is the honest classical pantry answer when semi-candied fruit cannot be found, but drain it thoroughly and expect a slightly sharper sauce.
• •Poivrade is a finished component here, just as it was in the brigade kitchen. Prepare it ahead from its own recipe rather than rebuilding it inside this dish; the separate sauce work is classical kitchen organization, not fuss for its own sake.
• •The source permits omitting the marinade when a plain saddle is wanted. This service follows the verjuice version, and twelve hours is enough. Longer is not better.
• •Choose a red Burgundy with freshness rather than weight, or a restrained northern Rhône Syrah. The wine needs enough acidity for the cherries and enough savour for the venison.
• •The underdone temperature is suitable only for an intact, properly handled whole-muscle roast from a trusted source. For pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised guests, cook their portions to 145°F (63°C) after carving.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the poivrade sauce one day ahead, chill it promptly, and reheat only the measured quantity needed for the cherry sauce.
• •Prepare the Raw Marinade for Butcher’s Meat or Venison (No. 169) immediately before adding the saddle, then refrigerate the meat for exactly twelve hours.
• •The cherries can soak and drain while the saddle loses its refrigerator chill. Measure the poivrade and red-currant jelly in advance so their equal-volume ratio cannot wander during the rush before serving.
• •The finished cherry sauce can stand over the gentlest heat for about fifteen minutes. If it thickens while waiting, loosen it teaspoon by teaspoon with hot water.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 250g)