Larded fillet of venison with Cumberland sauce

Ingredients:

• 600-800g deep frozen fillet or haunch of venison, approx. 1 level tsp ground black pepper, 100g smoked bacon, salt
• for roasting and the marinade: oil
• for the sauce: 1-1 orange and lemon, 200ml red wine, 1 jar (300g) Kecskeméti elderberry jam, 1 tsp Univer mustard, a pinch of Cayenne pepper (or hot red paprika), 30ml brandy

1. For the sauce, peel the orange and the lemon without leaving any of the white layer on the fruit, then cut them into thin slices. Put them in a pot to cook for 4-5 minutes with the wine. Mix the sauce with the jam and the mustard, add a little pepper then remove from the heat and add the brandy. Chill it well before serving; prepare the sauce well in advance.

2. Defrost the meat at room temperature, separate the meat from the bone and remove the tendons. Coat it with ground black pepper at least two days before preparation, then put it in an airtight, oiled grease paper wrapping. 

3. Cut the marinated venison into good finger thick slices before frying. When using the haunch, make sure to cut at a right angle from the fibres; the meat will be tough and stringy otherwise. Cut the bacon into thin strips, then lard each slice: make 4 holes into each slice and thread the bacon through, then add salt. 

4. Cook the slices rare, medium or well-done to taste in a frying pan over a little oil right before serving. Rare takes 1 minute frying on both sides, medium takes 2 minutes and well done takes 3 minutes. Serve it on Cumberland sauce. Rice with mushrooms or potato croquettes are recommended on the side. 

Useful advice:

Proceed the same way with fillet and haunch of roe deer, or wild boar.