So last week my pops brought me a nice little deer leg in one of those "random gifts that you really didn't know you wanted but really wanted" occasions. I'd never really had the penchant to cook an entire venison leg at home before, but it was fun as all hell. So its starts like this, with hanging and aging:
The it gets cured before we cook it, so we devised a sexy cure which involved pink sea salt, pickling spices, and some extra fun stuff tossed in there to make sure the flavour was to be savored later. At this point it looked like this:
After that we wrapped it up snugly in a dressing to keep that sexy cure in contact. Warning, if you ever do this, ensure you put a drip container underneath, because I know people who get salty weird blood all over their floors. One snuggled in it's nest, we hung it in the garage.
Once sufficiently cured, it was time for a nice little braise. Around 6 hours in a bunch of our home made cider and beer. From sexy cure to sexy braise. I think this is the only point when I would have added something that I didn't put in, which is apples. I believe apples would have been a nice addition to the mirepoix here, just in case the cider wasn't doing it's job.
After braising, finish the jus, and enjoy in a variety of applications. The best way is probably in sandwiches or in an awesome sauce. Rock it out.
