Venison carpaccio

This is a nod to Harry’s Bar in Venice, the home of the original carpaccio dish.

Credit: Born to Cook: Jack Stein Downunder

• serves

  4

• prep

  1:15 hour

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 400 g loin of venison , chilled overnight
• extra virgin olive oil
• 50 g (2 oz) wild rocket
• 25 g (1 oz) Parmesan shavings
• Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Sauce

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 2 pinches dry mustard
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper
• ¾ cup olive oil
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 1-2 dashes worcestershire sauce, or to taste
• 1 ½ cups milk
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Jack’s House Pickle

• 2 candied beetroot
• 750 ml rice wine vinegar 
• 2 star anise 
• 5 g thyme 
• 1 g chilli flakes 
• 375 ml water
• 10 g salt
• 100 g sugar
• 5 g sachet Dashi granules 

Instructions

Sear the venison loin in butter and thyme. Freeze the meat for an hour, then use a sharp knife to slice it into the thinnest possible slices. Lay out flat, cover in cling film and gently use a mallet to hammer them wafer-thin. Arrange the slices over four chilled 25 cm (10 inch) plates, so that they cover the entire base, with the edges of the slices just butting up together, but not overlapping very much.

Season the beef with salt and pepper and then drizzle over a little olive oil.

Make a quick mayo by whisking the egg yolk and vinegar. Add in two pinches of dry mustard and drizzle in the olive oil, making sure the mayo doesn’t split. Add in the lemon juice, milk, white pepper and two shakes of worcestershire sauce.

For the house pickle, make a 2-to-1 vinegar-to-water ratio in a large pot. Add a large pinch of salt and 100g of sugar. Add in the aromats, thyme, star anise and chilli flakes. Pour in the dashi granules. The standard rule of pickling is to place vegetables in while cold, bring pickling liquid up to the boil and then remove the vegetables. You can reuse the same pickle juice over and over. 

Arrange pickles over carpaccio and serve.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.