Venison porchetta with sausage, prune and sage

Serves 4–6 (Start 1 day before) Starters and mains

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Method

The day before, sprinkle the sea salt over each side of the venison and set aside while you make the filling.

Set a small frying pan over a medium-low heat on the hob and pour in the olive oil. Add the onion and sage and cook gently for around 20 minutes, stirring frequently until starting to soften and turning translucent. Add the garlic, stirring over the heat for 1-2 minutes, then transfer everything to a bowl and set aside to cool.

Once the onion mix is cold, add the sausage meat and prunes and season well with salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix until well combined. Make a woven bacon blanket to enclose the venison: line up 8 bacon rashers next to each other, vertically (short ends facing you), on a flat baking sheet or chopping board. Working left to right, fold every other slice in half upwards. Take another rasher and lay it horizontally across the centre of the vertical slices. Unfold the folded vertical slices back over the horizontal one, then fold up the other set of vertical slices.

Lay another rasher horizontally and unfold the folded ones. Repeat, using all the rashers, to form a neat interwoven blanket. Lay the venison out flat on top of the bacon blanket, cut side up, and dot the sausage meat stuffing down the centre, pressing it into a cylinder. Bring the sides of the venison, along with the bacon, up and over to cover the stuffing, and roll together to form a neat cylinder.

Use lengths of butcher’s string to tie the rolled stuffed saddle at 2cm intervals. Wrap the rolled and stuffed joint really snugly in cling film or butcher’s paper and put in the fridge overnight to firm up and give the salt a chance to dry-brine and tenderise the meat.

Heat the barbecue ready for indirect grilling, with two strips of fire, one to each side, aiming for a temperature of around 170–180C. If you are cooking on a rotisserie, thread the spike right through the centre of the rolled joint and attach the forks at either end, lining it up so the joint is in the centre of the spike. Tighten up the nuts on the forks so the meat is really secure. Attach the spike into position and set the motor turning.

If you are cooking directly on the grill, rest the joint in the middle of the barbecue, between the two fires, and rotate every 30 minutes so it cooks evenly.

Cook for around 1 hour, 30 minutes until a probe inserted right into the centre, where the sausage meat sits, reaches 73–74C. Carve into thick slices to serve.

This recipe featured in the June 2022 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe, click here.