Fallow deer

Daim

What it is

The fallow deer is not a European native: it comes from Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean, and the Normans stocked it into walled parks in England in the eleventh century, where it has lived behind a fence ever since. Nine centuries of park life show in the meat — evenly fed, evenly fatted, without the swing in flavour a genuinely wild animal takes on through autumn.

In the kitchen

The loin is big enough to roast whole but carries no fat cap: bard it, or take it to 52 °C and no further, because it dries out between 55 and 60. Rest it for as long as it roasted.

Goes with

Juniper berry Blackcurrant Chestnut Celeriac Red wine vinegar Thyme Pear Butter

In season alongside

Hind Roe deer Young wild boar Grey partridge Amethyst deceiver Snipe

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