Spit-Roast Venison, Two Ways
I was recently invited to come and roast vension at a friend's wedding. Obviously, I went for it. I've done this before - plenty of times, really - but this was an occasion on which I could really concentrate on it, and make sure it came out well.
The venison was hunted from wild deer (Sika and Fallow, both invasive species), mostly in Kerry, where they're essentially pests. The pieces were small cuts, intended for roasting (and other folk did teriyaki marinated strips on the grill, which were also excellent).
I did two runs - one with plain meat and a butter baste, and the other with a gyros rub.
The plain meat went on like this:
(It had a little of the fire before I remembered to start taking pictures)
The fire at this stage was hot enough that I couldn't hold my hand where the meat is for longer than about 6 seconds.
Here it is, almost ready to come off:
I've already started building the fire up again for the second lot here, and you can see clearly how the chunks of meat have shrunk down along the spit. They came out very well, and I didn't have a chance to get a picture before a good amount of it was being wolfed down by enthused wedding attendees, but here's some:
Next, the set with the gyros rub:
(This is resting at the top of the rig, just warming a little, while I do some more serious fire-building below.)
A little bit later, it looked like this:
And when it came off, I got a picture before the hordes descended:
The small chunks meant it cooked through in about 2.5-3 hours per set, and for this purpose, I did want it cooked through rather than rare. The butter basting kept the first set quite juicy, and the rub seemed to help trap moisture in the second, although it was a touch drier. It was very popular in both cases.
