Venison roast with pretzel dumplings
Recipe Facts
Difficulty level:
medium ◉◉◉◎◎
Quantity for:
4 people
Preparation time:
⧗ individual
Grilling time:
⧗ individual
Grill(s) & Equipment:
Gas grill or Kamado, Dutch oven, cling film, aluminum foil
Ingredients
• 1 ½ kg boneless venison leg
• 3 different colored carrots
• 1 beetroot
• 2 onions
• ½ parsnip
• 400 ml game stock
• 1 bottle of dry red wine
• 3 tbsp wild cranberries
• some tomato paste for frying
• Salt
• black pepper
• 6 juniper berries
• 2 bay leaves
• Game spice
• Clarified butter for frying
• 1 handful of mushrooms of your choice (preferably porcini mushrooms)
• 1 jar of wild cranberry jam
For the pretzel napkin dumplings:
• 8 pretzels, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• 200 ml milk
• 3 eggs
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 pinch of nutmeg
Equipment is available in the FIRE&FOOD shop!
preparation
➊ Rub the venison leg all over with pepper and game spice and let it rest, covered, in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
➋ Cut the vegetables into 1 cm cubes and the porcini mushrooms into thin strips. Heat clarified butter in a Dutch oven and sear the leg of pork until crisp. Then remove the meat and brown the vegetables. Add the tomato paste and cook until the tomato flavor fades and a delicate roasted aroma develops. Then deglaze with the red wine. Add the game stock and add the juniper berries and bay leaves to the pot in a spiced egg.
➌ Return the venison leg to the Dutch oven, ensuring it is fully submerged. Braise for 1.5 hours, checking the liquid level occasionally and adding more wine or water if necessary. Once the venison roast has reached an internal temperature of 60°C, wrap it in butcher paper and set it aside to rest.
➍ While the roast is resting, season the gravy in the Dutch oven with salt, pepper and wild cranberries if desired and reduce with the lid open.
➎ For the pretzel dumplings, place the sliced pretzel dumplings in a large bowl, season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then add the melted butter and slightly warmed milk. Mix everything by hand and let stand for 5 minutes. Now add the eggs and parsley and mix well until the dough begins to thicken.
➏ Roughly shape the dumpling dough into a sausage shape with a diameter of 8–9 cm. Then place it on a 40 cm long piece of cling film and wrap it in the foil. Repeat with a second piece of cling film, tying the ends tightly at the sides. Then roll it in aluminum foil – it's important that the cling film encloses the dumpling dough in a watertight layer. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, add the dumpling roll, and let it stand in the boiling water for 40 minutes – the water shouldn't be allowed to boil.
➐ To serve, slice the venison roast and napkin dumplings and arrange them with wild cranberries, gravy and a little chopped parsley.
Rudolfo's BBQ tip: "For this recipe, I used a Dutch Oven ft9. To achieve a cooking temperature of 180°C, I placed 9 coal briquettes under the bottom of the pot and 15 briquettes on the DO lid. With this setup, you can expect 1 hour of cooking time per kilogram of venison roast."
Recipe by Rudolf Klasna aka Rudolfo
We've never seen this combination before in over 20 eventful years of FIRE&FOOD: a master hairdresser who wields his scissors with utmost professionalism and, as a professional griller, knows exactly how to conjure up a delicious Sunday roast on one of his grills. We're talking about Rudolf Klasna, aka Rudolfo, who has been combining both trades with finesse and passion for more than 30 years. https://www.rudolfos-grill.de/ Recipe from FIRE&FOOD issue 01/2025
