Recipe: Traditional Venison Pie
This traditional venison pie, or wildpastei, focuses on deep, rustic flavors, like red wine, vinegar, bay leaves, whole cloves, and lamb shanks to add essential moisture to the lean game meat.
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INGREDIENTS
- 1.5 kg venison meat (springbok, kudu, or gemsbok), cubed
- 500 g lamb shanks or fatty pork rashers (crucial for adding fat to lean game)
- 1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk (for marinating/tenderizing)
- 125 g bacon, chopped
- 2 large onions, chopped
- 1 whole onion, peeled
- 6 to 8 whole cloves (spiked into the whole onion)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 cup (250 ml) dry red wine (like a Pinotage or Cabernet Sauvignon)
- ½ cup (125 ml) brown wine vinegar
- 2 cups strong beef stock
- 2 tbsp cake flour
- 1 roll ready-made puff pastry (or sour cream pastry)
- 1 egg, beaten
- salt and plenty of coarse black pepper
METHOD
1. Marinate the game (the secret to tenderness!)
- Place the cubed venison into a non-reactive container and cover it with the buttermilk.
- Let it marinate in the fridge for 24 hours to draw out excess wildness and tenderize the fibers.
- Remove, rinse quickly with cold water, and pat completely dry.
2. Brown the meats
- In a heavy-bottomed pot (like a cast-iron flat potjie), fry the chopped bacon until the fat renders. Remove and set aside.
- Fry the chopped onions and garlic in the remaining bacon fat until soft. Remove and set aside.
- Dust your venison cubes lightly with the cake flour.
- Add a splash of oil if needed, and brown the venison and the lamb shanks deeply in batches to seal in the flavor.
3. The slow simmer
- Return the bacon, chopped onions, and all meat to the pot.
- Season generously with the ground coriander, salt, and lots of black pepper.
- Take the whole peeled onion and spike the whole cloves directly into it. Drop this “clove onion” into the pot along with the bay leaves.
- Pour in the red wine, vinegar, and beef stock.
- Cover tightly and simmer on very low heat for 3 to 4 hours (or use a pressure cooker for 45 minutes) until the meat easily flakes and falls off the lamb bones.
4. Shred and thickening
- Remove the lamb bones and the whole clove onion from the pot.
- Using two forks, coarsely shred the meat right inside the rich gravy.
- If the gravy is too runny, simmer it uncovered for a few minutes until it thickens into a rich, glossy sauce.
- Crucial: Let the filling cool down completely before handling the pastry.
5. Bake the pie
- Preheat your oven to 200°C.
- Spoon the cooled meat filling into a large pie dish.
- Roll the puff pastry over the dish. Trim the edges, press down with a fork to crimp, and slash a small cross in the center to let steam escape.
- Brush the pastry evenly with the beaten egg.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the pastry is deeply golden, crisp, and puffed up.
Serving suggestion:
Serve this dish standard boerekos style: with a side of sweet, glazed sweet potatoes, creamed spinach and warm yellow rice.