The Roast Stag that Feeds Two Dozen

When the hay meets the stag

It's just great to have freiends with similar interests when it comes to food! So last friday a friend drops us a call just to reveal that they have a leg of a healthy bavarian stag hunted by another friend that they want to dine with us.
Of course I said yes and so the super-organic formerly wild and proud stag ended up in our kitchen the next day. And as we decided to have him as our sunday roast I sat down and scanned some recipes in our collection and here's what I found... 

The stag was to be roast at a low temperature of 90°C and spiced just with some bay leaves, salt and pepper. Well, not just - there was some special additions to that: A nest of hay that I got from my neighbour who runs the farm the we get our milk, potatoes and eggs from. He pointed out that I should use the hay from the second cut of the season as this provides a much better and stronger aroma. The hay was enriched with some rosemary and thyme before it formed the nest for the beautiful yet huge piece of meat.

Hardly any pan is big enough

The stag is ready for his hay ride

Some 6hrs later the meat had reached the desired 58°C in its center and was served to everyone's pleasure with some Schupfnudeln, red cabbage and a creamy pepper sauce. So the two families - a total of 5 adults and 5 kids sat down and ate, and ate and ate, took a break and ate some more...

Waking up from a 6hr nap

Still, about 3kg of the wonderfully juice and tasty meat remained on the tray.

These's always good use for left over roast I said and took 2 of the 3kg through the grinder, added some sauteed onions, garlic, eggs, parsley, majoram and salt and started rolling the 40+(!) inners of the newly created Stag Hachée Dumplings. These are now packaged in smaller batches and are awaiting they "harvest". Then they'll end up in a cover of potato-dough and a side order of red cabbage - enough to feed about another dozen adults... Invitations to special guests will follow ;-)

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