Wild venison with pickled blackberries

Ingredients

• 250 g blackberries
• 100 ml sugar
• 200 ml vinegar
• 300 ml water
• 2 kg wild venison roast from either saddle or hindquarter, fat left on
• 1⁄2 bunch thyme                                 
• 100 g butter

Instructions

1. Place the blackberries in a heatproof bowl or jar, boil the water, sugar and vinegar together then once boiling and all sugar is dissolved, move from the heat and pour directly over the blackberries. Cool to room temperature while you roast the venison then refrigerate. This will keep in the fridge for a month.
2. Make sure your roast is room temperature, and season it thoroughly with salt and pepper.
3. Put a heavy-based cast-iron pan on the fire and put the venison in, fat side down to gently start rendering the fat. Once it is coloured and rendered on this side, rotate it to colour on all sides. Then, add thyme, garlic and butter to the pan and move it to a colder part of the fire to continue cooking through more gently. During this time, I rotate it and baste it while waiting for the core temperature to come up.
4. Once the venison is up to 57ºC, which is medium rare (about 1 hour but you can take it higher depending on how you like it done) remove it from the pan, place on a solid surface and leave it to rest.
5. Once rested I often just place it back on the fire on a grill briefly to rewarm it then I carve it thinly, add a small amount of seasoning and spoon over some pickled blackberries and a bit of their juice.

Analiese Gregory explores life at the bottom of the world in A Girl's Guide to Hunting, Fishing and Wild Cooking.