Venison With Dumplings - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 litre water
250 ml red wine vinegar
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp brown sugar + 1 tsp
1 tbsp mustard seeds
2 None bay leaves
5 None juniper berries
1.2 kg venison haunch
2 medium onions
150 ml semi-skimmed milk
5 None stale bread rolls
1 bunch parsley, chopped
2 medium eggs
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
60 g plain flour
2 None carrots, diced
150 g sour cream
100 g cranberry sauce

Preparation

Make the marinade: Put 4 cups of water in a pan with the vinegar, peppercorns, 1 tbsp sugar, mustard seeds, bay leaf and juniper berries and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Place the meat in a plastic bag, pour in the marinade, tightly seal and leave in the fridge overnight, turning once.
Place onion wedges in a saucepan with the meat and marinade. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours.
Make dumplings: Bring the milk to a boil, then remove from heat, add the bread and leave to stand for 30 minutes, stirring regularly. Heat 2 tbsp butter in a frying pan and saute the diced onion. Add to the bread with half the parsley and the eggs. Mix well and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Shape into 8 dumplings and boil in salted water for about 20 minutes.
Remove the meat from the pan and allow to cool slightly, then cut into chunks. Pour the stock through a sieve and keep the liquid. Heat remaining butter in a pan, and stir in sugar and flour. Saute until golden brown then slowly pour in the stock while constantly stirring. Add the meat and carrots to the stock and simmer for about 15 minutes. Season to taste and serve with dumplings, sour cream, cranberry sauce and a sprinkle of parsley.