Kudu is as lean as meat can be, so cooking it in butter is a fine idea. It needs some sweetness, so I caramelised red onion, glazed some julienne carrots and made a quick deglaze sauce with Boplaas port, a few juniper berries and some ground black pepper.

(Per 1 portion)

Ingredients

1 x 250 g kudu loin steak

5 or 6 juniper berries

Ground black pepper

1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard

3 Tbsp quince (or apple) jelly (2 for the steak sauce, 1 for the carrots)

¼ cup/ 4 Tbsp white wine

¼ cup/ 4 Tbsp port

2 or 3 sprigs thyme

1 medium red onion, halved and then sliced thinly

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 large carrot, cut into julienne strips

2 Tbsp butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Peel and julienne the carrot and put it in a pot with a thyme sprig, a tablespoon of quince jelly and water just to cover. Bring to a boil and cook rapidly until most of the liquid has cooked away; you’re looking for a syrupy glaze. If the carrots are tender (but not too soft) before the water has boiled away enough, remove them with a slotted spoon and continue boiling. Return the carrots once the glaze is perfect, and season with a little salt and pepper.

Slice the halved onion and sauté in olive oil until caramelised. They don’t need sugar or anything else sweet added to them; their own sweet juices, as it were, will come to the fore.

Make sure the steak is dry, and season it with salt on both sides. Melt butter in a hot skillet and cook the steak until tender and rare or medium rare, as per your preference. Remove the steak and keep it warm.

Add a little white wine and juniper berries to the skillet and cook on a high heat until reduced by half, then whisk in the mustard. Add the port and quince jelly and reduce until you have a sticky sauce, not too runny. Whisk in the mustard.

Multiply the recipe according to the number you’re feeding, and drink a toast to small-town butcheries that take the trouble to source good quality meat. DM/TGIFood 

To enquire about Tony Jackman’s book, foodSTUFF (Human & Rousseau) please email him at [email protected] 

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