Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

• 2 boned out breasts of venison to the weight of about 2 kilos.
• 1.5 litres venison stock or brown chicken stock
• 2 glasses red wine
• 1 medium onion
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 clove of garlic
• Sprig of thyme
• 1⁄2 bay leaf
• Salt and pepper as required
• 100g Dijon mustard
• 2 eggs
• 200g plain Four
• 200g fresh or Japanese breadcrumbs
• Oil for deep frying and frying off veg

Method

1. Roughly chop onion, carrot and garlic.
2. Place some oil in to a deep pan large enough to take the venison breasts.
3. Heat oil and then fry off onion for 5-6 min. Now add the rest of the vegetables and herbs and cook for further 5-6 min then add the wine and reduce by half.
4. In a separate pan, bring stock to boil.
5. Place breasts on top of the herbs and vegetables, season them and add boiling stock then bring back to the boil slowly.
6. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 2-3 hours or until meat is tender. When the meat is cooked you should be able to take it in-between your finger and thumb and as you pinch, your fingers will go through the meat.
7. Once meat is cooked, take out of stock and allow to cool slightly for 10 mins.
8. Place one of these still just warm breasts onto a sheet of grease- proof paper on a tray and then place the other breast on top, covering with another sheet of paper. Place a weighted tray on top of both breasts and put in fridge to chill overnight.
9. Once chilled, remove the paper and carefully place the breasts onto a chopping board. They should have become loosely bound together.
10. Trim and square off the whole breasts then cut into portion sizes. These could be squares, triangles or rounds.
11. Once you have cut them place a wooden toothpick into the centre of each portion. This will help you to pick them up and the portions will hold together during cooking. Holding the pieces by the toothpick, brush them liberally with Dijon mustard then pass lightly through flour, tapping off any excess. Next pass through beaten egg and then through the Japanese breadcrumbs, making sure that all the areas are covered in the breadcrumbs, still holding them on the toothpick.
12. Heat the oil to 170°C and carefully lower the Epigrams into the oil with the toothpicks standing up, fry until golden-brown then drain, remove toothpicks and serve.