VENISON

Horror shows with venison have made me a "crudo" fan. Within the blink of an eye, the game is overcooked, and goes to the trash. Usually rub the meat with olive oil, salt and pepper and send it to a smoking hot pan. Violent sear on both sides for a total cooking time of five minutes gives the meat a quarter inch of char and a perfectly blood raw middle. There's really no other way to eat it. Cooking it as one would beef is missing the point.

Venison is as clean a protein as you're going to encounter, especially if it's culled from pine woods and not some quirky game-farm op. If you're interested in tartare or crudo, now's the time to make good. Minimal cooking and strategic pairings will make this a meal you'll remember. Earthy veg are good. I'm all for mashed potatoes, but I like raw celeriac tossed in creme fraiche and mustard or roasted beetroot in vinaigrette with venison.

Focus on the flavors. They are subtle but potent. The ways the meat works with the beetroot. Tastes of grass. Tang of of iron. Buttery, vegetal flavor. Meat left this intact - known "blue" in steakhouse circles - gets "cooked" under the teeth, where chewing heats the protein from bloody lukewarm to a strange semblance of doneness.

All sorts of ways to serve this. If you're like me, you have a reserve of veal or beef stock. A flash reduction coupled with chive vinaigrette and the warm beetroot. Dollop of creamed horseradish. Wine. Knife and fork.