Spiced Venison Rib Chops with Coconut Sauce

This venison rack is coated with a Sri Lanca-inspired spice rub, then roasted to rare/medium rare before being sliced into rib chops. A rich, creamy coconut milk sauce keeps the spices from getting too overpowering.

Colatura is an Italian fish sauce that has a more delicate flavor than Southeast Asian varieties. Here it’s used to sneak a little more umami into the coconut sauce.

Drink Pairing: Napa Valley Merlot Wine

Ingredients Serves: 4-8

  • 1 8-Bone Venison Rack
  • ¼ C of Coriander
  • 1 Cinnamon Stick
  • 1 t Whole Fennel Seed
  • 1 t Whole Cardamom
  • ½ t Fenugreek Seeds
  • 2 T Whole Cumin
  • 1 t Mustard Seed
  • 1 Dried Aji Amarillo Chile
  • ½ C Curry Leaves
  • 1 t White Rice
  • ¼ t Whole Cloves
  • 1 T Salt
  • High Heat Oil for Searing (Canola, Grapeseed, Safflower)
  • Coconut Sauce:
  • 1 can Coconut Milk
  • 1 tsp Colatura Fish Sauce
  • 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
  • ¼ tsp Salt
  • Fried Curry Leaves (Garnish):
  • Curry Leaves
  • 1 tbsp Canola Oil
  • Salt

Instructions

1

Set your oven to 400 degrees.

2

Toast all the spices for the rack, and the chile, in an unoiled frying pan until they’re aromatic and lightly browned.

3

Once the chile is cool enough to touch, tear it apart and shake out, then discard all the seeds.

4

Grind all the spices together in a clean coffee grinder or spice grinder.

5

Remove the silver skin from the rack by pushing the point of your knife underneath it, cut to remove one end from the rack, then pull up on the silverskin while cutting underneath it until it comes away. Repeat with the rest of the silver skin.

6

Cut the intercostal meat off of the rack (the thin layer of meat above the rib bones, separated from the eye by a layer of fat & silver skin), and trim any more revealed silver skin off.

7

Rub the cleaned rack with the spice mixture.

8

Sear the rack on all sides over medium heat in an oven-safe frying pan coated with high heat oil.

9

Move the pan to the oven & roast the rack to 125 degrees for rare, 130 for medium rare.

10

Remove the pan from the oven and put the rack on a clean plate to rest. Loosely cover it with foil and leave it be for at least fifteen minutes.

11

While the rack is resting, fry the curry leaves – put the tablespoon of canola oil in a pan and get it very hot. Add the curry leaves to the oil and stir them until they crisp up. Scoop them out of the oil and put them on a paper towel. Sprinkle them with salt.

12

Pour the coconut milk into the pan where you fried the curry leaves. Bring it to a simmer and add any juices that have collected on the plate where the venison is resting. Continue to cook until the sauce has reduced in volume by one third.

13

Add the lemon juice, colatura fish sauce and the salt.

14

Slice the rack between the bones into individual bone-in venison chops.

15

Serve the chops with the sauce and curry leaves (plus any sides you want).