Venison Tartare with Mushroom Recipe

To make the blackberry vinegar for the venison tartare, lightly crush the fresh blackberries and place in a bowl. Cover in distilled malt vinegar, then pour everything into a glass jar and cover with muslin cloth. Leave at room temperature for 5 days then pass through a muslin cloth to strain. Store in the fridge until needed. This will make more than you need for this recipe, but you can store the vinegar and use it in other dishes

Preheat a water bath to 82°C

To make the pine oil, place the dried Douglas fir, honey and oil in a vacuum bag, seal in a chamber sealer and place in the water bath for 1 hour

Remove the vacuum bag from the bath and cool. Strain the mix into a high-powered blender, add the fresh Douglas fir and blend on a high speed for 2 minutes. Pass the mixture through a muslin cloth and store in a squeezy bottle. Set aside until needed

To make the mushroom powder for the mayonnaise, place the mushrooms in a dehydrator or oven at 90°C until completely dry and crisp. Blitz in a food processor or spice grinder and pass through a fine sieve

To make the mushroom mayonnaise, blitz the button mushrooms and oil in a blender, pass through a fine sieve and set aside

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolk, mustard, vinegar, soy sauce and 1 tbsp of the mushroom powder until thick and almost doubled in volume. Slowly whisk in the mushroom oil mixture and season with salt to taste. Transfer to a squeezy bottle and set aside until needed

To make the walnut ketchup, boil the walnut pickling vinegar with the sugars until completely dissolved

Place the pickled walnuts in a blender with the vinegar and sugar mixture and blitz until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and transfer to a squeezy bottle

To make the leek ash, char the leeks on a barbecue or over an open flame until black all over (for about 10 minutes). Place the leeks in an oven or dehydrator at 90°C until completely dried out, then blitz to a powder and pass through a fine sieve. Store in an airtight container

To make the charcoal oil, burn the charcoal over a gas burner for 4–5 minutes, until glowing and white. Pour the oil into a small pan with a tightly fitting lid. Add the crumbled charcoal to the oil and cover with the lid. Leave for 1 hour, then pass the oil through muslin cloth. Store in a squeezy bottle until needed

To make the venison tartare, mix 1 tbsp of the blackberry vinegar with the sugar, boil until the sugar dissolves, then leave to cool. Add the diced raw venison to a bowl, add the Dijon mustard, 1–2 tsp of the charcoal oil and the vinegar and sugar mixture. Season to taste with heather-smoked salt

Spoon 40g portions of the tartare onto each plate and garnish with dots of mushroom mayonnaise and walnut ketchup. Finish with finely sliced mushroom, mixed leaves dressed in a little of the pine oil and a dusting of leek ash powder