Venison loin, pear, spruce

Combine the cider vinegar with the fresh spruce tips and leave the vinegar for a year to infuse. Alternatively, you could try sourcing some ready-made spruce vinegar, or experiment with other types of vinegar. You will only need a little vinegar to dress the slices of pear before serving

When you're ready to make the dish, start with the venison sauce. Preheat an oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4 and place the venison bones in a baking dish with a knob of the butter. Roast for 15 minutes, adding another knob of butter every few minutes, until the bones are nicely roasted and golden brown. Remove one-third of the bones from the pan at this point and reserve in the fridge for later

Add the sliced shallots, garlic, thyme and juniper to the roasting bones. Continue to cook until the mixture is nicely caramelised, then pass through a sieve to remove the butter

Place the roasted bones and aromatics in a large saucepan. Add the white wine and reduce by half over a medium-high heat, then add both chicken stocks and leave to simmer for an hour and a half

To make the cep purée, sweat the shallots and garlic in a pan with the thyme and butter, then add the ceps and cook until the liquid in the mushrooms has evaporated

Remove the thyme and blend the mixture with enough of the white chicken stock to make a smooth, thick cep purée. Season and reserve until ready to plate

Preheat the oven to 115ºC/gas mark 1/2. Combine all the ingredients for the spruce crumble and spread across a Silpat mat on a large baking tray. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the mixture is golden brown, then set aside

Blend all of the ingredients for the elderberry ketchup until smooth, then transfer to a pan and bring to the boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to set in the fridge, then blend again until you have a smooth ketchup. Reserve in a squeezy bottle until ready to plate

Now go back and finish the sauce. Add the reserved venison bones to the sauce, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. Pass the sauce through a muslin cloth and keep warm until ready to serve

To make the roasted pear, cut the pear into quarters and peel into 4 even barrel shapes. Colour in a pan with a knob of foaming butter, then add the maple syrup and cook until the pears are caramelised and golden. Reserve and keep warm until ready to plate

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4. To roast the venison loin, season with Maldon salt and colour it in a hot pan in a splash of oil (it only need 10 seconds just to sear the edges). Finish by roasting in the oven for 5-6 minutes, then rest for 5-10 minutes

Roast the hen-of-the-woods mushroom in a knob of butter until tender – keep basting the foaming butter over the mushroom, then remove from the pan and drain. Slice into 4 pieces and season. While the mushroom cooks, gently reheat the cep purée

Now it's time to assemble the dish. Place a piece of hen-of-the-woods mushroom on each plate and cover with some of the spruce crumble

Dip the sliced pear in the spruce vinegar and arrange on top of the hen-of-the-woods mushroom

Squeeze some of the elderberry ketchup and cep purée onto the plate, along with the roasted pear. Garnish the pear with a few thyme leaves

Slice the venison and share among the plates, with a pinch of Maldon salt on each piece. Finish with the venison sauce