Venison Ragout with Cranberries and Dumpllings

For the venison, rinse the meat, pat dry and cut into cubes. Peel the onion and coarsely chop. Rinse and trim the celery and cut into about 1 cm (approximately 1/2 inch) cubes, and cut the peeled carrot into 1 cm (approximately 1/2 inch) thick slices. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the juniper berries, peppercorns, cloves, and allspice over medium heat until fragrant. Raise the temperature and sear the meat cubes on all sides. Add the bacon and cook briefly, then remove both from the pot. Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the pan and fry together in the remaining oil. Stir in the tomato paste and sauté briefly. Deglaze with half of the red wine and let boil down. Add the remaining wine and boil down again. Pour in the game stock and add the seared meat back to the pot with the bay leaf and thyme. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Pour more stock into the pot during cooking if needed.

For the dumplings, peel the shallots, finely dice, and sauté in hot butter until translucent. Cut the rolls into thin slices, pour the milk over and let it sit for a few minutes. Stir together with the egg, parsley, and shallots and let sit for about 20 minutes. If necessary add breadcrumbs and season with salt, nutmeg, and pepper. Form round dumplings and simmer until done (about 10 minutes) in salted water. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain and coat in breadcrumbs. Dice the bacon. Brown the dumplings in hot clarified butter for around 2-3 minutes along with the bacon. Drain on paper towels.

Remove the pieces of meat from the braising liquid and set aside. Strain the sauce into a saucepan, pour in the cream and boil down a little. Place the meat back into the sauce. Stir in the crème fraîche and season with salt and pepper.