Venison steak, medium rare

[sgt_zim]

some sea salt, some bacon salt, sage, cracked black pepper, bacon grease, and butter. The best part of hunting, no error.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Looks perfect!

 

[BeeMaa]

Only one problem with that picture.
I didn't take it.

Looks delicious...enjoy.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Looks perfectly cooked to me. I need to taste test it before giving a thumbs up.

 

[CBH Australia]

I have a mate who is a keen Deer hunter, and not a bad cook either. He has done some Venison rare for me. It was quite good.
We ate game meat in Africa and they classified those as Venison from various animals (Antelope species)

 

[Randy F]

Well done!
wait...
I mean...
You know what I mean

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

venison should always be done they same way you like your beef or any other meat

med rare venison steak is great....always

 

[PARA45]

Outstanding, and looks delicious! I see one small problem . You are not sharing the recipe with your Africa Hunting brothers.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

That looks delicious, add a glass of merlot. What game is it?

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Only one problem with that picture.
I didn't take it.

Looks delicious...enjoy.

@BeeMaa
2 problems with the picture mate
1 you didn't take the picture
2 we ain't there to help seat it
Bob

 

[sgt_zim]

Outstanding, and looks delicious! I see one small problem . You are not sharing the recipe with your Africa Hunting brothers.

I did. I actually got this particular recipe from Steve Rinella's MeatEater website.

sea salt
bacon salt (his recipe calls for smoked salt, I don't have any)
sage leaves (I used rubbed sage, just moved to this new house so my garden won't have any sage in it for a few months)
coarse ground black pepper
couple TBS of lard or tallow
a few pats of butter

season the meat to taste, heat up a skillet, drop in the lard, fry the meat to your level of done-ness

butter goes in last, to be spooned on top of the meat as it melts.

 

[sgt_zim]

That looks delicious, add a glass of merlot. What game is it?

white tail deer.

 

[PARA45]

Thank you. You can’t go wrong with the Meat Eater recipe

 

[sgt_zim]

enjoying the last of the steaks today with some chicken liver paté I made last night. pretty tasty.

 

[browningbbr]

Some of you may have seen the articles I posted several years ago on carcass prep, butchering, sausage making etc. Here is my favorite venison recipe:

GRILLED VENISON LOIN

MATERIALS:
2 KOSHER (COARSE) SALT COARSE BLACK PEPPER
GARLIC POWDER EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
BUTCHERS’ STRING 10-12” PIECE OF DENUDED VENISON LOIN
ALUMINUM FOIL

EQUIPMENT:
CHARCOAL OR GAS GRILL MEAT THERMOMETER
SCISSORS


PROCEDURE:
1. Thaw venison loin in the refrigerator (1-3 days) until no hard spots remain.
2. Mix 3 tablespoons of kosher salt, 3 tablespoons of coarse black pepper and 1 tablespoon of garlic powder in a bowl.
3. Remove venison loin from the package and blot VERY dry with paper towels.
4. Tie butchers’ string tightly around the loin every 3/4” to 1” of the entire length. When done correctly, it will make the loin round in shape.
5. If the surface of the loin is damp after tying, dry again with paper towels.
6. Coat the surface of the tied loin with a thin coat of olive oil.
7. Coat the oiled loin HEAVILY with the salt-pepper-garlic mixture. (Much of the rub falls off during grilling.)
8. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until 2 hours before you are ready to cook. (Keeps up to 3 days in refrigeration.)
9. Two hours prior to grilling, remove the loin from the refrigerator and allow it to come up to room temperature.
10. After 2 hours, grill INDIRECTLY (put heat or coals on one side of grill and loin on the other side) turning frequently, until the internal temperature reaches 122-125 degrees. (Total cooking time should be about 15 minutes or so. If the loin cooks too fast, move it farther away from the heat or closer to the heat if it is cooking too slowly.)
11. Remove the loin from the heat as soon as it reaches 122-125 degrees, put it on a plate and cover with aluminum foil for 10 minutes.
12. Remove the butchers’ string with scissors, slice 1/2 - 3/4” thick and serve immediately. (Be sure to get ALL of the string off the loin.)

 

[Newboomer]

Ah, yes! My Mom had a great recipe for deersteak. Take one stinkin' hot (smoking) spider (skillet), add a couple good big spoonfuls of real butter, drop in a steak, let it sizzle for about 30 seconds, flip it and cook to desired doneness, salt and pepper to taste. Plain and simple, melt in your mouth.

 

[buck wild]

I'll have to apologize to my wife. I've been calling that medium and telling her med rare is "redder" in the middle. She said I've been eating my steaks "rare". Maybe it's true if this pic is correct.

 

[sgt_zim]

rare = red and cool to the touch
medium rare = pink and warm to the touch

not nearly enough fat in venison to prepare the meat rare. it would definitely be a workout for your jaw.

changing the subject a bit...

only about 2% of all beef produced in the US is prime - you can prepare choice steaks rare, but they're gonna generally be a bit chewy. it takes that prime cut to do justice to rare, which about makes me bat guano crazy to see people order prime cuts well done, or actually, any way but rare. Prime is the only cut that will come out tender, even when rare. If you like your meat less bloody, don't waste your money on prime. At even medium rare, there is zero difference to the palate and mandibles for prime vs choice.

for choice steaks, unless I've picked them out of the butcher's display and know what the marbling is like, it's medium rare only for me. that's just enough extra heat to deal with breaking tissue down to where it's tender.

 

[browningbbr]

Sgt Zim,

I'm sorry, but the science doesn't support your assertion that "prime is the only cut that will come out tender, even when rare".

Tenderness in meat that is grilled is directly correlated to the muscle used (locomotion muscle is less tender), animal age (more connective tissue is cross-linked as the animal ages) and genetics. Prime, Choice and Good grades (based on intramuscular fat deposition or "marbling") are all the SAME age range. Repeated testing (mostly at the U of Nebraska) has shown that ON AVERAGE grade makes a difference in perceived juiciness, but not tenderness (as measured by trained taste panels and by the Warner-Bratzler shear test).

In fact, longer cooking using a high-heat method like grilling makes meat tougher. The heat causes protein denaturation and cross-linking. That's why a well-done steak is so chewy.

This should not be confused with high-moisture cooking for long periods (like 8 hours in a CrockPot) which causes 1 of the 3 types of connective tissue (collagen) to break down to gelatin. That will make meat more tender, but substantially changes it's character.

I don't mean to start an argument, but there is a substantial amount of hard science that proves what I am relating and I think that it is important to deal with facts.

To offer something in the way of "credentials" to support that I have truly researched what I've written, I spent 30+ years managing meat company operations including manufacturing, R&D and QA. I have a masters degree in meat science and a bachelors degree in animal science with minors in food chemistry and food technology. I also spent a few years on the scientific affairs committee of the American Meat Institute. I had to know this stuff to do my job.

Thanks for listening,

Browningbbr

 

[browningbbr]

One last item: If venison is not handled in much the same way that beef animals are handled from slaughter through chilling and boning, it will be tougher and more "gamey". Please see the articles that I posted a few years ago if you want more information.

Respectfully,

Browningbbr