Ok. I'm no pro chef, but I have had a lot of pointers from a friend of mine who happens to be - and he's very good at the wild food thing! Between us we've cooked a lot of venison. Him a few tons over the years, me a fair few deer!
First question... How thick are the steaks? First rule would be that thick is best - 1 -1 1/2" is ideal. If that's the case then remove them from the cool bag and allow them to warm up before you start cooking. Cooking a thick cold steak means that you'll kill the outside and still have a very raw looking centre so let it warm up to room/camp temperature for half an hour or so before chucking it on the grill. On the other hand if they're thin, try to cook them from cold. The cold centre will heat up pretty fast and it will help to stop you from over cooking it, which is about the worst thing that can possibly happen!
Something my friend has always told me, and it seems to result in good steak, is to only turn it once. Cook it as hard as you can bare on one side then flip it and cook it until it's how you like it. Then let it rest for at least 5 minutes to allow the meat to settle down. Cutting it straight away means all the juice will pour out, so bung a bit of pepper on it at this point if you like and let it sit off the heat for a while before tucking in.
Best cuts are loin or backstrap. Leg steaks are still good but it doesn't hurt to give them a soak in something oily before cooking. One of my favourite marinade recipes is as follows...
4tbsp tomato puree
2tbsp Worcester sauce
2tbsp oil. I use olive, most will do as long as it's veg based. 10W40 will not work!
1tsp coarse ground black pepper
1tsp lemon juice
splash of tobasco (optional)
Just stir them all together and then chuck in the meat. leave it to marinate for a couple of hours ideally. If you're really keen you can cut it into cubes and shove it on a stick with some onion and red pepper. That's how I like it. The marinade can be made before hand and taken in a jar if you don't have the meat to hand. Chucking it on just before cooking is ok if needs must.
As for cooking it in a pit - good luck with that! It's something I've never tried.
Edit... Almost forgot quite an important bit. Get some decent embers sorted before cooking. Flames are no good. It's obvious to some, but I have seen people trying to cremate their food before so thought it was worth a mention!
Home
Search
Calendar
Login
Register
Recent Posts