Grilled Venison Steaks with Chipotle Sauce
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
Grilled Venison Steaks with Chipotle Sauce
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
It’s spring. And I’m tempting fate here a bit, but I know you’re thinking the same thing I am. It’s time to buy some propane—or briquets—clean up last summer’s crusty grill and throw on your jacket. Grilling season is just around the corner.
But first, let’s check out the steaks. Whitetail? Elk? Moose? Whatever they are, one thing they should be is of uniform thickness. But how to do that? My grandfather was a butcher, working for Safeway when I was a little kid. At work, he had the tools to create perfectly identical thickness, which is the key to evenly cooked meat. But I don’t have a ‘professional’ butchering shop.
The easiest way I’ve found to make up for all that expensive machinery is to butcher when the meat is partially frozen. How frozen? Enough that the meat doesn’t slip and slide under your knife, but not so much that your knife bounces off. Firm, not rock hard. The long, curved butcher knife companies call cimeters/scimitars help too, especially when cutting larger animals. I have two: an 8” that I use for deer and antelope-sized animals, and a 10” for elk, moose or buffalo, both made by Victorinex. A sharp scimitar cutting steaks from partially frozen meat, allows you to make one swipe, top to bottom, back to front. And uniform thickness means uniform doneness: every bite bloody rare for Uncle Joe, uniformly medium rare for Aunt Willie.
This recipe, plus 60 pages of game care tips like this one, is from Slice of the Wild: 100 venison recipes. Like all good cookbooks, there are also 40 side dishes and the Tex-Mex Potato Salad (on page 73) is a perfect fit for this dreamy, creamy grilled steak. (https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273)
Grilled Venison Steaks with Chipotle Cream Sauce
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
1 pound venison steaks, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup cream
2 tablespoons Chipotle Tabasco Sauce
1 ripe tomato, diced
Cooking
1. Preheat the grill to medium-high heat, about 450-475. As the grill heats up start the sauce.
2. Warm a cast iron skillet on your grill’s side burner or on the stovetop to medium-high heat. Add the butter, and when it has melted, add the cream and Chipotle sauce. Bring it to a very slow simmer, and lower the heat to medium-low, while stirring. Simmer for about 2 minutes, cover with foil, and keep the sauce warm until the steaks are done.
3. About the time you add the cream and Chipotle sauce to the butter, place the steaks on the grill and close the lid.
4. For medium-rare, cook until blood appears on the top of the steaks, then turn, and cook about half again as long. A 3/4-inch steak takes about 7-10 minutes. Adjust timing for rare; but don’t cook medium. The higher fat content in commercial meat melts and bastes beef steaks allowing us to cook to well done, but still moist enough. Well done game meat gets very dry.
5. Transfer the steaks to the saucepan, spoon the sauce and diced tomato over them, and serve immediately.
Eileen Clarke
https://www.riflesandrecipes.com
406-521-0273
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PhotoCredit: Eileen Clark
Image 1 Caption: Venison Steaks
