Of all the different meat types, I always gravitate towards the venison almost every camping trip. The smell of a finely grilled steak wafting in the air is just so inviting and rich. Being outdoors makes the experience even more extraordinary as well.
The secret on how to cook deer steaks on the grill, however, lies in the way you handle the meat. You definitely don’t need a dry or charred cut in such a wondrous place. So, without further ado, allow me to teach you how it’s done.
How to Cook Deer Steaks on the Grill
The process requires patience more than anything to perfect the steak. Excluding the thawing time, it only takes 10 minutes each to prepare and cook it. Check out the recipe below:
What You Need
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Vegetable Oil
- Venison steaks
What to Do
- Defrost the meat.
Take it out of the cooler before starting the griller. Your steak has to be at a room temperature; that’s why you need to allot at least an hour for the first step.
In case you hate to wait, rub salt on both sides of the meat to speed it up. The condiment will help bring out its natural flavors too.
- Clean the cooking grids.
Assuming you grill other foods often, you should brush the grates to get rid of the grime. Do this when the fire is on so that the latter comes off easily. Then, wipe these bars with oil-soaked paper towels.
- Prepare the steaks.
With another paper towel, dry each cut by patting it. This technique lets the vegetable oil that you’ll coat it with to adhere nicely on your fresh meat.
- Set each steak on the grill.
Think ahead regarding how you want your masterpiece to look like once it’s away from the grids. After 120 seconds of grilling the venison steaks, you may use the tongs to position it at a 90-degree angle. Keep the meat there for a couple more minutes.
- Cook the other side as well.
Turn it over to grill the steak equally. Examine if it has been roasted the way you prefer by pressing it lightly with your finger.
- Season the meat with black pepper.
When you’re satisfied with its doneness, remove the steaks from the heat. Also, spread black pepper on the pieces while waiting for up to 10 minutes before eating them.
Fine-Cut Tips to Have the Best Venison Steaks
The food guide above doesn’t suffice in helping you cook the best steaks you can be proud of. Take note of the following advice.
- Choose the lean portions.
The initial advice on how to cook deer steaks on the grill is to know which parts to go with.
The practical choices are the tenderloin and the backstraps since they don’t have many connective tissues. Thus, the meat will remain flat on the grates. In case you prefer the hindleg, though, make several cuts into it with a sharp knife to achieve similar results.
- Not all grills cook in the same manner.
An ideal grill to get consists of real wood burning under the grids. It adds that smoked aroma while roasting the steak, which enhances its flavor.
Considering you can’t be bothered by igniting a hardwood, you can opt for charcoals. These flame up fast, and you won’t lose the woodsy vibe.
- Thaw the steaks thoroughly.
When you cook a steak in its frozen state, the fire dissolves the ice, but not all the way through. Despite it seeming perfectly done on the outside, it stays as a cold mess on the inside. Hence, thawing the venison – or any meat, for that matter –is an important step you can never skip.
- Go easy or go big with marinating.
The recipe you’ve just seen earlier uses the brining method to prepare steaks. There isn’t much to it, except for massaging the pieces with salt. If you’re not working with a defrosting meat, you should add water to the mix.
Another thing you can do is marinate the steak overnight. The meat will be able to absorb the flavors then, and you’ll have a classy meal outdoors.
- Partition the griller.
Camping does not always provide the luxury of having a countertop to fix the meat before and after cooking. It’s cool in case you’ve managed to bring a cutting board. But for those who only wish to bring the grill and tongs, simply divide the former for grilling and seasoning.
- Flip the steaks no more than once.
The venison meat looks much tempting when there are evenly spaced roast marks on it, I know. A tip on how to cook deer steaks on the grill, however, is to have it only on one side. Invert the piece once you’ve accomplished that, so the fire can work well on the rest of your steak.
- Don’t forget the finger test.
The second to the last instruction on the recipe asks you to assess the tenderness of the meat through touch. The feeling when you press your thumb to the forefinger is comparable to when you do it on rare steak. Once the thumb with the middle or ring finger, you can tell if it’s medium or well-done, respectively.
- Give your venison steak time to simmer down.
The juices within this meat are still agitated by the time you take it out of the grill. Cutting the steaks immediately, therefore, will make the liquid run out and leave them dry. This is why you need to wait for less than 10 minutes to devour the meat.
In Conclusion
That, my fellow camper, is how to cook deer steaks on the grill. If there’s one thing everyone loves, it would be deliciously grilled meat. Let me reiterate the points you should remember:
- Choose the venison meat well
- Bring it to room temperature before cooking
- Never allow the steaks to become a dry mess
You can’t possibly char it into nothingness now, can you?
For your personal tips on grilling venison steaks, don’t hesitate to share them below.