Recipe: Smoked Venison Bottom Round Steak

For me, cooking is always tied into memory and past experiences. Nothing I do is completely new. Even if the combination of things is novel, it comes from being inspired by a meal, place, or memory.

This recipe, smoked venison bottom round steak, ties into a post-hunt experience I had with my buddy Andrew Longres. He’s a former sous chef at the French Laundry who now runs his own spot “Acre,” north of Kansas City.

He’d just opened a restaurant and had only one day to hunt. Fortunately, he got his deer on that one day. Of course, he was kind enough to whip up a bunch of steaks for me and my lady. He used a rub to finish all of his steaks, which he ended up handing off to me to take home. His mix consists of salt, sugar, paprika, and cumin. (It’s really a BBQ rub.)

Flash forward to last month, and I was in Paris experiencing the city for the first time. My lady and I sat down for a meal on a patio at sunset. We ordered charcuterie and cheese, and it came out on this large platter with a healthy volume of winter greens and grains underneath.

It stuck with me and reminded me to share the experience in a recipe. Mixing traditional French presentation with KC BBQ and live-fire cooking culture is what makes this steak great. The icing on top is the dry-age deer hindquarter, which takes two to three weeks. Turn it on its rack daily.

Many people doubt that dry aging makes much of a difference on a deer with little fat. Or they think there will be some massive meat loss. Neither are true.

Recipe: Blueberry Braised Shank

If you can filet a fish or cut off silver skin, you can trim a dry-aged roast without much meat loss. The trim is also really great as dog treats. I toss the trim in a Ziploc and let it dry out in the freezer for a few months. Then, I grab a few strips as training tools for my rescue English setter. She loves it.

The cut to use for this recipe is the bottom round. It’s a long rectangle that tapers on both ends with a strong grain pattern similar to what you’d see on a tenderloin or flank steak. I trim off the thinner ends before cooking to get an even medium rare across the whole piece, similar to what you’d do on a brisket. (The trimmed ends also get seasoned and tossed on later in the cook, but never make it to the plate because pitmaster treats are my toxic trait.)

To get the rub to stick to the steak, liberally coat the meat in rub, then virgin olive oil, and more rub after. Not only does the fat help the steak stay juicy but also gives the smoke something to attach to on the outside.

Recipe: Bourbon Black Ground Venison Jerky

Of course, this is a short 10- to 12-minutes of cooking, flipping it every few minutes on the smoker for an even finish. Use a mix of competition charcoal and mesquite for extra smoke on steak. Once probed at 125 degrees, I pull the steak and let it rest.

I pre-cook a cup of orzo pasta and grab some spicy winter greens from my garden (that are still popping here in November). Then, I mix up a classic French mustard vinaigrette for the base of the dish and dress it all.

Slicing the steak up, look for a smoke ring around the edge, and the meat becoming more and more red every second it sits sliced. Of course, don’t rest that steak for 10 full minutes under foil. Finish the whole thing with a sprinkle of leftover rub for color and flavor and be ready for one of the best steaks on the whole deer.

For extra flavor, I put the extra vinaigrette and mustard in dishes on the table for dipping the slices of steak.

Recipe: Southern-Style Mushroom and Swiss Venison Sliders

INGREDIENTS

• Whole bottom round leg steak (preferably dry-aged for added tenderness)
• ¼ cup BBQ rub (you can make your own with equal amounts of: salt, sugar, paprika, cumin, thyme, garlic, and black pepper)
• 1 cup cooked orzo pasta
• 4 cups spicy winter greens (chopped large with no hard stems: arugula, mustard greens, and frisée)
• 1 cup olive oil
• ¼ cup white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

DETAILED STEPS

1. Start your grill or smoker.
2. Use competition coals and mesquite for extra smoke flavor on a shorter cook.
3. Aim for 250 to 275 degrees as the final temperature goal.
4. De-stem your greens (if there are large, tough bits — nobody wants to eat a stick)
5. Boil a cup of orzo pasta in salty water (it should taste like the ocean). Set aside to drain and cool.
6. Season your meat liberally with rub. Add some rub, then olive oil, and more rub to finish. (Don’t’ be afraid of flavor here — venison is nearly impossible to overpower.)
7. Whisk ½ cup olive oil, ¼ cup white vinegar, and a teaspoon of Dijon mustard up for a dressing.
8. Put your steak on the smoker (or grill) set to 250 to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.
9. Turning the steak every three to five minutes.
10. Pull the steak once at 125 degrees Fahrenheit (internal temperature).
11. Wrap steak in foil to rest for five to 10 minutes while finishing plating everything else.
12. Lay half the greens on a platter, put down the orzo, and then the remainder of the greens on top.
13. Dress with vinaigrette.
14. Slice the steak and lay the slices on top of the orzo and greens.
15. Finish with a dusting of more rub for color and flavor.
16. Put any extra dressing and mustard on the platter to the side for dipping.
17. Enjoy!

Recipe: Venison Smash Taco with Spicy Slaw

MORE FIELD NOTES