Deer Steak Marinade
It’s been a while since I’ve posted, sorry about that. March tends to be a slow month for anyone who likes the outdoors, its just a long month of snow melting into mud that makes escaping a maintained road nearly impossible. So I decided for a change of pace I would post a bit of an instructive post much like my deer head cleaning post from a while ago (currently my most viewed post, thanks to Pinterest)
So this time, instead of a tomahawk or a deer head, I’ve got something almost everyone likes… food. I will share with you my super secret steak marinade recipe. It works with any red meat but I find it especially useful for deer meat, especially if you find its too gamey. So lets begin.
Wait, first I should mention something. This recipe is just a rough guide and open to adjustment and interpretation, all units of measure are somewhere along the lines of dashes, splashes, dollops, hints, and glugs.
First you need meat, you can buy it if you like, ideally go out and round it up yourself if you can
I tend to start with the meat frozen, and put it into a large container with a lid that seals.
It doesn’t look particularly appetizing just yet.
Next I like to add a bit of steak spice, any brand will work and we all have our favorites so just use that. If you don’t have a favorite or a “go to” that’s kinda strange but not a problem, just use the first one you find at the grocery store and see how you like it. Personally I like Montreal Steak spice, though I’m not sure they want to be associated with me so dont judge them based on my usage of their product. If you put too much, that’s OK because most of it will stay in the marinade when you pull the meat out to cook it, and if you think you put too little, you can add some while its grilling. Everyone has their own preference for strength of taste, I tend to put a lot of spice.
Don’t worry about putting a bit too much or too little.
Next I add a bit of BBQ sauce. I usually go with a generic BBQ flavor, but I have, in the past, had good luck with honey garlic and hickory flavor. Just about any BBQ sauce should work.
I tend to use about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup for two steaks use what ever you think is reasonable
Next is the key ingredient, I find this is what really gets rid of a lot of that gameyness that people often don’t like in wild meat. Worcestershire sauce is the key, so add a bit to the mix. Much like with the steak spice, Lea & Perrins doesn’t know about me or my blog (probably)… So again don’t hold it against them if you happen to not like me.
I find I only need about 2 or 3 tablespoons for two steaks, and even that may be a lot
Last ingredient is any kind of cola, I believe its the carbonation that helps tenderize it, so in theory you could also use beer. If you decide to try beer, let me know how it works out (for science!). I have also, in times of desperation, had good luck with root beer, but it tends to add a bit of a vanilla flavor that some people don’t care for.
You can either use enough to submerge the steaks, or be less wasteful and flip the steaks half way through the marinade process
Lastly, put a lit on it and put it in the refrigerator for at least a day. Once you decide its time to eat it, cook it on the barbecue however you see fit. If you are unsure of how to cook steaks properly, that makes two of us. What I tend to do is turn the barbecue on and set it to high heat, once its good and hot I brush and scrape the grill portion. I then throw the steaks on, close the lid and then drop the temperature to low. That way it sears the outside, preventing sticking to the grill and sealing in the moisture, at least that’s my theory on it. All that said, every BBQ is wildly different and there are millions of people, all with their own ideas of the best way to cook a steak. Do what works for you.
I like mine cooked anywhere around medium or medium rare
So, just a quick recap:
- Put the meat into a container
- Add steak spice
- Add barbecue sauce
- Add worcestershire sauce
- Add cola
- Refrigerate for at least a day
- Cook on a grill
- Eat it
- Come back and comment with your thoughts on the recipe
One last really useful thing I will share with you, since you’ve read this far. Barbecued perogies.
Perogies are an easy and tasty side dish for almost any meal
If you’ve never had perogies… you need to go buy some now and eat them! You can finish reading this later, perogies take priority. If you’ve never had barbecued perogies, like most people I’ve talked to, this might be life changing for you. Perogies are one of my favourite foods, and always have been. I remember when I was younger, and when I come to visit as an adult, my mom would make perogies her way. She would boil them, fry some bacon, caramelize some onions and boil up some peas. All served with sour cream. This results in an amazing meal but lot of work, 2 dirty pots, and two dirty pans. When I got older someone showed me that you could fry perogies when you had them as leftovers, and that was pretty good but they tended to be greasy that way. Fried is my least favorite method of cooking perogies, but I still wont say no to a plate of them.
Last summer, while I was working on an oil rig, a Directional Driller I was working with was cooking a steak on the barbecue. I saw him pull a bag of pergoies out of the freezer and walk outside. Naturally I had to ask, and he was kind enough to enlighten me. Cooking perogies on the barbecue takes about 5 to 10 minutes, you just lay them on the grill frozen, when they start to get nice grill marks on one side flip them over. Its best to take them off when they just start to split, or if you’re really good just before they split. By the time he was done explaining himself they were ready. He offered me one and I took it… my life hasn’t been the same since. The next day I drove into town and bought a bag of perogies and I dont think I’ve gone a week without barbecued perogies since then. They are a quick side dish with minimal clean up afterward, you can eat them like finger food, and its easy to cook a lot of them if you have guests. They are good dipped in sour cream, barbecue sauce, salad dressing or my personal favorite, sweet chili sauce.
I would also recommend a starter salad or a vegetable side dish
If you have any questions don’t be shy! I would love to hear your deer steak recipe, if you care to share, put it in the comments.
Posted in How-To, Recipewith 3 comments.
Cape Reinga Road Trip: Part 2 (Dunes, Trees, and Fuel Lights)
This, as I am sure you have guessed, is part two of a two part series. I recommend you go back and begin at the beginning and read part one. If thats just not your style, allow me to bring you up to speed. Erin and I had just rented a camper van from an agency in Auckland, New Zealand and driven it to Cape Reinga. We had just seen The Cape and started heading back to Auckland to see the sights along the way and eventually return the van. Now, let us resume.
We now began our scenic drive home. On the way to Cape Reinga we had seen signs for the sand dunes, after some quick research in the guide book, we decided we had better stop and see them on the way back. We pulled into a little parking lot at the edge of where the lush green trees met the golden brown sands. From a distance it reminded me of home, it looked like at the edge of a field where the green spruce stopped on a razors edge and was replaced with golden wheat. I grabbed my water bottle filled with the previously boiled water. It was now still kinda hot, like bad tea, ideally it would have been cold.
We jumped out of the van and wandered into the dunes. A few hundred yards from the parking lot, across the dunes, there was a small patch of trees. Erin and I walked toward it, the whole time joking about it probably being a mirage. We made it to the oasis then wandered up the side of a tall dune and surveyed the area, the dunes went a lot farther than I would have expected, we were also very close to the ocean, so we decided to head that way. We climbed down the dune to a rather well traveled trail to the ocean. My water bottle kept falling out of the cargo pocket on my shorts so I decided to just leave it beside a unique rock and grab it on my way back. In hindsight that was a bad idea.
We walked toward the ocean on the sandy trail which eventually turned into a flowing stream about five inches deep and twelve feet wide. I like a nice wide shallow stream, its just so pleasant to walk in. Suddenly coming upstream towards us was a bus. A greyhound style bus, right through the stream, spraying water out each side. It was cool to see, and a little surprising. I was obviously a little confused. It stopped a few hundred feet in front of us and a bunch of people got off holding body boards, then it all made sense. It was a tour company doing sand boarding, it looked like a lot of fun. Erin and I watched for a bit and then continued our trek to the sea. We eventually made it, and went for a swim. Actually Erin swam, I’m kind of afraid of the ocean so I just waded in about waist deep.
Climbing The Dunes Is hard Work
Getting Down From The Dunes Is Quite Easy
We started heading back, the heat and salt water were starting to get to me and I was really wishing I hadn’t set down my water bottle. I eventually made it back to my water, which I had left in the sun for a few hours. I drank the nearly boiling water while we headed back to our van. Since then I have instituted a personal policy of never leaving equipment behind on a trail, either I bring it all the way or not at all.
After our sand dune excitement we headed to our campsite. It was basically a few grass parking spaces surrounded by trees, just off the main road. We had some dinner and went to bed.
The next day we had two things on the agenda, see the Kauri trees and return the van to the rental office in Auckland. We first went to Kauri Kingdom to learn about the trees and their history. The Kauri tree grows large enough that they were able to carve a spiral staircase inside of one, just to give you and idea. From there we went to a nearby Kauri forest, to see some live ones.
Giant Trees Have Always Fascinated Me
Last thing on the docket was to get the van back to the rental agency before 5pm. We pulled into Auckland at about 4:45 and I realized that I had no idea where the rental agency was. We were very low on gas, my intention was to return the van with as little fuel as possible since we pre-purchased the last tank of gas. It was also rush hour. My heart was racing, and my knuckles were white. We didn’t have any form of GPS so Erin was searching through the map trying to figure out where we were and where the agency was. Then the low fuel light came on, I was stressed and about to have a stroke. It was now 4:58 and I had admitted defeat and came to terms with us renting the van for another expensive day and needing to put fuel in it. It was now a search fro the nearest fuel station and a way to get out of the traffic. Suddenly Erin spotted a grocery store that she remembered was across the street from the rental agency. I made a quick right, and sure enough, there was the agency. I zipped into garage as an employee was starting to close the big overhead shop door. I pulled into the stall and yanked the parking brake as the clock on the dash rolled to 5:00. We were safe, although it was kind of a jerk move to come in that late when the employees are supposed to be done at 5. I apologized for cutting it so close and explained the situation to the rental agent. He thought it was kinda funny, though I’m sure by now he was tired of the usual “I’m not from here and I dont know my way around” excuse. We unloaded our gear, and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a lighter tucked away in a little cubby hole beside the stove… that was upsetting. Oh well, it was time for the next adventure.
Posted in Travelwith no comments yet.