Deer Steaks?

[RideNSlide]

Hi... I currently have deer steaks in my fridge... I tenderized them a bit yesterday and put some teriyaki marinade in a bag with them.. they've been sitting in the marinade since early yesterday afternoon (and I will be serving them tonight)...can you hurt meat by marinating too long, or no??? I have a feeling you can't.. that they'll just be extra-tasty

Then what??? My SIL told me to roll them in flour and then put them on the grill or frying pan (not sure which i'm going to do yet.. theres an awful lot of snow outside for barbequing). I have 2 kinds of flour--- whole wheat and cake/pastry... yes, leave it to Brittany not to have all-purpose flour in her pantry. Anyways.. which of those do I use? A mix of the two? Or will the steaks be better with no flour, just cooked immediately after I take them out of their marinade?

I'm also making stuffed potatoes tonight... what is the best filling for those??? I was thinking of scooping the potatoes out and mixing it with sour cream, butter, and cheese... chives would be good, too... but I don't think i'll be able to get any today... will sour cream, butter, and cheese be good enough? And bacon bits, of course I loff me some bacon bits...

Anyways.. just a couple elementary-level cooking questions for ya! Thanks in advance!
-Britt

[Deleted]

I think you could hurt meat if you marinate it long enough to go bad, but not just leaving it long. It will get stronger in the taste of the marinade though, I overmarinated shish-ka-bobs that were very nice and tender, but WOW was the marinade flavor strong.
I would probably use the wheat flour, though I'm having trouble imagining how something breaded would cook on the grill? Anyway, if you're going to fry them, the wheat is fine because you kind of want something that'll give you a good fried crunch. The taters sounds good as is.
Just one question though - can I come to dinner?

[RideNSlide]

You're welcome at my house any time Thanks for the advice!
-Britt

[Chrisnstar]

Britt, we used to eat a lot of venison. I slice the steaks up in to strips. Season them and bread them, and quick pan fry them. you don't want to fry venison too long or it gets tough. The marinating will help with tenderness.

I also like to slow cook them in a crockpot, adding cloves of garlic, some peppercorns and juniper berries. It makes them nice and tender and makes a wonderful gravy to put over noodles, rice or mashed potatoes.

chris

[RideNSlide]

What did you season with, Chris?? LOL All I have is Mrs. Dash and black pepper... I thought marinating in teriyaki would be enough?

TIA!
-Britt

[Chrisnstar]

you don't want to mix other flavors with Teriyaki, so go ahead and use that
for future use
garlic
rosemary
pepper
paprika
juniper berries

not all at once, though... experiment and see what flavors you like.

[Chrisnstar]

Here's some recipes, Brittany:

Venison Steak In Foil
1 Deer, elk or moose steak (browned)
1 Potato peeled and sliced thin
3 ozs. Green beans
1 tbls. Lipton onion soup mix
3 tbls. Campbell's beef consomme
1/4 tsp. Ground pepper






Cut two pieces of aluminum foil, place them on top of each other and brush with cooking oil. Heat a little cooking oil in a frying pan and brown the steak on both sides. Remove the steak from pan and place onto foil. Top the steak with the sliced potato and green beans. Sprinkle the onion soup, beef consomme and pepper over the rest of the ingredients. Fold the foil together, being careful not to puncture it. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
====================================

www.venison-meat.com/html/recipes.html
===========================

Venison Salisbury Steak
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup oil
1 pound venison, cut into cubes
1 (16 ounce) package buttery round crackers, crushed fine
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
onion salt, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
2 cubes beef bouillon
1 cup boiling water
1 egg
1 medium onion, sliced
1 (4.5 ounce) can sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in a heavy skillet, over medium to medium-high heat. In a large bowl, stir together the crushed crackers, garlic powder, onion salt, salt and pepper. Beat the egg in a small bowl.
Dip the venison cubes into the egg, then into the crumb mixture to coat. Fry in the hot oil until browned on all sides. Dissolve the bouillon cubes in the boiling water and pour into the pan. Add the onions and mushrooms. Lower heat, cover and cook until the meat is tender, about 15 minutes - add more water as needed. Dissolve cornstarch in cold water, and stir into the sauce. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened.
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Venison Steak Marinade

3 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1-2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 (1 1/2 lb) package venison steak


Mix all marinade ingredients together in a small measuring cup.
Place venison steaks in a large zip lock bag.
Pour marinade over steaks and seal bag.
Place bag in a flat casserole dish so that the steaks are in a single layer.
Refrigerate and marinate at least 4 hours, turning every half hour to marinate each side.
Drain marinade and grill steaks to desired doneness.
Any wild game steak can be used in this recipe.
=======================

[Mary Ann]

I get where your MIL is going with this, though. Marinades are acidic and will break down tough muscle fibers, and make the meat more tender. So does slow cooking. Grills are more for quick searing and cooking of more tender cuts; I wouldn't use deer meat on the grill unless it's the longissimus dorsi because it's wild game, was much fitter in life than it's feedlot counterparts, and will be tougher. And if you flour them, you don't want to put them on the grill or the floury part will just burn.

Flouring is for meats that are first flash fried and then simmered for a long period in a sauce, like salisbury steak. A tomato based sauce would do the same as a marinade, as would cooking with wine.

Here's a similar dish that I made a few days ago with sirloin butt steaks. I chose to brown them without flour, but the principle's the same. I first threw a chopped onion in the pan and lightly browned it in a thin drizzle of olive oil. Then when they were just about done, I popped in the two little butt steaks. I got those browned, and then I deglazed the pan with some white zinfandel. (To deglaze a pan, you use a tiny amount of a liquid at a time, and scrape the brown bits off the bottom. Those are the sugars from the meat and onions, and they intensify the flavors of the dish. To leave them there, well, they'd just burn.) I added some more zin, maybe a half cup total, and threw in some tomatoes that we'd grown last summer in the garden and frozen. I popped them whole with the stem end removed in plastic bags, and then when I want to use them I just run them under hot water one at a time and the peels slide off. I put in a couple teaspoons of chopped garlic and slapped on the lid, and simmered it about an hour. When I came back, I squashed the tomatoes and I had a LOT of liquidy sauce, so I put the lid ajar and continued to simmer. By the time it was ready, the sauce was a lovely, thick, flavorful but simple sauce, and the meat was fork tender. It was YUMMEH.

[RideNSlide]

Well, I made them last night, they turned out well! I didn't roll them in flour or anything, just put them right on the pan n low heat. Took a long time to get them done like I wanted them, but it was worth it... it was the most tender deer meat i've ever had!!!

Also did the stuffed potatoes... they turned out very tasty, too

Thanks for all the tips! We ate all of our big deer steaks last night (only had 4), but we still have about 6 smaller ones, so i'll do some experimenting I also have deer stew meat... that will be good...

-Britt