VENISON COUNTRY STYLE STEAK & GRAVY
The following is pictorial essay of a recipe I tried this
afternoon inspired by David Lear, Maintenance at BCCI. I have a very similar
recipe but this one has a package of Lipton Dry Onion Soup Mix instead of
sautéed onions and this recipe is baked in the oven, whereas the one I use is
done in an electric skillet. I was so anxious to sink my teeth (store bought
ones of course) into this recipe that I forgot to take a picture of the finished
product on my plate. The recipe is fantastic and very easy to do. For those that
don’t have access to venison or have thoughts of Bambi, substitute a good cut of
beef.
I started with a good 2 lb. portion of sliced venison loin strap and used a hand
cuber to tenderize it and sprinkled some meat tenderizer over it and let it sit
about 10 minutes.
The cubed steaks were then coated with salt/pepper plain
flour.
About 1/4 cup of olive oil was heated and the coated steaks
were lightly browned on both sides and allowed to drain on a paper towel.
One 26 oz. Can of Campbell s Cream of Mushroom Soup and
about one can of water was mixed and the package of Lipton’s Dry Onion Soup mix
was added to the soup. I also added at least a tablespoon of Kitchen Bouquet
Seasoning & Browning Sauce to have a “beautimous” dark brown color sauce. Add
the amounts necessary to get to color you are looking for. The soup mixture was
then placed in a Pyrex (oven proof) dish and the browned venison loin straps
were added. A sheet of aluminum foil was placed over the dish and allowed to
bake for at least 1 and 1/2 hours. If you want it a little tender add another
30 minutes time.
Note: The sauce is actually darker than this pix
show because of the flash reflection off the “gravy”.
It is a good thing I didn’t capture removing the Pyrex dish
from the oven because I got real creative and used only one oven mitten and
believe me the 350 degree wire oven rack against an unprotected finger created a
little dance that Michael Jackson would have loved to copy. *&%$**#@, that’s my
story and I’m sticking to it!
If you look close, some of the steak is missing from the dish. As I said
earlier, I forgot to take a pix of the steak and gravy over a bed of rice. Man
that stuff was terrific.
I hope by now you all are “hungry”. I am full as a Georgia tick on the back of a
coon hound in the month of July.
Later, Bill aka Mickey
Alternate recipe below using a Towne Craft
electric skillet which I use most of the time. No pixs for now, maybe
later.
PORTER'S COUNTRY STYLE VENISON STEAK &
GRAVY
INGREDIENTS:
2-3 lbs. cubed Venison steak or Beef steak
2 medium size onions – sliced (optional if you use Lipton onion soup mix)
1/3 stick margarine
1 whole egg
1 cup whole or evaporated milk
1 cup plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper
1 can (26 ozs.) Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup or your favorite brand
1/2 can (13) ozs.) water - add amount to get soup thick or thin
1 tbsp. Kitchen Bouquet Seasoning & Browning Sauce
1 teaspoon salt - to taste (See Additional Notes comment)
1 teaspoon black pepper - to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup cooking oil
Meat tenderizer (optional)
1 Package Lipton Onion Soup mix (add to mushroom soup) Note:
I now use IGA brand, Lipton brand has gotten too salty.
I currently hand cube my venison and sprinkle both sides of
meat with MSG, a little meat tenderizer, Sauer brand and a good sprinkling
of my Wild Bill's Dry Meat Rub and let
set for about 30 minutes to an hour to come up to room temperature!
Preheat electric frying pan to 375 to 400 degrees with cooking oil of your
choice.
In another pan, sauté sliced onions in margarine until caramelized if not using
the onion soup mix. I do use both at times!
Beat egg and milk together, this is the drench. Dip steaks into egg/milk mixture and coat
steaks with seasoned flour, this is the dredge. Brown steak on both sides and add salt and
pepper. Drain oil from pan after removing steak. Add 1/2 +- can of
water to can cream of mushroom soup and blend in seasoning and browning sauce
until the desired color is obtained.
Note: Add amount of water
until you get the thickness desired and add the mushroom soup and onion soup mix
to the electric frying pan.
Place browned steak back into electric frying pan and add the sauté onions.
Place lid onto pan and cook on simmer setting until steak is tender (30-40
minutes). Turn steak over about halfway of cooking time. This meal
can be left in the frying pan on simmer for several hours if desired while
preparing others dishes, etc.
Serve with rice, noodles or mashed potatoes. Steamed/cooked cabbage
seasoned with "fat back" goes very well with this.
Note: This is my favorite cubed venison steak recipe. All of my
deer hunter and non-hunting friends that have eaten this venison recipe most
often go back for seconds and want a copy of the recipe.
Comments by Mickey Porter February 12, 1999.
Recipe by Joyce Porter. "Tweet" aka my bride will usually re-cube
the venison with an aluminum hand meat tenderizer, pounding the "daylights" out
of the steak and will also sprinkle each piece of meat with some standard meat
tenderizer. Her venison comes out very, very tender when prepared this
way.
Additional Notes: If using Onion Soup Mix, do not add any salt.
Currently using IGA brand since less sodium than Lipton brand. 11-10-07.
Today 08-09-08 I am fixing the Porter's Country Style
Venison Steak & Gravy using sauté onions instead of the onion soup mix and
using an electric skillet instead of the oven. Below a few pixs taken
along the way.
Everything about set up and ready to go...the venison cubed
steak had some meat tenderizer and a little Wild Bill's Dry Meat Rub sprinkled
on them and allowed to get to room temperature taking about 30 minutes.
The drench (liquid) is one egg with about 1/2 cup white milk beat
together and the dredge is plain flour with salt and fresh ground
black pepper added. The 26 oz can of Cream of Mushroom soup and about 13
oz. of tap water and 1 tablespoon of browning and seasoning sauce was added to a
mixing bowl and blended together.
The venison steak frying in a very well used vintage Towne
Craft electric skillet browning on both sides. Skillet temperature is
usually set between 375 and 400 degrees. After browning, cubed steaks will
be removed from the skillet and placed on a paper towel to drain excess cooking
oil ....... the cooking oil from the electric skillet will be removed and the
mushroom gravy and sauté onion mixture will be added back to the skillet adding
the browned cubed steaks and allowed to simmer (covered) for a couple hours....the longer
the better. The beauty of the Towne Craft waterless cookware, the lids fit
the pans like a tight glove and will vacuum seal when the temperature of the
pot, pan or skillet is allowed to cool down.
Those browned venison cubed steaks look good enough to eat
"rat" now. These steaks are actually from the loin instead of the
hind quarter and therefore are much smaller in size, but that doesn't hinder
their "beautimous" taste and they are a better cut of venison in my opinion!
Caramelized sweet onions about ready to be added to the
mushroom gravy.
Next pix of the cubed venison steak and gravy after
simmering a couple hours. The last thirty minutes or so, the
"sticky" rice was cooked, yellow corn, green sweet peas and
buttermilk biscuits were baked.
We are certainly working our way up to the Grand Finally
with the little digital camera and I am getting seriously hungry too.
Without further ado, lets take a look at the venison country style steak and
gravy on the plate with a few sides, not to mention a handful of small biscuits
for sopping up that wonderful gravy.
With wild game, I call dishes like this one
"Fruits of the Harvest", locally harvested venison by yours truly and
home grown deck tomatoes.
Prepared and photographed by Bill Porter with my "bride"
Tweet aka Joyce doing the finishing touches to the plate and placemat.
