Campside Venison Fillet Steaks
"One cold November day, about 25 years ago, my hunting partners and I arrived home and began the monumental task of butchering up our deer. We had 4 or 5 to process so we decided to do it together, all at once. About an hour into the task, some of us got hungry and, as I'm the camp cook, they prevailed upon me to fix the problem. I had already built a big campfire and there were lots of hot coals so I set up a metal grill over part of the fire and rounded up a 12" skillet and set it on the rack to heat. I went to the meat table, retrieved the biggest tenderloin strip and cut a half-dozen steaks, 1 1/2" thick -- some were 2". Then I grabbed a handful of ground beef suet (which we threw in with the burger to make it less lean) and tossed the suet into the pan. Long story short, I seasoned the steaks and fried them over very high heat and served them up. I have never seen steak disappear so fast in my entire life. When I ate mine, I discovered why -- they were very tender, moist and, incredibly delicious. In the end, I had to cut up and fry up MORE of them. Folks, this is a VERY simple recipe but, since that day, I've never prepared my venison Fillet Mignon any other way! I recommend this recipe for campfire preparation only and a well-seasoned 10"-12" cast iron skillet is a must. I was both a state and federal game warden for several years and a park ranger for the remaining ones of my career and I have never had deer steak this good at anyone's campsite (and I've been at a LOT of campsites where we were invited to try the food!). So....... Enjoy!"
- Ready In:
- 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 5
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 4 venison steak or 4 filet mignon steaks, 1 1/2-inches thick
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons black peppercorns, freshly milled
- 1 1⁄2 cups beef suet, ground
- 4 teaspoons butter
directions
- Set up your cooking station so that the skillet is approximately 8-12 inches above the hot coals of a campfire.
- Season both sides of the steaks in advance with the salt and pepper, rubbing seasoning into the edges of the steaks as well.
- When the skillet is very hot, toss in the ground up beef suet and when it melts and just begins to smoke, lay in all 4 steaks.
- DON'T move the steaks around, but after about 4-5 minutes, turn them, (with grabbers, not a fork -- if you penetrate them with a fork, you'll lose moisture!), and allow them to fry for another 4 minutes on the second side.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and drain all the grease but leave the steaks in the skillet. Top each with 1 teaspoon of butter and cover the skillet right away with a lid. Allow the steaks to sit in the covered skillet for 10 more minutes and then serve.
Questions & Replies
Got a question?
Share it with the community!
Reviews
Have any thoughts about this recipe?
Share it with the community!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>
