There are few things more satisfying in life than harvesting your own food and preparing a delicious meal to feed your family. Hunters everywhere routinely take their wild game meat and make the same few dishes over and over, without even considering the possibilities that could become from such fresh meat. Sausages, chilis, steaks, stews, and burgers are fine, but what about changing the [wild] game up and trying an Asian stir fry, for example? Today's recipe, Spicy Venison Stir Fry, does just that and combines a traditional meal with a way to use wild game meat from your freezer! Whether you are trying to use up last year's harvest or looking forward towards your next hunt, think outside the box and try something a little more unique and flavorful....Let's Get Cooking!
One of the greatest aspects of this game meat recipe is that you can use just about any cut of meat. Backstrap, sirloin, tenderloin, etc all work great so you can use up just about any remaining meat from last year's hunt. Whichever cut you decide to use, first begin by semi-thawing the meat so that it remains partially frozen for easier slicing. If you are using a fresh cut of meat, semi-freeze the meat in the freezer for about an hour or so until it is hardened but not completely frozen. If you happen to have a deli slicer, by all means use it to thinly and evenly prepare your meat into slices. Otherwise, take your time and put those knife skills to use and cut the meat into 1/8th inch thick slices. Be careful not to slice your venison or elk, moose, bridge troll, or mythical dragon meat too thin or it will quickly overcook. On the other hand, be sure it isn't extra thick either to keep that typical Asian stir fry mouth feel without any chewy hunks of meat.
The next, and most crucial step, is to prepare the marinade. In a large mixing bowl or ziplock bag, combine the beef stock, soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, brown sugar, and sriracha. Mix well until the brown sugar is dissolved and everything is well blended. Once your marinade is ready, simply add your game meat slices, stir, and refrigerate at least 8 hours, but preferably overnight.
After your venison has marinated overnight, you can pull it from the fridge and let it warm up to room temperature before cooking. This should only take about an hour or so, but is important so that the meat doesn't need to be overcooked in order to be warmed through. Anyway, I digress. Any good cook that is worth a grain of salt already knows to keep leftover bacon grease in the fridge to use for extra flavor instead of cooking or olive oil when sauteing. That being said, grab a spoonful or so and heat it in your frying pan on medium-high heat until melted and hot. If you suffer from poor judgement and don't have any bacon grease on hand, I suppose you can use regular cooking oil and get away with it, but you will be judged! Toss in some 1-2 inch green onion tops and minced garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. The garlic should become fragrant and the green onion pieces should just begin to wilt.
Once the green onions and garlic are sauteed, add your venison/game meat and a cup or so of the marinade. Continue cooking the meat over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes until rare to medium-rare. The cook time is quick since we are using such thin sliced meat.
Scoop out 3-4 tablespoons of the marinade liquid and mix well with a tablespoon or so of cornstarch to create a slurry. Pour the slurry back into the pan and mix throughout the marinade cooking juices. They should almost immediately start to thicken to a gravy-like consistency. Reduce the heat to low while the sauce finishes thickening.
That pretty much wraps up this super simple Venison Stir Fry recipe. Serve it with some rice and drizzle on some sriracha for that final kick of spicy flavor! Obviously, this recipe is quite adaptable to various meats and additional stir fry ingredients. Otherwise, rather than cooking the stir fry, you could just marinate the meat and make jerky instead for your next hunting trip snack. The thin game meat slices are just about perfect for making jerky or this recipe so double up your batch size and do both if you so choose! You can also add more sriracha or cayenne pepper if you really want to turn up the heat level and get those endorphins flowing, as this recipe is meant for the masses at a mildly spicy entry level. I haven't personally tried making jerky yet using this particular recipe so I can't fully speak to what tweaks you may wish to make, but as a whole it should work fine as is. That being said, give this recipe a try and let me know what you think. Whether you are a seasoned hunter looking for new game meat recipe ideas or just a regular Jane/Joe wanting to try new things, get in the kitchen and make something delicious....Just Keep Cooking!
SPICY VENISON STIR FRY
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