Quick Venison Processing Question - Which cut from hind for steaks?

[Doc7]

Hey folks, had a good hunt yesterday with some coworkers, but the deal is that I have never processed deer before and I have a deer hindquarter (as well as a backstrap and a tenderloin - we ate the backstrap last night which was amazing and will be having some bacon-wrapped tenderloin tonight).

I am running to the store now for some ingredients for a marinade for venison "steaks", and have found videos online for how to debone the hindquarter into Top, Bottom, Eye and Sirloin round. Which one of these is the best for grilling as 1" steaks? I will be using the other cuts as roasts etc but the videos don't tell me which one to use for the generic term, "steaks". I understand slicing against the grain etc but want to make sure I pick the right cut to slice for this purpose, so I can marinade for a couple guests coming over tonight.

Thank you very much!

 

[Laphroaig]

I've always thought that the closer to the top of the hind quarter produced the best meat. When I butchered our own deer I'd cut steaks near the top or middle. Closer to the shank was stew meat in our house.

Laphroaig

 

[gspn]

Generally speaking, the higher on the animal the more tender the meat. Having said that though, as long as you remove all the silver skin you should be fine with steaks from any of those cuts.

Be very sure to trim away all of the silverskin...it will remain tough and unchewable if you make steaks.

The only way to render that silverskin edible is to cook it long and slow...like braising it for 5 or 6 hours.

Be sure not to overcook it...venison dries out very quickly. I always serve medium rare. If you go past medium you will be left with a dry unpalatable piece of meat.

 

[Captcurt]

I always separate each bundle of muscle and cut across the muscle grain. If you cut with the grain you have some tough meat. It takes extra time to do properly but at least you don't have to chew each bite twenty times to be able to swallow. As gspn said, don't overcook it. Medium rare works well.

 

[Doc7]

Thanks folks.

I am marinating small chunks of backstrap in cider and bbq sauce for bacon wrapped bites (saved half of the backstrap whole for cooking whole another night) and as the bottom round is the one that came out the nicest after separating and trimming the hindquarter that is the one I sliced up into steaks which are now marinating in a soy and lime mixture.

I have frozen a couple extra bottom round steaks, the whole top round sirloin round and eye round, and some extra meat bits that I got off the bone (probably parts of the other muscles that I didn't cut properly).

Exciting stuff

 

[Doc7]

This was something else we got on our hunt yesterday

 

[gspn]

This was something else we got on our hunt yesterday View attachment 206538

Dude it is AMAZING that you found him sleeping on the truck like that! And that he didn't wake up when you took the pic!

It's always fun when a coyote makes himself an unexpected target.

 

[Captcurt]

Grind more.

Just finished a meatloaf that will make you want to slap your mother for not fixing it when you were young. We eat at least 3 deer a year and if the kids are around very often I need 2 more.

 

[gamestalker]

Ya, the higher up on the quarter the more tender it will be.

A really good way to marinade that makes the meat come out moist, is to use lots of vegetable oil and then add your desired spices to the mixture. Unlike beef, game meat has zero fat ring on it, so marinading in oil is the key. Also, be careful not to over cook it, anything beyond medium rare will dry it out. However, we had some back straps night before last, and I unintentionally got them about medium, still pink inside, but a bit over cooked for my taste buds. But because I marinaded in vegetable oil over night, the meat had enough oil in it to keep it from turning to shoe leather, it was still very tender and tasty.

If I could pick between beef and game meat, deer, elk, antelope, I would pick the game meat every time. It's healthier for you than any cut of beef.

GS

 

[JonathanE]

After separating the femur heads from the hips, I usually take one hindquarter and separate the roasts with a minimum of cutting.
I then take the other quarter, lay it on a big cutting board, and cut the full circumference of the thigh into a series of rings, each 1" thick and a smaller diameter than the one before.
Gently insert a thin knife along the femur to cut them free, and remove these large steaks (usually 4 to 6 of them) off the bone. Each steak ends up having a cross section of each of the muscles on the thigh, connected by a small amount of connective tissue (I pick out the larger pieces of fat found among connective tissue).
Sometimes they fall apart on the grill, but it's just as tasty!

 

[courtgreene]

I typically do what you find explained in post 10. I don't do that because it's the best way, I do it because I don't know which muscles are which and it's just easy. Also I like big steaks. It works well.

 

[41 Mag]

Personally I can't help you on the big steaks, the last ones I had done like that were from a mulie I got in CO and I simply had the fellow we used to process our meat cut them bone in on his bandsaw.

I usually take the hams apart and make cutlets out of the bigger muscles and grind the smaller stuff. Just easier to work with that way at our house. Since it is only the wife and I, a small pack of 6 cutlets will make supper for us. We usually do the marinade then wrap in bacon and grill over a low heat till the bacon looks done.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

as to grilling steaks you ate them allready Seriously the only steaks I grill are back straps. Steaks cut off of hind quarters are usually fried for breakfast. What I do do with some hind quarter steaks is run them through my cuber and then grill them.

 

[Doc7]

Here is what I did with two bottom round steaks and bacon wrapped tenderloin

 

[Ron Go]

Turn the sirloin (both pieces) and top round (aka inside round) as well as the rump into steaks. The bottom round, eye of round and shank should all be roasted.

 

[ChefJeff1]

Top round and sirloin for steaks.

 

[clearcut]

I cut some of my steaks thin and chicken fry for a change of menu.
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