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Broiled Venison Steak
This requires about three minutes more time to broil than beefsteak. If doubtful, lay in olive oil and lemon juice for two hours before cooking. Drain without wiping, and broil over clear hot coals, turning often to avoid scorching. Take up, lay upon a very hot dish, sprinkle with salt and paprika and spread on both sides a mixture of butter stirred up with currant jelly.
A method rather than a formula: the whole thing hinges on how far you take the meat, and on the currant-jelly butter that finishes it.
- Ignore the extra three minutesThe advice to broil venison longer than beefsteak suits meat taken to well done, which older sources generally preferred for game. Venison has very little intramuscular fat and turns dry and liverish past medium-rare; loin or leg steaks pulled at 125-130F internal and rested five minutes are the modern alternative.
- "Clear hot coals"A charcoal fire burned down to grey-edged embers with no flame licking the meat. A ridged cast-iron pan preheated until it just smokes, or a broiler element at full heat with the meat 3 inches beneath, gives a similar fast crust.
- Turning oftenContrary to the usual once-only rule, frequent turning suits this: lean venison scorches easily, and where the optional oil-and-lemon soak has been used the surface catches quickly. Flipping every 45 seconds or so keeps the crust even and the interior cooler.
- The olive oil and lemon soakThis is for meat you suspect of being strong or tough, not a required step. Two hours is the limit worth giving it; longer in acid makes the exterior pale and mealy. Drain but do not wipe, as the book says, since the film of oil helps the sear.
- Currant jelly butterNo proportions are given. Two tablespoons of softened unsalted butter beaten with one tablespoon of red currant jelly is a workable ratio, mashed smooth rather than melted so it holds its shape and melts on contact with the steak.
- A very hot dishNot a flourish. Venison is served rare and its little fat sets quickly, so a cold platter dulls the whole thing. Warm the plates in a 200F oven.
- PaprikaIn 1911 this would most likely have meant sweet paprika, used as much for the red color against the jelly as for flavor. Smoked Spanish paprika is not what is intended here and will fight the fruit.
- YieldAllow 6 to 8 ounces of boneless steak per person, and cut portions at least an inch thick; anything thinner cooks through before it browns.
Venison with currant jelly is one of the oldest surviving English pairings for game, generally traced to the medieval habit of serving strong meats with sharp-sweet fruit sauces, and by the nineteenth century a dish of red currant jelly on the table with venison or hare was a common feature of both British and American service. The Butterick book still assumes a household might receive a saddle of deer from a hunting relation or buy game from a market dealer, a trade the federal Lacey Act of 1900 had begun to curtail by restricting interstate shipment of illegally taken game. The recipe's brevity is telling: it is written for a cook who already knows how to manage a coal broiler and needs only to be told where venison differs from beef.