Home › The Waldorf Kitchen › Broiled Venison Steaks
Broiled Venison Steaks
Cut two or three pounds of venison into steaks about one-half inch thick and broil them on a buttered gridiron over a very hot fire for four minutes on either side. While the steaks are being broiled melt on a dish before the fire equal parts of red currant jelly and butter, one tablespoonful each to every pound of venison, and a seasoning of salt and pepper; place the steaks on this when they are broiled, turn them over once, and serve them hot. Venison Steaks, Hunter's Style Procure from a newly killed deer a fine leg of about five pounds weight, remove the bone, cut off half a dozen slices, pare and flatten them, put them on a plate and season with one pinch each of salt and pepper, one-third of a pinch of nutmeg and one tablespoonful of oil, rolling them well. Broil them for five minutes on each side over a brisk, clear fire. Dress on a hot dish, and serve with one gill of maitre d'hotel butter, decorating the dish with a small quantity of watercress.
Two versions of the same idea, both built on very fast cooking over very high heat. Venison has almost no intramuscular fat, so the margin between rare and dry is a matter of a minute or two.
- The hinge: do not cook past medium-rareHalf-inch steaks over a hot fire want about three to four minutes a side, pulled at 125-130F internal for medium-rare. Farmed venison and loin cuts are safe cooked this way; whole-muscle wild game is generally advised to reach 145F with a three-minute rest, which will make these steaks noticeably firm.
- The gridironA buttered gridiron over a very hot fire translates to a charcoal grill run hot, or a heavy cast-iron grill pan preheated until it just smokes. A home broiler works but sits too far from the element on most ranges; move the rack to the top position.
- The currant jelly butter"Melt on a dish before the fire" means a warmed serving platter set near the heat, not a saucepan. One tablespoon each of red currant jelly and butter per pound, warmed together on the platter, so the steaks land in the sauce and pick it up as they are turned. For three pounds that is three tablespoons of each.
- A gillHalf a cup. That is a generous amount of maitre d'hotel butter for six slices; a quarter cup is plenty for most tables.
- Maitre d'hotel butterSoftened butter worked with chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Oscar assumes you have it on hand; make it ahead, roll it in parchment and chill, then slice coins onto the hot meat.
- "A newly killed deer"The second recipe assumes game brought in from the field. Buy farmed venison leg or loin, or ask a butcher to bone a leg. Slices cut from the leg are tougher than loin, which may be the point of paring and flattening them.
- "One pinch"The book never defines the measure; in practice treat it as roughly an eighth of a teaspoon. A third of a pinch of nutmeg is a scrape of the grater, no more.
- YieldTwo to three pounds of steaks serve four to six. The hunter's-style version, six slices from a five-pound leg, serves three to six depending on the size of the slices.
Oscar Tschirky presided over the dining rooms of the Waldorf from its opening in 1893 and then the Waldorf-Astoria, and the 1896 cookbook that carries his name reflects the repertoire of a large American hotel of the period, though it is a compilation and Tschirky himself was a maitre d'hotel rather than a cook. Venison was a restaurant luxury in that era rather than a home staple, arriving from commercial market hunters and from private estates before the game laws of the following decades closed most of that trade. The pairing of venison with red currant jelly is old and firmly established in English and Anglo-American cookery, where a sharp fruit jelly was the standard accompaniment to any dark, lean game meat; melting the jelly with butter into a quick pan sauce is simply the hotel kitchen's shortcut version. "Hunter's style" here is a menu formula rather than a strict classical preparation, signaling plain broiling and a compound butter instead of the long marinades and sauce poivrade that a more elaborate French service would have used.