Camp Venison Backstrap Bites
Seared backstrap cubes tossed in a garlic, caper, and chive oil. Raw tartare adapted into something safe to eat off a tailgate.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 53
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 7, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 28 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Gluten free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Venison backstrap | 1 lb | trimmed clean of silverskin, cut into 1/2-inch cubes |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | plus a little more for the pan |
| Garlic | 1 clove | minced, or 1/2 tsp granulated |
| Capers | 1 tbsp | drained and chopped |
| Chives | 1 tbsp | dried works fine |
| Dried parsley | 2 tsp | |
| Lemon juice | 1 tbsp | from a squeeze bottle |
| Kosher salt | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Crackers or toast rounds | 1 sleeve | for serving; skip to keep it gluten-free |
| Mustard and cornichons | to taste | optional, on the side |
Method
- Stir the oil, garlic, capers, chives, parsley, lemon, salt, and pepper together in a mug. Set it near the fire so it stays loose.
- Get a cast iron skillet hot over the grate or burner. It should be hot enough that a drop of water skitters.
- Add a thin film of oil and half the venison in one layer. Crowding it steams the meat instead of browning it.
- Sear two to three minutes total, turning once. Pull it at medium rare, still pink inside. Venison has no fat to forgive you.
- Repeat with the second batch, then dump everything back in the skillet off the heat.
- Pour the sauce over and toss. The residual heat is enough to wake up the garlic.
- Eat straight from the pan with a fork, or spoon onto crackers with mustard and pickles.
The source version is raw tartare with egg yolks, which is a fine restaurant dish and a bad idea on a tailgate. Field-dressed meat, a cooler that opens twenty times a day, and no sink is the wrong combination for raw diced protein. So this keeps the flavor structure — garlic, capers, chives, lemon, good oil — and applies it to seared cubes instead. The sauce goes on off the heat so the garlic and herbs stay sharp rather than toasting.
Backstrap has almost no intramuscular fat, so it goes from tender to dry in under a minute. Cook it hot and fast in two batches, pull it pink, and let the oil in the sauce do the work fat would normally do. Everything but the meat is shelf-stable and premixed at home, so camp is two bags and a skillet.
Packing
Cube the backstrap at home and freeze it flat in a zip bag. It thaws in the cooler over the drive and stays cold on the bottom. Mix the dry herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper into a film canister; oil and lemon go in dropper bottles.
Variations
- Swap in elk or beef sirloin at the same cut size and cook time.
- Add a spoonful of whole grain mustard to the sauce for body.
- Cook it a minute longer and fold it into instant rice if you want a real dinner instead of an appetizer.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/venison-tartare-recipe