Chicken Fried Venison, Camp Version
Pounded venison steaks, a dry breading, and a shallow pan of oil over the fire. Gravy from powdered milk.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 80
- protein
- 45 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- 300 ml boiled
- 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
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Venison steaks | 1 lb | silver skin trimmed off at home, kept cold in the cooler |
|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 1 cup | half for breading, half for the gravy |
| Italian seasoned breadcrumbs | 1/2 cup | |
| Powdered egg | 2 tbsp | plus 3 tbsp water to make the wash |
| Powdered whole milk | 1/3 cup | |
| Frying oil | 1 cup | enough for about 1/2 inch in the pan |
| Salt and coarse black pepper | 2 tsp total |
Method
- At camp, lay the steaks on a cutting board and pound them thin with the flat of a hatchet or a rock wrapped in a bag. Aim for a quarter inch.
- Salt and pepper both sides. Stir the powdered egg with 3 tbsp water in a cup and let it sit two minutes.
- Set up three shallow dishes: seasoned flour, egg wash, then flour cut with the breadcrumbs. Run each steak through in that order.
- Get the fire down to coals and set the pan on the grate with 1/2 inch of oil. It is ready when a pinch of flour sizzles hard.
- Fry two to three minutes a side until the crust is dark brown. Pull them onto a plate.
- Pour off all but 2 tbsp of oil. Stir in 2 tbsp flour and cook it a minute, then whisk in the powdered milk mixed into 300 ml of hot water. Simmer until it coats the spoon, then salt and pepper it hard and pour it over the steaks.
Venison is lean enough that a thick steak goes tough before the crust browns. Pounding it thin fixes both problems at once: the meat cooks through in the same few minutes the breading needs, and the fibers are already broken up, so an older animal still cuts with a fork. This is the whole trick, and it is worth the noise.
The camp changes are in the wet ingredients. Fresh eggs and milk do not belong in a pack, so the wash is powdered egg rehydrated in a cup and the gravy is built on powdered whole milk stirred into hot water. Both behave the same in the pan. The gravy uses the oil already in the skillet, which means one pan for the whole meal and one pan to scrape out afterward.
Packing
Mix the breading and the seasoned flour into two zip bags at home. The powdered egg and powdered milk go in small jars. Steaks travel frozen at the bottom of the cooler and thaw on the drive.
Variations
- No cooler? Rehydrated canned or pouched chicken thighs take the same breading, though they will not pound thin.
- Skip the gravy and eat the steaks in tortillas with hot sauce. One less pan step.
- Leftovers, sliced cold into a wrap the next morning, are better than they have any right to be.
https://www.huntingpa.com/threads/need-chicken-fried-venison-recipe.3461