Dr Pepper Venison Sandwiches
Sliced venison in a thick cola-soy sauce, spooned onto rolls at the truck.
- calories
- 610
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 55
- protein
- 45 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 30 min
- total time
- 55 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
- Lunch
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- Dairy free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Venison top or bottom round | 2.5 lb | sliced thin across the grain at home, frozen flat |
|---|---|---|
| Cola | 2 cups | Dr Pepper or any dark cola |
| Tomato paste | 1/2 cup | tube keeps better than a can |
| Ketchup | 1/2 cup | |
| Soy sauce | 1/2 cup | |
| Apple cider vinegar | 1/2 cup | |
| Garlic | 1 clove, minced | or 1/2 tsp granulated |
| Honey | 1 tbsp | |
| Green onions | 3-4, diced | dried chives work if the cooler is full |
| Salt and pepper | 1 tsp each, plus more for the meat | |
| Seasoning blend | 1 tbsp | anything honey-garlic leaning |
| Vegetable oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Sandwich rolls | 6 |
Method
- Build the fire early and let it burn down. You want steady coals under a grate, not flames.
- Dump the cola, tomato paste, ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, honey, green onions, salt, and pepper into a pot. Stir until the paste breaks up.
- Set the pot over the coals and bring it to a simmer. Pull it to the cooler edge of the grate and keep it barely bubbling, stirring often, until it coats a spoon. Twenty minutes or so.
- Move the pot off the heat. Get a skillet hot over the same coals with the oil in it.
- Season the venison slices and sear them in batches, a few seconds a side. Crowding the pan steams the meat instead of browning it, and each batch adds fond.
- Return all the meat to the skillet, pour the sauce over, and toss for a minute to coat.
- Pile onto rolls. Spoon extra sauce over the cut side of the top half.
This is a car-camp dinner because raw sliced venison needs a cooler and the sauce needs a real reduction. Both are easy at a truck and impossible in a pack. The sauce is doing the heavy lifting: cola for sugar and acidity, soy for salt, vinegar to keep it from going syrupy-sweet, tomato paste for body. Cooked down it turns into something that clings instead of running off the meat and into the roll.
Venison round is lean and gets tough fast, so the searing window is short. Thin slices across the grain plus a few seconds per side over hot coals is the whole technique. Reduce the sauce first and hold it off heat, because the meat cooks faster than you can react and you do not want to be babysitting two pans at once.
Packing
Slice and season the venison at home, freeze it flat in a zip bag, and let it ride as cooler ice for the first day. Premix the sauce liquids in one screw-top bottle so camp is one pour, not seven measures.
Variations
- Beef top round or thin-sliced sirloin substitutes straight across if venison is not in the freezer.
- No rolls means serving it over instant rice or mashed potato flakes, which soaks up the sauce better anyway.
- Half a chipotle in adobo in the sauce pot cuts the sweetness.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/sliced-venison-sandwich-with-dr-pepper-sauce-recipe