Garlic Honey Venison Skillet
Seared venison in a sweet-salty garlic sauce, cooked in one skillet over a camp stove.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 60
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 35 min
- water
- 600 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
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Venison roast | 1.5 lb | sliced thin against the grain at home, frozen flat, thawed in the cooler |
|---|---|---|
| Cornstarch | 3 tbsp | 2 tbsp for the meat, 1 tbsp for the sauce |
| Vegetable or canola oil | 3 tbsp | |
| Green beans | 3 cups | ends and strings trimmed at home; frozen works and thaws on the drive |
| Mushrooms | 8 oz | sliced at home |
| Garlic | 6 cloves | minced |
| Green onions | 4 | whites and greens cut into 1-inch lengths, kept separate |
| Soy sauce | 1/4 cup | |
| Honey | 2 tbsp | |
| Chinese rice wine | 2 tbsp | |
| Water | 1/4 cup | for the sauce |
| White pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/2 tsp | |
| Instant white rice | 2 cups dry |
Method
- Shake the soy sauce, honey, rice wine, water, and 1 tbsp cornstarch together in a bottle before you light the stove. Cornstarch settles, so shake it again right before it goes in the pan.
- Boil 600 ml of water, pour it over the instant rice in a covered pot, and set it aside off the heat. It holds fine while you cook.
- Toss the venison with 2 tbsp cornstarch, the white pepper, and the pepper flakes in a bag until every piece is dusty.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in a skillet until it shimmers. Sear the meat in two batches, one flat layer each, about 90 seconds a side. Pull it onto a plate. Crowding the pan steams it grey.
- Add the last tablespoon of oil, then the mushrooms and green beans. Cook 5 minutes until the beans go bright and the mushrooms give up their water.
- Add the garlic and the white parts of the onions. Thirty seconds, moving constantly, or the garlic burns.
- Return the meat, shake the sauce, and pour it in. Stir until it thickens and coats, about a minute. Off the heat, scatter the green tops over the top and spoon it onto the rice.
Stir fry moves fast, which makes it a bad time to be hunting for the garlic. Everything gets sliced and measured before the stove is lit, and the sauce gets mixed at home in a bottle so it is one pour instead of five little containers on a picnic table.
The cornstarch does two jobs. On the meat it makes a thin crust that browns quickly, which matters because venison has almost no fat to protect it and turns to leather if you cook it past the sear. In the sauce it pulls everything into a glaze that clings to the meat and beans instead of pooling under the rice. A flat skillet beats a wok on a camp stove: the burner is a small circle of heat, and a flat bottom actually touches it.
Packing
Slice the venison, trim the beans, and cut the onions at home. Mix the sauce in a leakproof bottle and the cornstarch dredge in a bag. Meat and vegetables ride in the cooler; everything else is a dry box.
Variations
- Beef sirloin or a pork loin swaps in with no change to timing.
- Out of rice wine, use dry sherry, or skip it and add another tablespoon of water.
- No cooler: use a foil packet of cooked beef and rehydrated dried mushrooms and beans, and skip the sear.
https://realtree.com/recipe/timber-2-table/garlic-honey-venison-stir-fry