Reindeer Steak and Smashed Butter Potatoes
Grill-grate venison over coals, potatoes smashed in the pan, tart berries poured over.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 16 oz
- cal / oz
- 45
- protein
- 48 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 40 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
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Reindeer or venison entrecôte | 12-14 oz | elk or beef ribeye works the same way |
|---|---|---|
| Waxy potatoes, boiled at home | 1 lb | cook them the day before and pack them cold |
| Butter | 3 tbsp | |
| Fresh lingonberries or cranberries | 1 handful | frozen is fine, they thaw in the cooler |
| Meadowsweet syrup or honey | 2 tsp | |
| Coarse salt | to taste | |
| Black pepper and juniper | a pinch | juniper is loud, use less than you think |
Method
- Burn the fire down to coals. You want steady heat, not flames.
- Salt the meat and nothing else. Lay it on the grate directly over the coals and sear both sides hard.
- Raise the grate or slide the meat to the cooler edge and let it come up to medium rare. Venison is lean and goes dry fast past that.
- Pull it off, cover it loosely, and let it sit five minutes while you do the potatoes.
- Melt the butter in a cast iron pan on the grate. Press each boiled potato flat with the back of a spoon and lay it in the butter.
- Fry until the edges brown and crisp, turning once. Salt them in the pan.
- Crush the berries with the syrup in a cup. No cooking needed.
- Slice the meat across the grain, add pepper and juniper, and spoon the berries over.
Two things make this work, and neither is the seasoning. First, the potatoes are already cooked when they reach camp, so the pan is only browning them. Second, the meat comes off the coals early. Reindeer and venison carry almost no fat, so the window between medium rare and shoe leather is short and the fire will not warn you.
The berries are the balance. Crushed raw with a spoonful of syrup, they stay sharp and cut the butter. Cooking them turns the whole thing into jam, which is the wrong direction. This one needs a cooler and real fire, so it belongs at a car camp or a basecamp, not in a pack.
Packing
Boil the potatoes at home and cool them fully before packing, or they sweat and turn to mush. Meat and butter ride in the cooler; berries go in a hard container so they do not get crushed.
Variations
- No berries in reach: dried cranberries soaked in a little hot water and mashed do the job.
- Honey or maple syrup stands in for meadowsweet without much loss.
- Cook it all in one cast iron pan if you have no grate. Sear the meat first, then the potatoes in the drippings.
https://petromax.de/blogs/its-all-about-food-1/poronkaristys