Venison Chislic
Cubed backstrap fried hot in a pot, speared with a toothpick, eaten off saltines.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 60
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 30 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
- Snack
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Venison backstrap | 2 lb | trimmed clean and cut into 1-inch cubes |
|---|---|---|
| Salt | 2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Lard or vegetable oil | 3 cups | enough to float the cubes |
| Saltine crackers | 1 sleeve | |
| Hot sauce | to taste | |
| Creamy horseradish | 2 tbsp | optional, single-serve packets travel better than a jar |
Method
- Cube the meat at home if you can. Toss the cubes with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder and keep them cold until you cook.
- Set a deep pot on the stove or over coals with about two inches of lard or oil. Bring it to roughly 350F. A cube dropped in should sizzle hard and immediately.
- Fry in small batches, eight or ten cubes at a time. Crowding the pot drops the oil temperature and the meat steams instead of browning.
- Two to three minutes per batch. Pull them when the outside is dark and the center is still pink. Venison this lean goes to leather fast.
- Lift onto a plate, salt again while hot, and spear each cube with a toothpick.
- Serve with saltines, hot sauce, and horseradish if you brought it. Let the oil cool completely in the pot before you pack it out.
Chislic is a South Dakota bar snack that happens to suit a hunting camp perfectly: cubed meat, three seasonings, and a pot of hot fat. There is no batter, no sauce, and nothing to hold at temperature. That makes it one of the few deep-fried things worth doing at a picnic table.
The cooking is all about timing. Backstrap has almost no intramuscular fat, so the window between medium-rare and dry is maybe thirty seconds wide. Small batches keep the oil hot enough to brown the outside before the center overcooks. This one stays in the car-camping and basecamp column — you are carrying three cups of oil, a deep pot, and a cooler, none of which belong in a pack.
Packing
Cube and season the meat at home, then vacuum-seal it and freeze it solid. It rides as its own ice block in the cooler and thaws in time for dinner. Oil goes in a wide-mouth bottle with a gasket lid, and a second empty bottle goes along for the used oil.
Variations
- Beef sirloin or lamb shoulder works the same way if the freezer has no deer in it.
- Add a half teaspoon of cayenne or a spoonful of seasoned salt to the rub.
- Thread three cubes on a bamboo skewer before frying if you want the traditional presentation.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/venison-chislic