Venison Steak Tips with Mushroom Blackberry Pan Sauce
Camp-cooked backstrap tips in a skillet sauce built from dried mushrooms, dried blackberries, and a splash of bourbon.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 61
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 35 min
- water
- 180 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
- Liquid fuel
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Venison steak tips | 1.5 lb | top round or sirloin, cubed at home, carried frozen in the cooler |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetable oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt and coarse pepper | 1 tsp total | or a camp seasoning blend |
| Butter | 3 tbsp | keeps a week in the cooler; ghee if it is hot out |
| Dried mushrooms | 1 oz | shiitake, maitake, or plain button slices |
| Garlic cloves | 3 | sliced thin |
| Balsamic vinegar | 2 tbsp | decant into a small bottle |
| Bourbon | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried blackberries | 1/3 cup | fresh picked ones work if you find a patch |
Method
- Pour 180 ml of boiling water over the dried mushrooms and blackberries in a mug. Let them sit 10 minutes. Keep the soaking liquid.
- Get the skillet hot over the fire or a roaring stove. Add the oil and wait for it to shimmer.
- Salt and pepper the venison and lay it in a single layer. Do not stir it. Two minutes per side, then pull it onto a plate while it is still pink inside.
- Drop the butter into the empty pan with the drained mushrooms. Cook until they squeak and start to brown, about four minutes. Add the garlic for thirty seconds.
- Pull the pan off the flame before adding the bourbon, then set it back on and let it cook down by half.
- Add the vinegar, the berries, and the mushroom soaking liquid. Simmer until it coats the back of a spoon, five to seven minutes.
- Return the meat and any juice on the plate. Toss for a minute and take it off the heat.
Venison is lean enough that overcooking it once ruins the whole pan. Everything here is built around getting the meat out early and finishing the sauce without it. The tips come out at rare, then go back in at the end for one minute, which carries them to medium in residual heat and nothing more.
The original is a home kitchen dish with fresh mushrooms and fresh berries. Dried versions of both do the same job at a fraction of the weight and no refrigeration, and their soaking water becomes the stock the sauce needs. Butter and frozen venison are the only cooler items, so this stays a car camping or basecamp meal. Take the pan off the flame before the bourbon goes in unless you want to explain your eyebrows.
Packing
Cube and season the venison at home and freeze it flat in a zip bag. It thaws over two days in a cooler and doubles as an ice block. Dried mushrooms, berries, garlic, salt, and pepper travel together in one small bag. Bourbon and vinegar go in leakproof bottles, not the originals.
Variations
- Beef sirloin tips work the same way if you have no venison in the freezer.
- No bourbon: use a splash of apple cider vinegar and a spoon of brown sugar instead.
- Dried cherries or cranberries stand in for the blackberries.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table/recipes/venison-steak-tips-with-mushrooms-and-blackberry-bourbon-pan-sauce