Deer Burger Recipe - A Delicious Twist on a Classic Dish
When it comes to satisfying your taste buds with a unique and flavorsome meal, a deer burger recipe is a fantastic choice. It brings together the rich and tender meat of deer and the mouthwatering goodness of a perfectly cooked burger. In this article, we’ll dive deep into the art of crafting the ultimate deer burger. Whether you’re a seasoned chef or a beginner in the kitchen, this recipe is…
Hay-Seared Venison Sashimi
From Junya Yamasaki, head chef at Koya
The inspiration for this dish came from a traditional sashimi recipe for bonito. Bonito is a type of tuna that’s mostly used for ‘Katsuobushi’, when you shave, dry and smoked the fish. It’s a cupboard staple in Japan and mainly used to make dashi, a umami-rich broth that forms the base of many Japanese soups. Bonito is known for its bloody, red meat, which tends to be too fish-y or iron-y to be eaten raw. By searing it over hay, the flesh of the fish gains a delicious, smoky and caramelised flavour. People tend to eat this sashimi with lots of strong garnish such as spring onion, garlic, ginger and shiso.
When I realised that the texture and flavour of venison is quite similar to bonito, I tried to apply the same method, but with similar ingredients that are available to me in Britain. I use saddle of venison mostly, but you can use some muscle of the haunch if you want.
Once the venison is seared, I prefer to slice it relatively thick so you can enjoy the texture of the raw meat, rather then slice it paper thin like carpaccio. You can of course serve it with soy sauce and wasabi, but I like to eat it with seasonal herbal garnish and berries. Wild onion goes particularly well in my opinion, but ramson, new season garlic, wild horseradish and Alexanders are great too. In Summer, I often serve this at Koya with soy pickled currants, berries or even cherry tomatoes instead of soy sauce.
Ingredients
400g saddle of venison
hay (you can buy this from a pet shop)
coal
60g crushed juniper berries
30g olive oil
20g dehydrated mandarin (optional)
garlic
salt and pepper
soy sauce and wasabi, or seasonal herbal garnish and berries
Method
1. Strip the loin from the saddle, and remove the fat and sinews.
2. Marinate the meat with the crushed juniper berries, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, garlic and dehydrated mandarin (optional). Let it marinate in the fridge overnight.
3. To sear the meat, make sure it’s nice and cold (don’t let it come to room temperature). Wipe off the marinade. Skewer the meat with thin and sharp iron skewers.
4. Place a good amount of hay on burning charcoal to get a nice fire going. Holding the skewers in your hand, put the meat directly on to the fire. Repeat this process a few times. This gives the meat a nice hay flavour and the surface of the meat will start to get colour.
5. Take the meat off the skewers and then place it on the burning charcoal to give it a caramelised surface. When the meat has sufficient colour, take it from the grill and put it on ice.
6. Slice the meat, and serve it with soy sauce and wasabi, or any seasonal herbal garnish and berries.
