I remove the heart and inner/outer loins before hand if I'm paying a processor. I normally don't ask for venison steaks,but plan ot this year. Which cuts yield the best steak for grilling....sirloin tip, top round or bottom round?

I do my own processing and honestly, I can't tell the difference between tip, top or bottom on a venison when grilling when it comes to taste.

I usually cut my steaks for the grill about 1.5 inches thick. Anything thinner than that and they curl up too much for my liking and will over cook fast (I like a nice rare to med. rare).

I've seen some processors that do a great job and some not so much. Best of luck in the upcoming season, happy hunting and happy eating!

I just separate the big muscles, slice and tenderize them as cutlets.

Like the others, I cut steaks from rump, sirloin and round. I used to cut them quite thin, like 1/2” but have been doing some twice+ that thickness on the grill and they are great. Many butchers will also cube steak if you ask. That gives a thin cross section that cooks very quickly. I cook them only until rare at most, then remove and let sit under foil while I put dinner on as they’ll continue to “cook” for a couple minutes that way.

Another excellent way to do the same cuts if no BBQ is to pan sauté some sweet onion or sweet peppers in butter, then turn the burner to “hot” and quickly sauté the venison cuts, just 1-2 minutes each side. Sautéed onions or sweet peppers are a great accompaniment to any venison cut, BTW. I soak cuts in cold salted water to remove blood, remove and pat dry then marinate in Lawry’s Pineapple Teriyaki or one of my own concoctions. I’ll add olive oil to coat just before they hit the BBQ.

These cuts also make excellent Swiss steak and that’s probably my grandkids favorite prep as some of the younger ones don’t appreciate meat that has juice.

I’ve butchered many deer but started using a good processor about three years ago. My hands and thumbs are very arthritic, and while I can still shoot, dress and drag a buck the work that starts with pulling the hide is nearly excruciating. So I have the butcher leave me every possible roast and steak with very little burger at all.

My processor doesn't do it, but my old fishing buddy (rest his dear soul)had contact in high places (the butcher) at a country store. He'd take them a whole deer ham and "after hours" they'd thin slice it like minute steak for him. Sauteed a couple minutes in butter with onions and bell peppers is good eats....except he drowned his in yellow mustard of all things, lol!

we never noticed much difference in the steaks other than the loins, hard to beat them.

Nope never noticed much difference as well.

Ive killed and eaten reasonably large amount of deer in my life(like 50 Ive killed plus maybe that again by family Ive been involved with.)

I have never had grilled venison steak, that I was pleased with.

No matter what the cut is going to be better sliced 1/4 inch or thinner and pan fried. MAYBE a a large tenderloin would be worth grilling. But on modst deer the steak would be less then 2.5" diameter.

I should note though - I wont eat venison rare. And I definitely wouldnt eat it rare if I dont process it myself.

I prefer my venison in roasts, less surface area to get freezer burn and I can use them as roasts, ground, stew, steaks.... whatever I want, wren I go to cook them.

All the hind cuts will make good steak, accept the eye imo. That, you can butterfly and pound out for a thin pan steak or any number of things. If grilling, I rub venison steaks with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Indirect heat and never well done. If you want your meat cooked well done, I’d recommend a reverse braise. It’ll still be tender and not have that funky flavor you often find with over cooked venison.

I marinade mine overnight which helps tenderize them prior to grilling.

Cut any piece 1/4” thick, pound to very, very, thin with knurled meat pounder. Melt Butter or margine , add seasonings, garlic, onion, pepper salt. I put meat in a bowl, cover with melted butter and seasoning and refrigerate for several hours.

The trick is to cook very quickly on the grill, high heat, a couple minute per side. Always tender and tasty. Very simple and good for even the tough cuts.

I can't offer any info on which cuts of a hind quarter are best but I can share with you what I have found to be the best way to cook steaks in general. Steaks should be an inch and a half thick. Marinate over night if you want to. Let the steak sit until it reaches room temperature before you start. Cook in the oven under the broiler (about 4" under it ) for three minutes then flip and do three minutes on the other side. Switch from the oven broiler to the regular oven and turn the setting down to 250 degrees. Put an oven thermometer into the steak and let it cook until the temp in the middle of the steak is at 150 degrees. This will be medium done. Pink inside but not bloody. If you like steaks more rare then stop the cooking at 145. Remove the steak place a pad of butter on top and wrap in foil. Let the steak rest for five to ten minutes. DO NOT CUT INTO STEAK TO CHECK HOW RARE IT IS! This is important. During that ten minutes the juices kind of accumulate in the steak again so if you cut it all the juice will run out before you are ready to eat it. My wife made fun of me when I first tried this but now this is the only way we make steaks. I got this from somewhere on the internet, I don't remember where but it works. Go buy a T-Bone and give it a try. My deer steaks have never tasted so good!

I forgot to add that by using the thermometer you can make the steak exactly the way you like it EVERY time. In the past it was always a guess as to how rare or well done it was and I would do the worst thing that you could do and cut into it to check. All the juices would run out of it by doing that. Give it a try.

The loins are great on the grill, but of the hind leg the bottom round is my favorite. That's the "hamstring" on the deer and is large and no sinew running through it. Very clean, very good if grilled correctly.

I saw one comment of not eating venison raw - to each their own. There is no cleaner meat that I know of other than wild caught fish in a clean body of water. The key for grilled venison is marinade appropriately, and grill hot an fast just like you would a quality beef steak. If it's not pink in the middle - my experience is that venison turns to shoe leather on the grill if you overcook it.

I cut mine about 1.25". I use various acids to break it down further in the marinade mixes and my family loves them. I truly enjoy pan fried deer meat, but the house smells like that for the next 5 days and any mistake with the flour turns it into a smokey, burnt up pan. I love the end result - hate the process. I grill because of ease and quickness.

With all the advice on cooking I'll share my secret. First would be take steak out of freezer and put into refrigerator to start thawing for a few days. After they've thawed in the fridge, I take them out and rub them with garlic salt and sit out on the counter for about a couple hours. Then I get a pan coat the bottom with olive oil. I get my pan pretty darn hot and I sear each side of the steak for about 3 - 4 minutes. Every side will have a nice brown crisp and rare in the middle. I cut all my steaks over an inch thick from the backstraps and hind. That chart someone posted on another recent thread was perfect. I stopped cooking deer steaks on the grill because it's too easy to overcook them. Now I'm hungry and need to go deer hunting :)

My friend put a large venison roast in his big fancy smoker. Come time to eat, we couldn't even cut the thing it was so tough. It was like a brick of shoe leather.

Anything venison I have put on the grill, even at the lowest setting, even marinated, has come out tough and dry, just being on the grill for a few minutes.

ANY venison I get, with the exception of the tenderloins, is sliced 1/2 inch thick and pan fried in butter, salt and pepper and that's it. I turn it frequently and when it changes color it comes off the heat. People I work with who thought they hated venison tried mine and loved it.

I'm convinced that because there is little to no fat in the meat, you have to cook it with butter or lard or something to keep it from drying out. I think that is why so many people cover it in bacon when they put it in the oven.

NY Yankee, I call that the bacon buffer. Certainly adds flavor and keeps the meat from drying out. Anybody that's seen Escanaba in the Moonlight has heard this one; "get out the lard and onions, I'm going to gut you a buck". Yes lard and onions, I've wanted to try this but the wife doesn't think lard is healthy for some reason.

@ Mountaineer

I think your right. That venison should be as safe or safer than beef when eaten rare. Its always made me uncomfortable, but its a preference.

That said - I would still only eat rare venison if it was killed and processed by someone I know and trust personally(pretty much just me and my brother in my case.)

If the roast on the smoker was tough it's because the heat was too cold and the meat was left too long. Some meat can be smoked cool some can't. Venison can't.

In all honesty, venison isn't like beef where it's marbled with fat and certain cuts are "better" than others...if you can make a steak out of it, regardless of the cut, it pretty much all tastes the same. Having said that there definately are more TENDER cuts, like the loins, but based on taste quality alone I've never been able to tell much difference in the rest. As long as it makes a turd that's all that really matters anyway:)

The biggest thing is don’t over cook. I always pull my venison at 125 degrees abc let rest 15 minutes.

I like top round second to tenderloin and backstrap. Sliced up a chunk from our sons last years deer into 1" steaks last week. Trying to empty the freezer.

Put it on the Weber charcoal grill.

Added onion and peppers from garden sautéd in cast iron.

Oh - cut steaks across the grain... obviously. We also roasted a butternut squash from the garden to our plate. Seasonably delicious!

Zonic, that's my kind of eating. I'm heading to the freezer and the garden now. You made me hungry.

Another favorite around here is chicken fried steak using fresh eggs from our hens. I like the sirloin cut for those. Nothing like preparing meals from mother nature's supermarket.

Yep. Making me hungry. I'd add some sliced sheepshead mushrooms and garlic to the peppers and onions on that steak. Numm, numm, numm.

I see ya couldn't wait to take your first bite before you took the picture, Zonic. I don't blame ya. Likes me some roasted squarsh too.

Everybody has their own favorite way of doing venison so I will tell you a couple of mine. I like to leave the backstops in 6 to 8" sections whole and grill them that way. I coat them with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and brown sugar, and let stand in the fridge for a couple of hours. Bring to room temperature then grill to rare/medium rare, rest then cut into serving portions. The other way is as cube steaks which is my family's favorite. I have a hand crank cuber that I bought through Cabela's and you can use just about any cut from the hind quarter or the shoulder to make cube steaks. I generally run them thru the cuber 2-3 times changing orientation each time. Season with S&P onion powder and flour and fry in butter and olive oil in a hot skillet. Can also transfer these to a slow cooker with onions and mushrooms and a 50/50 blend of red wine and beef stock and cook 2-4 hours on low after everything comes to a boil. Excellent with mashed potatoes or noodles and the steaks melt in your mouth.

I don't like all the gozintos on my deer meat...except some sauteed onions. Deer meat is good as it is but I do use lard rather than any other grease or oil and salt/pepper to suit. Now roasts are done like pot roasts of beef...brown it first then in the oven it goes.

No lard for you George. Dr’s orders.

No lard for you George. Dr’s orders.

To answer your question. Top round then bottom, I use the sirloin for stew.

I'm similar to Dirtnap. Backstraps cut to over an inch thick. Sit in marinade of choice till room temp. VERY quickly pan sear all sides on very high heat then place in oven for 4 minutes at 450 degrees. Outside is crisp, inside is red but warm. A dollop of garlic parsley chimichuri on the side and its to die for. FWIW I'll eat under cooked venison all day but I don't touch over cooked.

We have always packaged the bones out muscles as roasts, but I have always cut them into steaks or stew before cooking. Last year I started grilling the whole roasts then cutting it into steaks. I have really enjoyed this, I can get nice rare steaks that are more juicy

In my opinion the biggest factor in how deer meat tastes is how it is handled from the time it hits the ground until its processed and in the freezer. I've had deer meat from other people that tasted so bad I couldn't eat it. I field dress mine right away and then skin it. I cut it into quarters and hang them in a fridge with the shelves removed. I let mine age 7-10 days before processing.

As far as cooking goes, I don't get too fancy. I cut it into strips then batter and fry. I'll marinate steaks in my home made jerky recipe. I make a BBQ sauce out of ketchup and brown sugar and bake it. The sauce over baked potatoes is incredible.

you guys making me so hungry,, great advice

Since I'm eating diminutive Sika deer I can polish off almost a whole hind 1/4 in one or two sessions. I bone them and package in small chunks that I can get two meals and a sandwich out of, cut into 2"x2" chunks and put on the grill. Take off at 125-130°. It will be very rare to med rare and melt in the mouth. Sika, for some reason, is much tenderer that whitetail.

Osage Outlaw makes an extremely valid point.

My cousin just had us over for a venison loin smoked in his Pit Boss...let me tell you I think I died and went to HEAVEN. Mmmm!

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