The Beginning and the Recipe that Started it All

I grew up in rural, southern Oklahoma. My dad was a bow hunter who brought home mostly deer and occasionally dove. It was typical for my dad to cook the wild game as well. My mom claimed to not like it and therefore did not want to cook it. This was true for a lot fo the moms in my social circle. Most of the boys my age also hunted, as well as their fathers. I can remember most of the other moms having the same opinion: you killed it, you cook it.

I don't know about the other men in town, but my dad knew how to cook venison one way: chicken fried. And it was NOT good. It was under-seasoned and over-cooked to say the least. And oh so tough! It took every bit of jaw strength you could muster to chew it up enough to swallow. My mom would occasionally take ground venison and make it into stew or chili which was always good but not very frequent.

Skip ahead a few years to my freshman year of college. I was dating a country boy who loved to hunt! He had no idea how to cook the deer he hunted but he knew he loved being in the woods and shooting a bow. He was always so proud when he brought home some freshly harvested meat and I just knew I had to learn to cook it for him. So I started with the only method I knew: chicken fried. And it was not good. But I kept trying. I tried different marinades and different breading, different cooking oils and different seasonings until slowly but surely it got better.

I have learned quite a few things since then. The most important being to keep trying new things. Another important lesson was that the processing matters! Try to find a processor that ages your venison for about a week. This really helps.

For my first recipe shared on this blog I wanted to get back to those chicken fry roots by developing a really flavorful and fun twist on a good, old-fashioned favorite. Buffalo Chicken Fried Venison Steak! And to go with it, a nod to the traditional carrot and celery stick accompaniment: carrot and celery salad with herby ranch dressing. I hope you enjoy as much as my family does!

Buffalo Chicken Fried Venison

8--3 or 4 oz venison round steak

8 oz seasoned flour mixture (I used Louisiana Chicken Fry)

1/4 buffalo sauce

1/2 cup water

3-4 tbsp

vegetable oil

bleu cheese crumbles

sliced green onions for garnish

To make the batter place 5 tbsp of the seasoned flour mixture into a bowl and add 1/2 cup cold water and mix well with a fork or whisk. Next add your buffalo sauce to the batter mixture and mix well. Pour the remainder of your flour mixture into a separate bowl and set aside.

Pre-heat your cast iron skillet on the stove top at med/high heat and add your vegetable oil. While oil is heating up start dredging your venison. First dip a piece of steak into the wet batter mixture coating well, then roll battered steak in the dry flour mixture making sure to completely coat and pressing dry mixture into steak with your fingers. Continue dredging your steaks while oil heats to the point that bubbles form around the wooden handle of a spoon or spatula. When oil is very hot, carefully place steaks in pan one at a time, careful not to overcrowd the pan as this will cool your oil down too much. Cook until breading is golden brown on the first side, turn and repeat. This should take about 4-5 minutes per side.

Remove steaks from pan and top with bleu cheese crumbles and green onions.

Serve with the carrot and celery salad on the side, it's really simple to prepare:

Start with a bed of green leaf lettuce either roughly chopped or ripped into bite size pieces (my 8 year old daughter loves to tear the lettuce for me). Top with shredded carrots and thinly sliced celery. Drizzle this herby ranch dressing all over it:

1 cup mayo

1 cup milk

1 packet dry ranch dressing mix

Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well with a whisk.

Finely chop or mince some fresh parsley, cilantro, chives, and dill and mix into dressing. Store in a mason jar with a tightly fitting lid.