Mongolian beef is a very popular Chinese dish that can be found at most take-out spots around the nation. As the name implies it is made from beef, usually something like an eye of round or other cheaper lean cut, which is surprising to many people with how tender the Mongolian beef is. This is done with a couple of techniques that can easily be done at home by anyone. While this may be sacrilegious to many a hunter, I’m going to use these techniques on some whitetail backstrap for this recipe to make some Mongolian Venison today. While many hunters at the least don’t mind or at the most enjoy the taste of wild game, myself included, that’s not the case for a lot of my family. So this is a great choice to make a recipe that covers the “gamey” flavor and is incredibly tender.
Mongolian Venison – Venison Marinade
- 12 oz – Sliced Venison – 1/4″ thick cut across the grain
- 2 tbsp – Water
- 1 tbsp – Oyster Sauce
- 2 tbsp – Cornstarch (Separated into two portions)
- 1 tbsp – Oil
- 1 tsp – Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp – Dark Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp – Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp – White Pepper
First, we will prep the meat and Mongolian venison marinade before we start anything else. Step one is to cut up your version, I used backstrap and backstrap trim here because I had a ton of it fresh off of a big buck. But you can use whatever cut you like to normally use for stir fry recipes. Whichever cut of the animal you use, you are going to cut across the grain of the meat. This will make for more tender meat when cooked as the muscle fibers are shorter. You want your slices to be about 1/4″ thick.
Once you finish cutting up all your venison place it into a bowl and fill it with cold water, maybe swapping the water once as well. Sounds counter-intuitive to most ways of cooking venison but for a lot of Chinese dishes like this, you want to pull out as much myoglobin from the meat as possible before cooking. This makes for a cleaner-looking and tasting final product.
While the meat is soaking in the cold water were going to make the marinade, in another bowl add in both teaspoons of soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp water, white pepper, and the key ingredient 1 tsp of baking soda. The baking soda changes the pH of the meat’s surface changing how the protein cooks making for a more tender final product. While the cornstarch acts as a barrier that helps retain moisture while the meat cooks. Once everything is added into the bowl mix to combine
Once you let the venison soak in the water for at least 15 minutes, pour off the water and squeeze out any extra. Then add the version into the marinade, mixing it thoroughly so everything is coated well. You want it to sit at least 10 minutes in the marinade. After that, add in the final tablespoon of cornstarch again mixing to combine. Then finally add in the cooking oil, again mixing. This oil helps seal in the moisture in the meat later when cooking it in the hot wok.
Mongolian Venison – Stir Fry
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 red bell pepper
- 4 green onions
- 4 baby bella mushrooms – optional
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 3 dried red chili peppers – don’t add these if you are sensitive to spice
While the venison is marinating prep your vegetables ahead of time before you start cooking, slice up your onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms about a 1/4″ thick and cut your green onions into 3″ long segments. Place these all aside for later.
Now with all the prep work mostly done we are onto the sauce for the Mongolian Venision.
Mongolian Venison – Sauce
- 1 tbsp – Oyster Sauce
- 1 tbsp – Light Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tsp – Dark Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp – Shaoxing Cooking Wine – if you can’t find it locally cooking sherry can work in a pinch
- 1 tsp – Chili Oil
- 1 tsp – Sugar
Add these all into a small bowl and mix together, put aside for later.
Now the prep is all done, it is time to start making your Mongolian venison, first heat your wok over the flame without any oil. Especially if you are using a carbon steel wok you want it to just start smoking before you add the oil. This adds to the aroma of the food. Once the wok is hot add in your oil letting it heat till it shimmers, then add in your venison. Side note – I am cooking this outside because my house has an electric cooktop and not the best ventilation hood, you don’t have to cook over a big burner like I am here.
As you add in the meat, using chopsticks and/or a spatula separate the meat as it fries in the oil. It will stick together if you don’t. Let it fry till it starts browning up nicely. After which remove all the venison from the wok and drain most of the oil.
Once you drain off the oil, lower the heat and add in the dried chilis and garlic. Cook them for 30 seconds to a minute till fragrant. Then immediately add in your sliced up onions.
Starting frying up the onions till they start going fragrant as well and a little translucent and add in the rest of the vegetables except the green onions.
Kick the heat back up and start stir-frying the vegetables until they start to soften a little bit. Once they are starting to change in color add the fried venison back into the wok. Then add in the sauce you made and give everything a good toss to make sure it is all well coated. Finally right before pulling the dish off the heat add in the green onions and give it one more toss.
Serve with a nice bowl of jasmine rice immediately and enjoy. A Chinese take-out classic made from venison you harvested yourself. Though if you don’t have venison this recipe works just as well with beef and pork.
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