Quick and simple venison steak marinades

I often have grand culinary plans for the venison in the freezer but in reality those plans are typically thwarted by habit when I rely on old familiar recipes for the frequent ‘friends-over-for-BBQ’ events. Venison Wellington is a firm favourite but when it comes to the BBQ I use an old standby marinade that just seems to work. It’s extremely simple and you can tweak proportions of the ingredients freely.


Marinade 1: Mix equal parts of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and soy sauce. Add chopped fresh garlic to taste and a generous squeeze of honey. The volume I am referring to here results in about 1.5 - 2 cups and can cover at least 4-6 large steaks. You need enough to coat each steak and I normally leave them in a ziplock or well packed non-metallic bowl. In other words you don’t need each steak to be ‘swimming’ in the marinade, just well wetted; olive oil and balsamic are pricy, so no need to be excessive. I have had venison steaks marinating in this for as little as 2 hours but my preference is for at least an 8 hour treatment, typically overnight if I plan properly. Rotate the steaks in the bowl or flip the bag once or twice during the marinating process to ensure thorough exposure.

Marinade 2: My latest favourite is even easier and preparation time is about 10 minutes. I give full credit for this simple recipe to my friend John, who served us ‘Cilantro Moose’ a week ago. I cut some inside-round Elk steaks today and gave them the same treatment.

Simply coat each steak with approximately a teaspoon of lemon juice, rubbed thinly over the surface of the steak. Chop enough cilantro to cover each steak, both sides. Each lemon-juiced steak is then sprinkled with a little oregano. In a non-metallic bowl I place a thin layer of chopped cilantro then a layer of steak, followed by alternating layers of meat and cilantro. Be generous with the cilantro, a $0.99 bunch of it thoroughly covered 6 steaks. Cover and leave in a cool place/fridge for at least 4 or 5 hours, then to the BBQ! Enjoy…

© Brian Joubert