Kudu or venison steaks on the braai

Name: Kudu or venison steaks on the braai
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: South African
Ingredients: 800 g (1.75 lb) kudu, springbok, gemsbok or other venison loin or leg steaks, 2.5 to 3 cm (1 to 1.25 inches) thick, silver skin removed; 500 ml (2 cups) buttermilk or plain yoghurt; 8 rashers streaky bacon, or 50 g (3.5 tablespoons) butter, melted; 4 sprigs rosemary; Flaky salt and black pepper; 250 ml (1 cup) red wine; 1 small onion, sliced; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard; 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

Thick game steaks soaked overnight in buttermilk, then braaied fast over hot coals and kept pink, with bacon or butter to make up for the missing fat.

Coals: Hot coals
Prep: 15 min
On the fire: 10 min
Plan ahead: 7 to 24 hours marinating, 10 minutes resting
Serves: 4

Ingredients

800 g (1.75 lb) kudu, springbok, gemsbok or other venison loin or leg steaks, 2.5 to 3 cm (1 to 1.25 inches) thick, silver skin removed
500 ml (2 cups) buttermilk or plain yoghurt
8 rashers streaky bacon, or 50 g (3.5 tablespoons) butter, melted
4 sprigs rosemary
Flaky salt and black pepper

Red wine marinade (instead of the buttermilk)

250 ml (1 cup) red wine
1 small onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
1 teaspoon dried rosemary

Method

Trim every scrap of silver skin from the steaks. Put them in a dish or zip bag with the buttermilk, or with the red wine marinade ingredients mixed together, and keep in the fridge for 7 to 24 hours.
Take the steaks out of the fridge an hour before cooking. Wipe them dry with paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Go easy on the salt if you used the soy-based marinade.
Lay two rashers of bacon over each steak with a rosemary sprig underneath, or brush the steaks with melted butter.
Build a two-zone fire with hot coals on one side and a thin layer on the other. Oil the grid.
Braai the steaks over the hot coals for 3 to 4 minutes a side for medium-rare, turning once. Brush with more butter if you are not using bacon.
If the steaks are thicker than 2.5 cm (1 inch), move them to the cooler edge for 2 more minutes to finish.
Pull the steaks off at 54 to 57°C (130 to 135°F) in the centre. Rest on a board for 5 to 10 minutes, then slice across the grain.

Done when: the centre is pink to red and reads 54 to 57°C (130 to 135°F) off the fire, rising to no more than 60°C (140°F) after resting; the safe minimum for whole cuts is 63°C (145°F), but venison past medium is dry and tastes of liver, so err on the rare side.

Tips

Game has almost no fat in the muscle. Add it with bacon, butter or caul fat, and never cook it past medium.
Silver skin tightens and curls on the fire. Remove all of it before marinating.
Thin steaks cannot be kept pink. Ask for them cut thick.
Cold meat straight from the fridge overshoots in the middle before the outside browns. Let it come to room temperature first.
Whole loin: wrap a 1 kg (2.2 lb) loin in bacon with rosemary, pin it with toothpicks, and cook it indirect on the kettle with 16 to 20 briquettes a side, lid on, for 35 to 45 minutes until it reads 55 to 57°C (131 to 135°F). Rest 10 minutes and slice.
Outside South Africa, farmed venison or elk is the closest match. Kudu is a little sweeter and finer in the grain than red deer.

Venison, wildsvleis, is winter food in the Karoo and the bushveld, where the hunting season brings kudu, springbok and gemsbok into farm kitchens. Soaking the meat in buttermilk or yoghurt is an old farm habit that softens the texture and takes the edge off the gamey taste. Wrapping it in lamb-tail fat or bacon is the other, because the meat has none of its own.

See salting and resting meat for why the rest matters, reading your coals for the hot zone, and safe braai temperatures for the numbers.