• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FORAGER | CHEF

Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

  • Home
  • About
  • Mushrooms
    • Mushroom Archive
    • Posts by Species
      • Other Mushrooms
        • Lobster Mushrooms
        • Huitlacoche
        • Shrimp of the Woods
        • Truffles
        • Morels
        • Shaggy Mane
        • Hericium
        • Puffball
      • Polypores
        • Hen of the Woods
        • Dryad Saddle
        • Chicken of The Woods
        • Cauliflowers
        • Ischnoderma
        • Beefsteak
      • Chanterelles
        • Black Trumpet
        • Hedgehogs
        • Yellowfeet
      • Gilled
        • Matsutake
        • Honey Mushrooms
        • Russula / Lactarius
          • Candy Caps
          • Saffron Milkcap
          • Indigo Milkcap
      • Boletes
        • Porcini
        • Leccinum
        • Slippery Jacks
    • Recipes
      • Fresh
      • Dried
      • Preserves
    • The Basics
  • Plants
    • Plant Archive
    • Leafy Green Recipes
      • Leafy Green Plant Varieties
    • Ramps and Onions
    • Wild Herbs and Spices
      • Spruce and Conifers
      • Pollen
      • Prickly Ash
      • Bergamot / Wild Oregano
      • Spicebush
      • Golpar / Cow Parsnip
      • Wild Carraway
    • Wild Fruit
      • Wild Plums
      • Highbush Cranberry
      • Wild Grapes
      • Rowanberries
      • Wild Cherries
      • Aronia
      • Nannyberry
      • Wild Blueberries
    • From The Garden
    • Nuts, Roots, Tubers and Grains
    • Stalks and Shoots
  • Meat
    • Four-Legged Animals
      • Venison
      • Small Game
    • Poultry
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Offal and Organ Meat Recipes
    • Charcuterie
  • Recipes
    • Pickles, Preserves, Etc
    • Fermentation
    • Condiments
    • Appetizers
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Baking
    • Sweets
  • Video
    • Field, Forest Feast (The Wild Harvest)
    • Foraging Videos
    • Lamb and Goat Series
    • YouTube Tutorials
  • Press
    • Podcasts / Interviews
  • Work
    • Public Speaking
    • Charity and Private Dinners
    • Forays / Classes / Demos

Blackened Venison Steak Tips

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Blackened Venison Backstrap Tips with Balsamic Blue Sauce Blackened venison tips are a secret of fine meat cutting and butchery, and a perfect example of things I squirrel away for myself when butchering deer with friends. 

Cutting venison backstrap tips
The tail of a backstrap and a backstrap chain from a large whitetail buck.
Cutting venison backstrap tips
Cutting the tips into bite-sized pieces.

When you cut out a venison backstrap / loin there’s some trimming involved. Before you remove the silverskin, you remove another muscle called the chain, a sort of raggedy-looking piece of meat with some fat and sinew here and there. That long piece of meat may not be as prized as the lean, tender backstrap, but it’s still part of the muscle, and it’s still tender and delicious. 

Making blackened venison steak tips
Searing.
Making blackened venison steak tips
It will be smoky.
Making blackened venison steak tips
Blackened, spicy crust.

Other cuts for venison steak tips 

While backstraps are the most delicious, you can make venison steak tips with a couple different cuts. 

  • Top round 
  • Backstrap
  • Inner loin 
  • “Gooseneck” the small cylindrical roast attached to the top round. 
Blackened Venison Backstrap Tips

Blotting the tips before plating helps their juice not dilute the sauce. Also note that the tips are black, and not red. 

What I want to share with you here is a delicious recipe I make every year with my tips, but more so, I want to invite you to consider the chain and trim from your backstraps, and encourage you to never, ever put them in your grind pile. 

Homemade Blackening Spice

A little homemade blackening seasoning and some blue cheese sauce will transform those tips into restaurant cuisine.

Balsamic Blue Cheese Sauce

The following recipe for blackened tips, and the sauce that accompanies them were the signature appetizer at an Italian restaurant I worked at run by a chef from Milan, Italy. The sauce especially is a great compliment for meats of all kinds, but it’s pictured here exactly as we served it in the restaurant. I can pretty much guarantee it will be one of your new favorite sauces. 

Blackened Venison Backstrap Tips with Balsamic Blue Sauce (1)

Blackened Venison Backstrap Tips with Balsamic Blue Sauce
Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Blackened Venison Tips with Balsamic Blue Cheese Sauce

Spicy tender blackened venison backstrap tips with balsamic blue cheese sauce.
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time10 mins
Course: Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Backstrap, Blackened, Blue cheese, Venison
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 8 oz venison tips cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 recipe blackening spice see recipe
  • ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
  • Small handful of finely julienned green onions soaked in ice water
  • 3 teaspoons high heat cooking oil
  • 1 recipe balsamic blue cheese sauce warmed (see recipe)

Instructions

  • Toss the venison tips with the salt teaspoon of the oil and allow to rest overnight in the refrigerator, covered, or for at least for 30 minutes to allow the salt to penetrate.
  • To cook the tips, heat a 12 inch cast iron skillet with the remaining oil, rubbing the oil around with a paper towel to make sure the whole pan is lightly greased.
  • Turn on a fan, turn off the smoke detector, or open a door (or cook them in a cast iron skillet over a fire outside).
  • When the pan is smoking hot, press the tips on two sides into the blackening seasoning in a mixing bowl, then put into the hot pan. Cook the tips on both sides for a minute or two until blackened, then remove to a paper towel to weep liquid for a moment while you sauce the plate.
  • Put ¼ cup of the sauce the middle of an appetizer sized plate, the arrange the tips on it without them touching each other. Garnish with the julienned green onions and serve with toothpicks.
Print Recipe
No ratings yet

Balsamic Blue Cheese Sauce

A rich sauce of blue cheese, cream, and balsamic vinegar. It's a perfect compliment to steaks, venison and pork. Makes 1 cup
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time10 mins
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Balsamic, Blue cheese
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 4 oz good blue cheese
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • ¼ teaspoon dried thyme

Instructions

  • In a small 1 quart sauce pot, heat the balsamic vinegar, thyme and the cheese, cooking until the mixture is reduced by half.
  • Add the cream, bring to a simmer and reduce for a few minutes more until thickened to your liking, then serve. It is excellent with steak and pork.
Homemade Blackening Spice
Print Recipe
No ratings yet

Homemade Blackening Spice

Easy homemade blackening spice
Prep Time15 mins
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Blackened, Creole
Servings: 8

Equipment

  • Heavy pan, like cast iron

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons sweet paprika
  • 2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 2 tablespoons dried thyme
  • 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more to taste

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients together, then store in a labeled, dated container, it will last for 6 months in a cool, dry place.

Notes

If you want to try this, cook a test mushroom with my spice blend below. If you want it more spicy, add some cayenne, but it's easier to add spices to a blend than it is to remove. It took me 3 batches of trial blends to get one that I thought was balanced.
Brushing the mushrooms with beaten egg white is optional, but will give you the best crust. 

 

Related

Previous Post: « Wild Berry-Thíŋpsiŋla Wóžapi
Next Post: Venison Flank Steak »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

2022 James Beard Nominee

beard award

Subscribe (It’s free)

ORDER THE BOOK

UPDATED OPTIONS FOR CA / EU / US the forager chefs book of flora by Chef Alan Bergo

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Footer

Instagram

foragerchef

FORAGER | CHEF®
🍄🌱🍖
Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
2022 James Beard Nominee
Host: Field Forest Feast 👇
streaming on @tastemade

Alan Bergo
Oeufs de Gaulle is a classic morel recipe Jacques Oeufs de Gaulle is a classic morel recipe Jacques Pepin used to make for French president Charles de Gaulle. 

You bake eggs in a ramekin with shrimp topped with creamy morel sauce and eat with toast points. 

Makes for a really special brunch or breakfast. Recipe’s on my site, but it’s even better to watch Jacques make it on you tube. 

#jacquespepin #morels #shrimp #morilles #brunchtime
Morels: the only wild mushroom I count by the each Morels: the only wild mushroom I count by the each instead of the pound. 

Good day today, although my Twin Cities spots seem a full two weeks behind from the late spring. 2 hours south they were almost all mature. 

76 for me and 152 for the group. Check your spots, and good luck! 

#morels #murkels #mollymoochers #drylandfish #spongemushroom #theprecious
The first time I’ve seen fungal guttation-a natu The first time I’ve seen fungal guttation-a natural secretion of water I typically see with plants. 

I understand it as an indicator that the mushrooms are growing rapidly, and a byproduct of their metabolism speeding up. If you have some clarifications, chime in. 

Most people know it from Hydnellum 
peckii-another polypore. I’ve never seen it on pheasant backs before.

Morels are coming soon too. Mine were 1 inch tall yesterday in the Twin Cities. 

#guttation #mushroomhunting #cerioporussquamosus #pheasantback #naturesbeauty
Rain and heat turned the flood plain forest into a Rain and heat turned the flood plain forest into a grocery store. 

#groceryshopping #sochan #rudbeckialaciniata #foraging
Italian wild food traditions are some of my favori Italian wild food traditions are some of my favorite. 

Case in point: preboggion, a mixture of wild plants, that, depending on the reference, should be made with 5-23 individual plants. 

Here’s a few mixtures I’ve made this spring, along with a reference from the Oxford companion to Italian food. 

The mixture should include some bitter greens (typically assorted asters) but the most important plant is probably borage. 

Making your own version is a good excercise. Here they’re wilted with garlic and oil, but there’s a bunch of traditional recipes the mixture is used in. 

Can you believe this got cut from my book?!

#preboggion #preboggiun #foraging #traditionalfoods
Oh the things I get in the mail. This is my kind Oh the things I get in the mail. 

This is my kind of tip though: a handmade buckskin bag with a note and a handful of bleached snapping turtle claws. 😁😂 

Sent in by Leslie, a reader. 

Smells like woodsmoke and the cat quickly claimed it as her new bed. 

#buckskin #mailsurprise #turtleclaws #thisimylife #cathouse
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Privacy

  • Privacy Policy

Affiliate Disclosure

 I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchases help keep this website free and help with the many costs involved with this site as it has continued to grow over the years. 

Copyright © 2022 ·