Editor’s Note: Evan Barrett of Michigan learned to hunt deer through NDA’s Field to Fork program, and he has continued to participate in the program as a mentor to other new hunters. As a professional chef, Evan has also contributed some great meals at Field to Fork gatherings. Recently at this year’s training day for hunting on NDA’s Back 40 property, Evan made Venison “Roast Beast” sandwiches for a group lunch. He received numerous requests for the recipe, so we’re also sharing it here for all to enjoy!
Venison Roast Beast Sandwiches
I start by breaking down a hindquarter into its main cuts (top round, bottom round, eye of round, sirloin etc.) I use all the different roasts – so that means you could use any as well. You could use loin (backstrap) but I think there’s better applications for that!
I trim off all silver skin I can see on the outside of the roast. I place the roasts on a tray lined with a wire rack. I heavily season them with a salt-based steak seasoning blend (Fairway Packing Blend) and let them sit out at room temperature for several hours. This allows for dry-brining to occur and requires less effort to get the internal temperature of the meat to medium rare.
I prefer to use a sous vide for this recipe, but you can use an oven. After about four hours of dry-brining, I vacuum-seal the roasts all together and place them in the water bath (sous vide) setting the emersion circulator at 125 degrees. I let that go overnight and into the next morning, about 14 hours. I remove the roasts, place them back on a tray lined with a wire rack and place them uncovered in a fridge for 24 hours. Then I simply sear them quickly before slicing them for sandwiches. Any sharp, thin-blade knife will do just fine for this, but a meat slicer is nice if you have one. Try to slice as thin as possible. You want to slice against the grain of the roast, this will help with tenderness.
The sauce I use on my Roast Beast Sandwiches is simply good mayo, prepared horseradish and Dijon mustard. I add pickled red onions (recipe here) and classic coleslaw (recipe here).
Sous Vide or Oven
I like using a sous vide because I can use different cuts of venison, cook them at the same time with no fear at all of overcooking. Even though they are different shapes and sizes, they all come out at a perfect medium rare. But if you were doing a single roast or very similar roasts, this would work in an oven. You would just have to be very diligent about checking the temperature of the roasts.
With an oven, you would leave the roasts on a wire rack with a pan underneath. Very gently roast them at a low temp of around 225 degrees. For this, I would recommend a bluetooth thermometer and I would pull the roasts at 115 degrees internal temp at the thickest point to avoid overcooking. Then let rest at room temp until they’re about room temp, then into the fridge overnight (and same steps from there).
