Venison leg steaks with chimichurri

Ingredients for 6-8 people:

4 wonderful 2 cm thick venison or venison steaks*

some soybean oil, for brushing

2 tsp sunflower oil

80 g Greek yogurt

Flame caramel crunchy salt (e.g. from King of Salt)

freshly ground black pepper

favorite barbecue sauce (I prefer to use my great "Kakato Seven Pepper Sauce")


Chimichurri:

100 g flat-leaf parsley, washed and roughly chopped with stems

20 g preserved lemon

1 spring onion, cleaned and roughly chopped into rings

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced

2 g chilli flakes

10 g fresh thyme leaves

10 g fresh oregano leaves

100 ml olive oil

4 g salt and freshly ground pepper

freshly squeezed lime juice (to taste)

Brush the steaks all over with a little soybean oil, then season generously with Flame Caramel Crispy Salt and pepper. I'm a real pepper junkie, but I'll leave it up to you to decide how much pepper you think is enough. Heat the ceramic grill to 250 °C.

Meanwhile, for the chimichurri (it is actually better to prepare the sauce the day before so that it can develop its full flavor), in a large mortar, thoroughly pound all the ingredients, except the olive oil, for 1 minute so that they form a happy liaison...

Now add the olive oil (100 ml should be enough, but the amount can vary depending on how you like your sauce - more like a creamy pesto or a more liquid vinaigrette; this recipe is somewhere in the middle) in a fine stream. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Perhaps a few squeezes of lime juice can give the sauce an extra kick of freshness...

Grill the steaks directly over the embers on a cast-iron grill rack for 2 minutes on each side, then move the steaks to the other side of the grill without embers. Leave the steaks to rest until the cooking process is complete. When all 4 steaks are cooked, close the valves. Continue cooking for a further 10 minutes if the steaks are to be pink (medium) or well done, and 5 minutes if they are to be served medium rare. To better control the cooking process, select a core temperature of 53 °C for medium rare and 56 °C for medium rare.

Serve the perfectly cooked steaks generously with yogurt and chimichurri. Enjoy the juicy steak, which is one of my absolute favorite cuts, in all its glory!

* I used fallow deer rump steaks for this recipe. You can also use red deer steaks or steaks from the upper or lower leg. Place the whole leg in the freezer. Ask your local butcher to cut 2 cm thick bone-in steaks with his band saw. A real dream - also thanks to the different muscle structure and taste of the bone marrow!