One of the few things my mother did cook was cube steak served with rice and milk gravy. It was tolerable, but to be honest, my middle-aged body just can’t stomach the greasy gravy anymore. When my husband sent his very first deer to the processor, he had no idea what he wanted, so he just asked for a variety of cuts. We ended up with countless packs of cube steak, most of which I ruined in a marinade or Crock Pot. Since I found cube steak to be the hardest cut to tackle, I’ll share my first successful recipe, which has been derived from a recipe originally for veal.

Ingredients

• 4 venison cube steaks
• 1.5 ounces dried porcini mushrooms or 4 ounces of fresh baby portabella mushrooms
• 1 cup warm water
• 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided (meaning part of it is used in one step, and the rest in another)
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or 2 teaspoons minced from a jar
• ½ cup Sherry or Marsala (Marsala gives a richer flavor, but I prefer the lighter Sherry)
• ½ cup dry white wine (you can also use 1 cup of white wine if you don’t have Sherry or Marsala)
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
• 2 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Combine mushrooms with 1 cup warm water in a small bowl and let stand about 30 minutes, or until dried mushrooms have softened. Remove mushrooms from liquid, squeezing excess liquid from mushrooms back into the bowl; reserve liquid. Set aside mushrooms for later.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté until onion browns, about 15 minutes. Add Marsala (or Sherry) and white wine. Increase heat; boil until most liquid evaporates, about 7 minutes. Add rosemary, mushrooms, and beef stock. Pour in reserved mushroom liquid, leaving any sediment behind. Boil until liquid mixture is reduced to 2 cups, about 15 minutes.
3. While the reduction is taking place, dredge the venison cube steak in flour and sprinkle with salt and pepper. There’s no need to batter it in eggs or milk (although if you are cooking a big trophy buck, milk may tenderize it). Heat the remaining olive oil in a pan just big enough for the meat. Pan size is more important than you might think. Since venison is lean, there’s no margin for error. It needs to cook evenly, and a properly sized pan facilitates distribution of heat. Cook until flour has browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Turn steaks over and brown the other side, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and drain on paper towels.
4. Mix butter and 1 tablespoon flour in a small bowl to blend. Whisk into mushroom mixture. Simmer until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. If the venison is still too rare for your taste after resting, at this time you can place the cube steak in the sauce to continue cooking. Season with salt and pepper.

A quick word on salt – Kosher salt is awesome. If you grew up Southern Baptist like I did, you are probably thinking Kosher just means a Jewish rabbi blessed it for Passover. While that may be true, Kosher salt is also processed in a distinct way that maximizes the surface area of the salt crystal, bringing out more flavor while using less salt. If you haven’t been using Kosher salt, try it!