Recipe: Tequila-Lime Grilled Deer Venison

Posted on 15 August 2007 under Game Cooking, Grilling, Recipes

So, what do you do when someone gives you some decent, gorgeous hunks of beautiful, mouthwatering deer venison?

That’s right. Ya’ go out and get yourself some decent tequila. Well, that’s what I did anyway.

Mary and I love the flavor of the mixture of tequila and lime. Back when I was first trying out the various functions of the Canon A560 I use for these photos, there just happened to be a pile of chicken drumsticks lying there. The drumsticks had been marinated in a commercially-available tequila-lime marinade, and then grilled. The end result was so darned purty I went ahead and posted the photo. Unfortunately, when I tried to use the photo for Windows Live Messenger, Jaden quipped, “What’s in that pic … chocolate chip cookies?” Yeah, sure … and they taste like chicken …

So today, with those chunks of deer venison staring at me, I decided to bite the bullet and hit the road for some decent tequila. I’d tried finding some at Kroger. Don’t do that, ok? Every last bottle was labeled as “diluted”, with all of them topping out at 21% alcohol. Harumph. That ain’t good enough.

The Jose Cuervo Especial in the above pic was acquired at the neighborhood liquor store (ok, Chef Tad’s neighborhood) and contains 40% alcohol. But it also smells and tastes like a decent tequila should. This bottle was about $11.50, and made a darn good marinade for the deer venison.

So, without further ado, here ya’ go.

Tequila-Lime Grilled Deer Venison

1 - 2 lbs deer venison
3/4 cup tequila
3/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp minced garlic
Bottled hot sauce (Boneyard Brew, Tabasco, etc.)
Kosher salt
Black pepper

Lay the deer venison on some paper towel or a lint-free cloth. Pat the meat dry and set it aside. 

In a glass mixing bowl, whisk the tequila, lime juice and orange juice together. Add the minced garlic and a few splashes of the hot sauce, and whisk again. Finally, add some of the Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper and give it all a good final whisking.

Pour some of the marinade into a flat container having a lid. Lay the deer venison in the marinade, then pour the rest of the marinade over the meat. Close the lid and refrigerate.

For stronger marinade flavor, marinade for at least three hours before grilling. For lighter marinade flavor, marinade for 30 minutes before grilling.

Note: for a much lighter marinade flavor, use 1/4 cup of each of the tequila, lime juice and orange juice.

Read Comments

  1. 16 August 2007 @ 12:38 am Posted by mike ansel

    Wouldn’t you know I just grilled two nice venison steaks, and 3 hours later read your blog. Sounds like a great recipe.

Post Comments






XHTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

* Required. Your email will never be displayed in public.