Venison Steak and Cheese Sandwiches
A vension roast is sliced paper-thin and quickly marinated in a flavor-packed sauce that becomes a dark, rich coating on the cooked meat. Baking the assembled sandwiches in a hot oven crisps up the rolls and makes them warm, melty, juicy crowd-pleasers.
A note on the ingredients - I use a specific bottled sauce available on-line; you can substitute another Japanese-style steak sauce, but none I’ve tried are as good with this as the Tonton.
Serves: 4
Total Time: 40 minutes (not including freezing or thawing time for meat)
2 lb. venison roast
6 oz. button mushrooms
2 medium red, yellow or green bell peppers
2 medium sweet or yellow onions
½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
½ c. Tonton Hibachi Japanese Steak Sauce
6 Tbsp. clarified butter or grapeseed oil
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ c. A-1 Hearty Steak Sauce (can substitute regular A-1)
8 slices white American cheese (or equal amount of shredded cheese)
Mayonnaise
2-3 Tbsp. melted butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 large hoagie rolls, OR
4 large, round Kaiser rolls (unsplit) OR
2 loaves of narrow Italian bread (each about 15” long and 3” wide)
Cut roast into large chunks that will fit in the chute of a food processor and freeze until a knife can be inserted in the center with some resistance, about 2 hours. Using a thin slicing blade (1-2 mm) in a food processor, slice partially frozen meat. (See image below for correct thickness. Alternately, slice partially frozen meat very thinly with a sharp knife.) Rough chop the sliced meat several times to yield small pieces and put into a medium bowl. Add Tonton Steak sauce, crushed red pepper flakes and pepper and set aside.
Slice peppers and onions into ½” strips and cut mushrooms into ¼” slices; set aside. (Alternatively, onions can be sliced into ¼” rings and kept in rings during the sauteing process for a different presentation as in the picture below.)
Preheat oven to 400°. Heat a large, heavy skillet over high heat and add 2-3 Tbsp. clarified butter or oil. Sear half of the meat just until cooked through (do not brown); remove to a bowl and keep warm. Scrape skillet clean, add remaining 3 Tbsp. butter, then remaining meat, cook, then add to the bowl with the already-cooked meat. Do not clean the skillet. Reduce heat to medium-high, add mushrooms and cook until most of liquid has evaporated. (If you have non-vegetable eaters, see “Extras” below before proceeding from this point.) Add the peppers and onions and a pinch of salt, and sauté until almost tender but not soft, scraping up all the browned bits in the pan. Stir in the meat and A-1 sauce and cook and stir 1-2 minutes until thoroughly coated. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and remove from heat. (Do not cook until all liquid is evaporated – the pan juices add moisture and flavor to the sandwiches.)
For Hoagie rolls or loaf bread: Split bread or rolls in half lengthwise, remove excess bread from the center to create a “trough”, and spread one side with mayonnaise. Layer opposite side cheese slices. Top with the meat mixture and sauce (or individual components for the picky eater option, below).
For Kaiser rolls: Cut the top of each roll off close to the edge of the top creating a bowl shape (see picture). Remove the bread in the middle, leaving the bottom and sides intact. Slice any extra bread off the top to make a flat base; this will be the lid of the sandwich. Put a thin layer of cheese in the bottom of the roll and top with the meat mixture and sauce (or individual components for the picky eater option, below), top with additional cheese, and cover with trimmed roll top.
Brush each roll on top and bottom with a light coating of melted butter, wrap tightly in aluminum foil and warm in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, cut each sandwich in half, and serve with dill pickles and potato chips.
I’ve modified my cooking process on lots of things to accommodate my husband, a picky eater who doesn’t like most vegetables or any “crunchy” vegetable, and definitely no onions. (He would pick around it, but most of the time watching him sort through it does not help my attitude…and I still want the flavor these products contribute to a recipe.) If you have picky eaters, here’s an optional cooking process that allows you to build each sandwich with only the components each person wants.
Optional Process for Picky Eaters: Once the liquid has cooked off the mushrooms and they begin to brown, remove from the skillet and set aside. Now add a splash more oil to the skillet, add the peppers and sauté until almost tender but not soft, scraping up all the browned bits in the pan; remove and set aside. Finally, add the onions and a pinch of salt to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and beginning to brown slightly, remove from pan and set aside. Return the meat to the skillet, stir in the A-1 sauce and cook and stir 1-2 minutes until thoroughly coated. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and remove from heat. (Do not cook until all liquid is evaporated – the pan juices add moisture and flavor to the sandwiches.) Proceed with assembling the sandwiches, customizing each with meat, mushrooms, peppers, and onions to suit each person. Brush with butter, wrap, and bake as directed above.