Deer Meat CuberCube Steak Recipes for VenisonOne of our favorite ways of processing our deer meat, is by using a meat cuber and making our own venison cube steaks.
It is extremely simple to do and makes for a very tender steak. The best cube steaks are cut out of the hind legs.
They can actually be made from almost any cut of venison, as long as there is not much gristle or tendons in it, as this will make it tougher. A 2 x 2 x 2 piece of meat (or equivalent) is a good starting point for making the size of your cuts. It depends on how big you want the cube steak to be. When working with a thick cut, filet it open, by slicing 3/4 down the middle, so it goes in the cuber better. An example of this is shown in the above photo. We do lightly spray the meat cuber with a thin coat of vegetable oil, before we start making the steaks. We only spray it once. This seems to help the meat slide through it, a bit easier.
If you are cubing a large amount of venison, you can also lightly spray the meat with water, if it starts to dry out. The wetness makes the job quicker and easier. We use the Cabela's brand, manual meat cuber, and love it. The hand crank is amazingly simple to turn. We were thrilled with the ease and efficiency of this cuber. We run the venison cuts through the cuber 3 to 4 times, depending on the size and thickness, of the original cut. After you run the venison through the cuber the first time, then turn it sideways to run it through again. This will resemble a criss-cross pattern on the deer meat. Each time you run a piece back through, turn it sideways again.
For freezing, we stack the finished pieces between 2 sheets of waxed paper. Round steaks from deer, can be cut down the middle and ran through the cuber. However, they get run through twice in the same direction. They do not get turned different ways like the cube steaks do. This will help to tenderize the rounds. It also allows for better absorption of seasonings. Here are a couple of cubers, including the one from Cabela's, that we highly recommend. We've used ours, for 3 years now, and it still works like new!
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