How to Cook a Better Wild-Game Steak (In Your Oven)
If your grill is buried beneath three feet of snow right now, here’s an alternative way to cook a really good wild-game steak.
1. Season the steak (I like McCormick’s Montreal Steak).
2. Set your oven to 275 degrees, place the steak on a rack, and throw it in the oven (no cover, no foil).
3. Cook in the oven until the steak’s internal temperature is 125 degrees (for medium rare). Monitor this with a thermometer. It could take 20-40 minutes depending on how thick the steak is.
4. Let the steak rest for 10 minutes and then sear it on a cast-iron skillet for no more than 1-minute on each side. Get the skillet as hot as you possibly can.
5. Serve the steak sizzling hot.
This method works so well for wild game because it doesn’t dry out the meat and it cooks the whole steak evenly. Heating the steak in the oven to 125 allows the meat to cook without it starting to brown (Maillard reaction). I’ve done this with whitetail, elk, and buffalo steaks. The steak has turned out just about perfect every time, although I do miss the smokey flavor from the grill. It works exceptionally well on thick backstraps.
The Youtube channel Fudehouse has a detailed video on this method of cooking a steak if you want to see it in acction.