Its always a lot of fun for me to come across a new ingredient that I like. It usually open up a whole new world of food and I end up cooking almost exclusively with it for a while. So when the folks at
Chung Jung One sent me a sample of their new Gochujang Korean Chili paste I was super excited to give it a try. I wasn't familiar with it at all so it was a new flavor for me. I was ridiculously impressed with how good it was. I started researching recipes and found a dozen or so new things to try. The trick of course was trying to incorporate wild game into the mix.
As it turns out it wasn't that tricky to find ways to use the gochujang with game. This first thing I made was a Bibimbap with a gochujang and date hot sauce. After that I wanted to try it as a marinade and came across this recipe. I marinated the venison steaks in a gochujang marinade then painted them with the gochujang date hot sauce. The marinade is packed with sweet and savory flavors and even though it is a chili sauce it isn't overwhelmingly hot. There is just a small amount of spice to the sauce.
I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of spring so I can get out and gather some ramps and try a ramp Kim Chi and maybe some kind of trout recipe as well.
Venison Steak with Gochujang Marinade
8 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed
1 2” piece ginger, peeled, sliced
½ cup dry sake
½ cup gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
½ cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
¼ cup vegetable oil, plus more for grilling
1½ pound venison roast cut into 1/4 inch slices for quick grilling
Purée garlic, ginger, sake, gochujang, mirin, and ¼ cup oil in a blender. Set ¼ cup marinade aside; chill. Transfer remaining marinade to a large dish. Add venison and marinade for at least 2 hours.
Preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Remove venison from marinade and grill, basting with reserved marinade, turning occasionally, this will cook pretty quickly about 2-3 minutes each side.
