Hunt Camp Meals: Fried New York Strips

A good hunt camp needs good food. I cook for a wide variety of camps each fall and winter, ranging from tents to some seriously tricked out lodges with full commercial kitchens. Regardless of what type of camp you are cooking for, meal budget almost always comes into play. If you have a big group of hunters, and they are in camp for several days, grocery budgets can explode in a hurry, especially these days.

These fried New York strip steaks offer an economical and delicious alternative to your standard grilled ribeye.

Although I cook a lot of wild game at camp, steaks are always a popular choice among hunters. But prime grade beef can easily run $20 or more a pound these days. Figure that up for a couple of dozen hunters and you can blow your entire food budget on one meal.

Luckily, there’s another option that will cost a little less and offer an unusual steak that everyone loves. Head down to your local butcher and look for a whole New York strip loin. They are usually a few bucks cheaper per pound that ribeyes, and for this recipe, you can drop down to choice or select grade, saving even more over a prime ribeye.

Buy a whole strip and slice the steaks yourself at camp to save money.

You can have your butcher slice the steaks for you, I like ¾ to 1 inch for this method, or just leave it whole and slice them yourself with a sharp knife when you get to camp. Because the slightly lower grade of beef won’t have the marbling that makes prime beef so tender and delicious, there are a few things you can do to doctor these up for extra flavor, like dredging them in seasoned flour and frying them up to a nice crispy exterior and a tender medium rare interior.

I slice the steaks around 1 inch for thickness.

Yep, you heard me. Simply season the steaks on both sides like you would if you were grilling, and then roll them in your choice of seasoned flour. For me, that is the Kentucky Kernel brand. I’ve seen it on grocery shelves through most of the country, or you can order it online. To me, Kentucky Kernel is the perfect blend of salt, pepper and spice for just about anything fried. I use it on backstrap, rabbit, duck, turkey, quail, squirrel, green tomatoes — you name it. This isn’t an endorsed product placement. Those folks don’t even know that I exist. It’s just really good. If you can’t find Kentucky Kernel where you live, use your favorite brand, or just season up all-purpose flour with salt, pepper, and whatever spices you like.

Dredge the steaks in seasoned flour.

The preparation is simple. Score the steaks on both sides down about ¼ inch deep in a diagonal pattern. This gives a little more surface area for seasoning and flour and helps to speed up the cooking process, which is important if you are cooking for 20 and need everyone’s dinner done about the same time.

Score the steaks before seasoning to give them extra surface area for the crust to stick to and to speed cooking times.

Because frying for a large group takes up a lot of space and tends to splatter and make a mess, I like to do it outdoors on my Camp Chef flat-top griddle. Simply heat the griddle to medium-high and place two or three cast iron or carbon steel skillets directly on the surface. My frying medium of choice for this one is lard. It adds a ton of flavor you just can’t get with vegetable oil or shortening. This is hunting camp, not the local health food place. Go big or go home.

When cooking for a crowd, you can place several skillets on the surface of a flat top griddle, allowing you to cook several steaks at once.

After the lard in the skillets reaches 325 to 350 degrees (a good digital or laser thermometer comes in handy for checking oil temperatures), gently lower the steaks in a few at a time. Adjust the griddle temperature to keep the oil in about that temperature range. Don’t overcrowd the pan. You want a little space between each steak so that it browns evenly on all surfaces.

Fry the steaks for five to seven minutes on one side, depending on your desired doneness level, and then flip and repeat until they reach the right internal temperature. I like medium rare on my steaks, so I shoot for about 125 in the center. Again, a good digital thermometer on the first few steaks will give you a good time frame for the rest of the batch.

When your steaks are done to your liking and have a nice, crispy crust, move them to a pan lined with paper towels or a wire rack. I like to lean each incoming steak up on the edge of the previous one so they slant and allow any excess oil to drain down into the pan. Think of shingles on a roof for the pattern.

Serve the steaks with baked or roasted potatoes, a good salad, and yeast rolls or garlic bread, and you’ll have a happy, and full, camp full of hunters.