The Venison Backstrap

Wishing a very Happy Valentine’s Day to my sweet dear deer.

After watching the deer in our backyard for months, it was time to watch one on the smoker. My buddy had downed one and I was gifted the result. Admittedly, I’ve never smoked/cooked a true backstrap before.

I’ve made some awesome venison jerky before, using the RecTeq of course, but it was time to give it the respect it deserved.

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Recipe

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The Prep Table

I was supposed to have these thawed out for the day I did the ribeyes, but these still had a hint of frozen, and we didn’t want to chance it. So after I stuffed my face with days of ribeyes, it was time for deer.

Not a lot of seasoning for this one. I dressed the meat with some of Meat Church’s Garlic and Herb and the peppery-touch of McCormick’s Hot Shot Black and Red Pepper.

Again, not a lot of seasoning like you would coat a pork butt with – we don’t want a crust, we just want to compliment the taste.

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The Process

This was a delicate cook in that I really didn’t want to overcook these. I set my RecTeq Bull on “Lo” or “Xtreme Smoke” – which puts it at a decent 180 degrees. I wanted to impart the mesquite smoke while raising the temperature at the lowest pace possible.

I’ll also note, that I did not do any marinades or injections for this. I wanted my first backstrap experience to be about the gamey deer, not necessarily an added flavor. Know what you have and then experiment with marinades.

This is where you can really tell what low temperature does. That meat already was red while the seasoning looks pretty much untouched. Low and slow.

My goal temp was about 130-135 for this. I also opted not to put any sear on these either. So just set it low, let the temp rise at its own pace, poke with the Thermapen Mk4 a bunch of times and pull it between 130-135. And of course, let it rest.

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The Result

You’ll see I had one large backstrap, that I cut into two pieces – and then some other smaller cuts. We weren’t exactly sure where these came from, but they obviously finished first.

The fact these smaller cuts were finished first, gave me a good insight into what I was going to get with the larger ones. So I pulled it at my temp, rested, and gave her a slice.

Yep. This was perfect. You’ll see I put a little salt on top, but it wasn’t needed, so I omitted it for the final pieces. The meat was so tender and so juicy. I fanned the pieces out for picture so you can really appreciate the beautiful even cook. So I ate a couple pieces of this one, and turned my attention back to the star of the show.

Same result, bigger pieces. I don’t need to impart anything else to this meat. The addition of the garlic/herb Meat Church seasoning was a great compliment. I didn’t want anything over powering, but loved the green herby addition. Going forward, I think some fresh rosemary would be great.

Close up of that beautiful meat. Thanks to Zach for his gifting of this deer. I hope I did it justice. This led to some beautiful lunches all week.

Sneak peek for the next post: Cold smoked cheese. These have been sitting in the fridge for about 2 weeks now, and we finally get to break these open after the agonizing wait. Thanks for giving this post a look!

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The Recipe