Cooking back strap

[follow maggie]

This week I’m going to cook up some of the back strap from this past fall's deer. I’ve never cooked back strap before. I have a seasoning I’m going to use & I'm going to cook it on the grill. Is 145 a good temp so it’ll be tender but thoroughly cooked?

[brew]

Trim off all the wang (silver skin) season, flour and cook until the juice coming out of it is clear-ish.  I think 145 would be too done for my liking.  More like 135

[bobcat]

If it's "thoroughly cooked," it's ruined in my opinion. I usually pan fry for just a couple minutes per side. But I like it extremely rare.

[Wolfdog2314]

I will either cut up into .5 inch square chunks. Marinate. Wrap in bacon. Grill until bacon is cooked. They cook fast. 5 mins or so.

Or cut into steaks. Cut backstrap in to 1 inch thick steaks. Marinate. Bbq. Starting on high, no more than 2 minutes per side. I’ll reduce a heat a little as I go.

As others mentioned, stay on the rare side. I eat mine still almost purple on the inside. Just a warm center.

Same applies to tenderloins!

[follow maggie]

Some good ideas here. Thanks folks!

[colersu22]

Past couple I have cut the strap into thirds then vac seal them.  I have been taking one out and butterflying them and pounding them flat, proceed to stuff them with grilled onions, garlic, jalapeños and cream cheese/cheddar mixed and roll that up and wrap it with bacon.  Tried it on the grill, smoker and camping on a cast iron and it is my go to way to cook backstrap now.

[Fidelk]

If it's "thoroughly cooked," it's ruined in my opinion. I usually pan fry for just a couple minutes per side. But I like it extremely rare.

Same here. Been cooking some young cow elk. Get the frying pan hot with a bit of olive oil and get it on and off after a few minutes. No flour or spices. Perfect tasting and tender meat all by itself. Just a bit of salt.

[highcountry_hunter]

I cook mine as a whole piece, like a roast. Not the entire backstrap but a big enough piece for the family to have dinner.
Pat dry with a paper towel then season liberally. Get a cast iron with some olive oil or beef tallow scalding hot then sear all sides to a light crisp. Finish in the oven or on the grill at around 300° until I get an internal temp of 125 then foil and towels as mentioned above.
3 year old daughter turns into a wild animal on Buck Meat night lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MADMAX]

I butterfly them with some bacon held on with toothpick on the grill

[KNOPHISH]

I gotta try Colersu recipe, sounds fantastic. I had elk straps yesterday. Driseled with olive oil some johnnys garlic powder pepper on a hot grill, think it was 400 for about 5 minutes. Nailed it so I ate 3.

[High Climber]

120-130 is about right! But that’s only worth checking if you have at least a 1/2 inch thick cuts. Error on the side of less done than more done.. in my experience people who say they don’t care for venison either have had meat that wasn’t care for properly, or was over cooked. I grilled some elk backstrap steaks a few weeks ago that was about 3/4” thick and pulled them at 120 let them rest and it was amazing. Good luck and enjoy!

[High Climber]

Past couple I have cut the strap into thirds then vac seal them.  I have been taking one out and butterflying them and pounding them flat, proceed to stuff them with grilled onions, garlic, jalapeños and cream cheese/cheddar mixed and roll that up and wrap it with bacon.  Tried it on the grill, smoker and camping on a cast iron and it is my go to way to cook backstrap now.

I do something similar, I use raw onion instead of grilled, and when the bacon is done I put a slice of pepper jack on top and pull them when it melts 

[Southpole]

If it's "thoroughly cooked," it's ruined in my opinion. I usually pan fry for just a couple minutes per side. But I like it extremely rare.

  Flash fry in a buttered garlic skillet no more than medium rare. Pure bliss.

[jrebel]

Two ways we do it....

1.  the quick, easy and always a crowd pleaser is 1/2" thick slices dredged in flower that is generously seasoned with salt and pepper.  Hot cast iron pan with oil to sear both sides.  you know when to flip the first time when blood / juices start to bubble out the uncooked side.  Flip and quick sear the other side.  Don't overcook. 

2.  Larger piece....season, bacon wrap and place on a grill or smoker preferably.  Temp 350...cook to internal temp of 120.  Glaze with a blueberry or huckleberry compote and finish to a temp of 125-130.  Take off and let rest for a minimum 10 minutes before cutting and serving.  We cut ours in 1/2" - 3/4" depending on what people like.  Most like thinner.  Make sure you have plenty of extra compote as people love lathering it all over the cut meat. 

#2 is a huge winner with Bear roast / backstrap.  Just make sure that you cook bear to 160 degrees.   

[7mmfan]

Man, a lot of you guys put a lot of effort into making meat that already tastes delicious, taste delicious. I live by the KISS method, (keep it simple stupid). I cut all my backstrap into 6" long sections. I brush with a little olive oil, season liberally with Johnny's, wrap in saran wrap and place in the fridge for 3-4 days. Salt penetrates red meat at a rate of 1/4" per 24 hours. If your backstrap is 2" thick, it will take 4 days for the salt to fully penetrate to the center of your cut. I then put it in a 500 degree convection oven and pull when it gets to 120 IT. Foil tent and towel cover for 10 minutes or so then cut into desired portion sizes. It's perfect every time.

[Stein]

Salt, pepper, garlic, sear outside to medium rare.  Error on the side of undercooked.

If I'm really feeling it, I roll cut it, stuff with goat cheese, rosemary, maybe bacon, roll it up and toss it on the smoker until done.

[Karl Blanchard]

Man, a lot of you guys put a lot of effort into making meat that already tastes delicious, taste delicious. I live by the KISS method, (keep it simple stupid). I cut all my backstrap into 6" long sections. I brush with a little olive oil, season liberally with Johnny's, wrap in saran wrap and place in the fridge for 3-4 days. Salt penetrates red meat at a rate of 1/4" per 24 hours. If your backstrap is 2" thick, it will take 4 days for the salt to fully penetrate to the center of your cut. I then put it in a 500 degree convection oven and pull when it gets to 120 IT. Foil tent and towel cover for 10 minutes or so then cut into desired portion sizes. It's perfect every time.

agreed on keeping it simple.  I'm an olive oil then SPG guy but I NEVER foil. It softens that glorious crust too much. I hit it hot and fast. Let it rest, slice and eat.

[pianoman9701]

Throw on cooker as a whole chunk cut to whatever size you want.  I cook at 225 and pull mine off at 125. Cover in foil and towels and rest for 15 minutes   Then slice steaks to desired thickness to serve

[Dhoey07]

Don't cook it more than this and  you'll be ok 

[jrebel]

We need a wild game cook out.  Get all of us MICHELIN STAR CHEFS together to have a great day of great eats.  Some of these recipes sound great and are making my mouth water thinking about them. 

[vandeman17]

I like to trim mine up then cube into bite size pieces. Coat with olive oil then shake in a bage with everything bagel mix. Hot cast iron skillet with bacon grease just long enough that all sides are seared and then rest for 5 minutes or so under foil.

[Magnum_Willys]

End of day at camp - slice backstrap into 3” - 4” chunks, butterfly into steaks.  Coat with montreal steak seasoning on one side lil salt & pepper on other. Fry hot in cast iron pan 50/50 butter and oil.   Heat baked beans. Don’t overcook.   Start to finish dinners ready in 15 minutes.   Some of the best steak you will ever have if starting with good elk or moose.

[KNOPHISH]

When I let mine rest there was some extra juice on the plate I soaked up with each bite. I usually rest on a separate plate but that was delicious.

[Karl Blanchard]

When I let mine rest there was some extra juice on the plate I soaked up with each bite. I usually rest on a separate plate but that was delicious.

pro tip...pour that on your taters 

[Pathfinder101]

Rub with Olive Oil
Season liberally with Montreal Steak Seasoning and rub made of onion powder, garlic powder and paprika
Heat up a cast iron skillet
Put a dab of olive oil in it to keep the butter from burning
Put a 1/4 stick of butter in the hot pan and heat until it starts to brown
Add a sprig of rosemary
Put backstrap in the pan and start to brown it.
Spoon the rosemary butter over it while turning and browning
Just get a sear all around.  Should only take a couple of minutes.
Put the pan in a 400 degree oven for 3 minutes.
Remove, spoon drippings over the meat one more time
Put meat on a cutting board to rest for about 5 minutes.
Slice and serve
 

[Mtnwalker]

Pretty much been covered already here, SPG and a hot cast iron, sear all sides. Transfer to 350 oven, top with rosemary herb butter and pull at 120. Rest on a separate dish with all juices from pan so it doesn't continue to cook in the cast iron.

Option 2 sous vide.  Salt, heavily pepper and herb butter. 131 for a few hours, pull and rest 15 minutes then into a hot cast iron for the finishing crust.

[Karl Blanchard]

To sum this whole thread up...

1) Cook venison steak like any other steak 

2) DO NOT COOK VENISON STEAK PAST PINK OR ITS FANCY DOGFOOD!!!! 

[Pathfinder101]

To sum this whole thread up...

1) Cook venison steak like any other steak 

2) DO NOT COOK VENISON STEAK PAST PINK OR ITS FANCY DOGFOOD!!!! 

 

[OutHouse]

I apply a recipe I use for thin sliced pork chops, and it turns out quite well:

Salt, pepper, garlic, ground red pepper, sage, rosemary, tiny touch of cinnamon.

Mix spices together, light coat of olive oil on chops, sprinkle over chops, put the chops and rest of the spices in a bag to marinate over night.

Hot iron pan, little oil, sear both sides. Done!

[Karl Blanchard]

This thread needs food porn....

Tenderloins pan seared and butter basted to temp

[Karl Blanchard]

Mountain Goat on the grill. Olive oil for a binder, SPG.

[Karl Blanchard]

Nevada mule deer, you know one of those gamey sagebrush deer 

[Karl Blanchard]

This was an experimental recipe. Made a paste using avocado oil, salt, crushed garlic, onion powder, smoked paprika, chili powder, lime juice, and some cayenne. Let marinade for a day, scraped off excess and grilled. Citrus just adds such a fresh flavor to red meat.

[Dhoey07]

This one was seared and then "cooked" tataki style.

 

[Southpole]

Man some of you guys should be professional food photographers, you’re really selling it 

[92xj]

The family and I really love the taste of the meat with smoke.  I never marinade as that takes away that meat flavor for us.
I cut one whole backstrap into thirds and cook each third whole, then slice when plating.
We cook our backstrap on the pellet grill at 200 for 1.5 hours. 
Salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder sprinkled on the chunk.
Typically, this will take the internal temp to 125-130, which is when I pull them off and wrap in foil and under a towel for 15 minutes to rest.  What is super nice about this cook is it does not give you the overcooked ring around the outside.  It's perfect temp throughout the entire piece of meat.  Top with a red wine hoisin mushroom mix thingy and you have a plate of gold.

[Karl Blanchard]

I was on board until the mushrooms 

[Alchase]

Nevada mule deer, you know one of those gamey sagebrush deer 

You don't want to eat that Gamey Sagebrush back strap, I will spare you, LOL
Looks mouth watering.

[follow maggie]

Thanks everyone for the tips. Ate it tonight with my parents visiting.  Put my favorite seasonings on it & cooked it on the grill real slow to about 135.  It was awesome.