alemonkey
Member
This isn't totally hunting related, but it has to do with what you can do with the meat you harvested. Maybe we need a subforum for wild game recipes?
The other day we had a barbeque for some friends, and in addition to a pork shoulder I decided to do a venison backstrap I had left from last fall. In the past I've done probably 90% of my deer as jerky, but I know what I'm doing with it from now on. This was by far the best venison I've ever had, and some of the best meat I've ever had, period:
Ingredients:
1 venison backstrap
Bacon
Brine ingredients:
3 pints water
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 tbs crushed garlic
1/2 tbs black pepper
First, butterfly the backstrap. Cut the meat lengthwise, you want to "unroll" it so you end up with about a 1/4 - 1/2" thick slab of meat. Place this in a ziploc freezer bag with the brine and set it in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
Remove the meat from the brine and pat it dry. Place strips of bacon lengthwise on the meat, and roll it back up to its original shape. Wrap bacon around the outside to hold it all together.
Put this whole contraption in the smoker and cook until it is done all the way through. I smoked mine for 3 hours, then wrapped it in tin foil to keep it from drying out and smoked it for probably another hour. Your cooking time will vary with the temperature of your smoker and size of your meat. I pulled mine off the smoker when the internal temperature hit 190.
Remove the blackened bacon from the outside and slice thinly crosswise into circles. You'll have a nice red smoke ring around the outside, with a spiral of bacon on the inside. It's delicious hot off the smoker, but I like it even more served cold out of the refridgerator.
The other day we had a barbeque for some friends, and in addition to a pork shoulder I decided to do a venison backstrap I had left from last fall. In the past I've done probably 90% of my deer as jerky, but I know what I'm doing with it from now on. This was by far the best venison I've ever had, and some of the best meat I've ever had, period:
Ingredients:
1 venison backstrap
Bacon
Brine ingredients:
3 pints water
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 tbs crushed garlic
1/2 tbs black pepper
First, butterfly the backstrap. Cut the meat lengthwise, you want to "unroll" it so you end up with about a 1/4 - 1/2" thick slab of meat. Place this in a ziploc freezer bag with the brine and set it in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
Remove the meat from the brine and pat it dry. Place strips of bacon lengthwise on the meat, and roll it back up to its original shape. Wrap bacon around the outside to hold it all together.
Put this whole contraption in the smoker and cook until it is done all the way through. I smoked mine for 3 hours, then wrapped it in tin foil to keep it from drying out and smoked it for probably another hour. Your cooking time will vary with the temperature of your smoker and size of your meat. I pulled mine off the smoker when the internal temperature hit 190.
Remove the blackened bacon from the outside and slice thinly crosswise into circles. You'll have a nice red smoke ring around the outside, with a spiral of bacon on the inside. It's delicious hot off the smoker, but I like it even more served cold out of the refridgerator.