*Myself, Karl and Joe-looking a lot leaner and younger-2008?
Ok Folks, so the scenario is that you are hunting out of state, staying at a motel, and you shoot a deer. Did I mention you are hungry for backstraps? Well, if you are like my buddies and I, why wait to eat?
While staying at the hotel in Westby WI 6 years ago, with warm weather, we needed to take care of our does that we shot. So, with a tailgate, a few plastic bags and a cooler we were all set for our annual remote butcher shop. Add in the fact that the fine establishment had a dumpster and we were all set! The process of butchering is fairly easy and by pointing the truck towards the local high-traffic corner, we really cut down on and rubber-neckers. We didn't have any complaints from the truckers in the back parking lot either! With only an open tailgate to work with, here are some very quick venison backstrap grilling tips that you can use to the settle the hunger pains following a great day in the woods:
Butchering
1. After cutting off each leg at the knee, spin the deer to face horizontally across the tailgate, with its legs facing the cab of the truck.
2. By making a slice from the back of the head to the tail, we can then begin working the skin away from the spine and towards it's legs.
3. With a freshly harvested deer it takes very little time to take the skin off to the knees, off of the rump and with a full exposure of the neck. By flipping the deer and spinning after the 1st side is competed, you can work the other side to the same finish, while keeping the hair away from the meat...continually working with the back of the deer almost hanging off of the back-side of the tailgate, and slightly hanging over the ground.
4. The meat is now exposed to debone and cut into various sections. We like to rinse the meat off with a bucket, but the bathtub works well too :) We remove all of the meat to leave a skeleton that we disposed of within the dumpster (by permission of course!).
And now the fun part! With a gravel parking lot we just had to dig a small hole by hand, piece of wood, etc, buy a small bag of our favorite match-light charcoal, and get a pit of charcoal going. Depending on the size of the deer and # of hunters we have used 1 whole tenderloin or even 2 but either way we cut them in 1/2.
Ingredients
*Your favorite seasoning blend. 1 small container of a multi-seasoning blend works great!
*1 Onion
*1 Small package of bacon
*Small package of mushrooms, asparagus, or both!
*Package of tinfoil
The best things is that the ingredients can be kept to a minimum, but you can still expect a lot of flavor!
Grilling
1. Coat each 1/2-backstrap throroughly with your favorite seasoning blend and place lengthwise on a 12" by 18" piece of tinfoil.
2. Surround each piece with 4 pieces of bacon, wrapping the entire piece of meat from end to end, similar to the stripes on a barberpole.
3. Use onion slices to surround the bacon-wrapped venison, and layer the mushrooms or asparagus around the onion. I also like to season the veggies as well!
4. Close the foil around the the backstraps, making a "loaf" of your tin-wrapped meal, completely sealed off by pinching the foil lengthwise across the top, and at the ends.
5. Place the venison loaves directly on the coals, with the pinched portion along the top facing to the side. Cook the first side for 10 minutes, and the 2nd side for 7-8 minutes prior to checking for the first time.
We like to find an old board along-side of the gravel parking lot (as pictures) to use as our serving platter...but maybe you will be lucky enough to have more sanitary conditions? By slicing each backstrap from side to side you can create 1" thick pieces of meat similar to slicking a loaf of bread, with lots of veggies to pick at with your knife or fingers (hey, this is truly a redneck approach so who needs utensils?).
For hunters on the go, this may be the perfect recipe for you. I encourage you to try it, and enjoy the success of your hunt as soon as you possibly can. And while you are at it...the inner loins make for an incredible, single loaf as well!
If you like this recipe...I am sure you will also like, How I Got My Wife To Eat Venison!