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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Venison Backstrap on the fire

These aren't the best pictures...

I have quite a bit of venison to use before deer season starts in November... so I threw a backstrap into the cooler to cook while camping this weekend.






after starting the fire, I spit some potatoes, added bacon and onion slices then seasoned with garlic, kosher salt and pepper. I dotted with butter before wrapping in foil.





I don't normally marinade a backstrap with the silver skin still on.. but I wanted to go fishing...so I threw the whole thing into a bowl and covered it with dales marinade. Grabbed my fishing pole and let the meat marinade while I relaxed by the lake.




After fishing for a few hours I trimmed the backstrap....








then I seasoned the venison with some mystery seasoning that good friends in Texas (Larry and Bonnie) sent to me (their son lives in Japan). The seasoning has a sweet, ginger, star anise flavor... I'm not sure what it's normally used for but it's great on venison!

I also sprinkled the backstrap with a pepper blend from a talented smoking friend named Phesant. I had tried the pepper blend on some venison steaks earlier and really loved it!






started the tatoes first...




then the backstrap and a skillet of mushrooms with onion, garlic, kosher salt and butter....




removed the loin and let it rest...... skootched the potatoes and shrooms to the cool side of the fire while I grilled a couple of ribyeyes and made some fried hominy.

I fry a few pieces of bacon in a pot for the hominy, remove the bacon, add minced onions and cook until tender. Then add two cans of drained hominy, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes or cayenne to taste. Then add some butter to the pot then top with the crisp bacon...


















It's not a great picture... the backstrap and some ribeye topped with shrooms, the baked potato, fried hominy and cole slaw.





It all tasted great... we decided you can't go wrong with two main dishes of meat and two side dishes topped with bacon. :)

16 comments:

Big Dude said...

The meal from the campfire cooking queen looks delicious as usual. Sounds like you have the same problem as us - put it in the freezer then reach a point of needing to use it.

cowgirl said...

Thanks Larry! :)
You do that too huh? I save it for something special and before you know it I need to use it up to make room for other things.
Hope you have good luck this deer season! :)

Anonymous said...

Now I'm sitting here at work daydreaming about fresh venison this weekend... We have an early antlerless season this weekend in the area we hunt . Then we wait for the real season in November. If things go right we too will have to worry about using up year end venison next year. Do you have any good recipes for smoked venison sticks or jerky?

Dave in MN

Old Smoke said...

A Peaceful lake and a great meal! I'm jealous...I have always said "there is more to fishing than catching". I see that you use your fine china when you go camping too. :)lol I'm gathering stuff for this weekends "brethren bash" it should be fun.
BTW I'll have to try the fried hominy sounds tasty.
Have a good week

cowgirl said...

Dave, it's good to see you! Hope you had a nice summer.
I do have favorite jerky and stick recipes but can't seem to find them right now. lol Isn't that the way it goes! I use tenderquick in my stick mix (1 TBs per pound of meat). And add my favorite spices.. garlic and onion...make a slurry with water or beer then mix it into the meat. I will try to post about it when I locate the recipe.

I don't use a cure in jerky.. soy and water marinade then sprinkle the strips with cracked black pepper and garlic salt.
I'll see if I can find that recipe too.
Hope you have great luck this weekend!
Thanks Dave. :)

cowgirl said...

Thank you Rick! I didn't know that was going on this weekend.. Hope you have fun and take lots of pictures. Wish I lived close enough to go. :)

I had a nice time at the lake, the weather was just perfect.
Thanks again Rick! :)

Bushman said...

yum! I love venison loin. The sound of star anise and venison with a kick of ginger I think sounds wonderful. I will try it!!
I just thawed out 25 lbs of venison and made sticks and jerky last weekend.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is one long hose from the propane tank to the burner to get the fire going! That's what I call safety first!

Marc van der Wouw said...

WoW it looks so good...and sounds ok sitting on the lake do some fishing,and cooking over fire...great stuff..

Craig said...

Venison Cooked over the open fire just tastes so much better. I have to wonder,was that spice pack close to Chinese 5 spice?

cowgirl said...

Bushman, venison sticks and jerky sound great! I need to get busy and make some. Thanks! :)

cowgirl said...

lol Anonymous it really is! :) I have a couple hoses..this one is the longest.

cowgirl said...

Thank you Marc! It was so nice out by the lake.. I enjoyed the weekend. :)

cowgirl said...

Craig it is close to 5 spice but has sugar or something sweet included. It's really tasty though.
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Looks really, really good.
I just discovered this blog. I`ll take my time to read all recipes.
I love bbq and this kind of meals.
You have a new reader.
Hellos from Spain.

cowgirl said...

Thank you so much Anonymous! It's nice to meet you. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and thank you for stopping by to leave the nice comment. :)

I've never been to Spain but hear that it's beautiful!