This venison salad is what passed for an amazingly fine dinner here at chez Phlegm Sunday night.
I chopped up some bacon and fried it up with a bit of butter, then seasoned with freshly cracked pepper, salt, lots of garlic and a generous helping of dried parsley. When the bacon was properly cooked and seasoning thoroughly mixed in, I tossed in the cut up backstrap.
On the plates, I laid out a bed of mixed sweet salad greens, topped with a sprinkling of pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for a bit of textural variety to the bite, and then I put the buttery meaty bits on top. No dressing necessary.
This was two smallish strips of backstrap from a young male deer that Dad harvested last year sometime. He said he expected it would be very good to eat. You were right, Dad! I was picking a pack of venison to thaw out of the freezer Saturday when my hand fell to the small one said "tenderloin" and I got a little giddy. I can't believe my sister let me get hold of that one before she gave up red meat.
This was so delicious. We ended up killing the entire lot of salad greens, which were great with the herby garlicky drippings from the meat. Himself was practically levitating over the meal, and I have to say I was mighty pleased, as well.
I'm sorry any animal had to die for my meal, but I hope I did them justice. This was my first time to cook backstrap, and I don't think I'll be tempted to cook it any other way. It's such nice meat that to do anything more elaborate would be to paint the lily, yes?
3 comments:
It would, indeed, be gilding the lily. I LOVE backstraps, medallioned and seared in browned butter with a dash of salt and pepper. Serve over rice, or noodles, or whatever you like. Salads work too. :-) (Never cook past medium-rare, since venison toughens up when it goes further!)
Worth noting, however, is the different cuts. The "tenderloins" are also known as the "inside loin" and even in large deer are generally no larger around than a man's thumb and never more than a foot long. The backstrap is the loin and runs the entire length of the spine, neck to pelvis, and on a large deer will be as big around as my wrist.
Either way, those are THE prime cuts and you cooked it just right. ;-)
looks delish! Yum!
ZerCool - first time I cooked backstrap, so I'm glad to know I instinctively did it just right. Thanks for the tips and info. Looking forward to doing that again in future!
Jennifer - it WAS! :)
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