What Is Venison Backstrap?

Venison Backstrap is the tenderloin of a deer. These are highly prized as they are the most tender portion of the deer and work well with many different styles of cooking.

Meat Block

3 lb of Venison Backstrap

Additives

Soluble Pa’s Black Bull BBQ Seasoning
Wild Game Seasoning

Process

We are going to inject it with our favorite injectable seasoning, Pa’s Black Bull and then we are going to rub the outside with Excalibur Wild Game Rub. Pa’s black bull has high amounts of sugar and molasses to help everything caramelize nicely and the wild game rub has just a hint of heat that should work well with it.

To inject this, we first need to mix up our soluble solution, so I have a pint of water here and I am going to dissolve 1.76 oz or 50 grams of Pa’s Black Bull into it. I am mixing for a long time because we want it all to suspend in the water so this will take a little bit of time. I’m using the Walton’s Automatic Syringe injector and I’m just going to pump it until it doesn’t seem like it will take anymore. Once the solution begins to leak back out of the injection holes we will know the meat has taken as much of the marinade as it can.

Marinating

Vacuum seal the backstrap and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours to allow the seasoning to equalize in the meat. When vacuum sealing a piece of meat that you have injected, or are marinating, you need to watch the bag to make sure that water is not sucked up into the vacuum machine, as that can obviously create problems for the sealer. As soon as you see moisture start to get sucked to the opening of the bag hit the seal button on your vacuum sealer.

Rubbing

When it is finished marinating rub it liberally with the Wild Game Rub and make sure to fully cover all sides. With injecting and marinating it the Backstrap should be able to hold the rub on the outside easily. If it does not, you can add a light topical mustard rub to allow the seasoning to adhere.

Note

Now, we need to talk about proper cook temperatures. I know people are very picky when cooking venison. You’ve worked for the meat so you want the best taste you can get out of all that hard work. However, no matter how clean the deer was you should still be following standard food safety processes. That means cooking a whole muscle cut, like this, up to 145°.

Thermal Processing & Smoking

Stage 1 - Smoke at 200° until the internal temp reaches 145°

Cooling

Pull your Backstrap out of the smoker once it reaches 145° and let it “nap” under tin foil for 5 minutes to allow the juices to be absorbed back into the meat. If you skip this step you will see a lot of the juice leak out of the meat once you cut it, if you let it nap it will absorb back into the meat.

Additional Tips

• When choosing a marinade you should look for something that already contains some form of phosphates as this will help give you a juicier finished product
• When choosing a rub for the outside of the loin you should either choose a complimentary flavor or something that will offer a different but strong flavor, otherwise it is going to get lost in the marinade

Other Notes

I know a lot of you like to stop it well short of 145°, but it’s like wearing a seat belt, yes your car will start without you having it on but eventually, something is going to happen and that seat belt is going to keep you safe. Same thing with cooking to 145°, if you don’t, especially with wild game eventually you are going to give yourself food poisoning.

Watch WaltonsTV: How to Make Venison Backstrap

Shop waltonsinc.com for Automatic Syringe Injector

Shop waltonsinc.com for Poly Meat Pan

Shop waltonsinc.com for Measuring Cups

Shop waltonsinc.com for PK-100 Smokehouse

Broil King Baron S590

Supreme Pizza Bratwurst Seasoning