Backstraps

By Guy Perkins, Camp Chef

I'm not sure which I like better, making or eating backstraps. Kind of hard to separate the two. We have been blessed this year with many pounds of deer venison. I'm a fan of any ungulate backstraps passing over the gums and I envy those of you who work with grain fed whitetails, or have been lucky enough to procure moose on a regular basis.

I'm convinced that good venison (elk or deer) starts with the health of the animal and what it eats. Right behind that, in my mind, is how quickly the animal is dispatched. I'm always amazed by the look and texture of the meat from a bow kill versus a gun kill. If the animals were both calm when shot, I can still observe differences in the meat coloration and to my non-scientific thinking it has much to do with the hyperstatic shock caused by a bullet. Field care is paramount as well. Not all situations are the same but I have to question many of the methods I see sportsmen use. The effort and dirt involved often baffles me. If I had my druthers I'd druther hang it whole, hide on, for about a week, temperature permitting. Most of my venison does not fall in places that are conducive to that druther. So, for the most part, we bone and pack 'em out. Aging is done on the back end much of the time as I will allow a cut of meat to sit a few days in its packaging in the fridge after it has thawed.

So the other day I observed these two great-looking backstraps in the fridge. Later that afternoon my son approached me and asked if he should start cooking them. I was busy arranging the garage and didn't want to stop to give direction, so with a twinge in my gut I said, "That will be fine." (Anything I hate more than hair in venison is over cooked venison. Chances are they were headed for jerky.) But how is the kid to learn if he doesn't try, and he'd tagged em so…

I guess teenagers are often more observant than we give them credit for. Riley scored the meat to keep it from twisting up, rubbed it with Emeril's BBQ rub, then seared it on high on our Big Gas Grill. The grill uses a cast iron grate with wide tracks, which helps sear the surface of the meat to seal in moisture versus drying it out like wire grates have a tendency to do. He let them cook for five minutes per side, then he placed the straps in the "pre heated" oven at 250 degrees for thirty minutes in a covered pan.

Truly, it was the best venison I've ever eaten, and I have cooked and eaten a lot in my day! It is hard to say if I was more proud when he shot his first venison or with this masterpiece he created. It's hard to separate the two.