I find that olive oil works very well on deer (and chicken) to keep it from being dry. I always grill. a bit of garlic salt and lemon pepper. then rest in foil for ten minutes (as mentioned above).
Cooked some the other day. Cut into medallions, added a little salt and pepper. Used a 120 year old Griswold skillet. First sautéed some bell pepper and onion in olive oil for flavor. Then smeared the medallions with butter and seared them on both sides. Removed them and let sit before serving. Soft as butter, very juicy.
So I just cooked Maryland sika deer backstraps last night and the wife said to go get another sika deer. Best wild game I have had.
I cut them into 1.5” steaks and wrap in bacon tied up with kitchen string. Olive oil and some seasoning. Famous Daves steak and burger is what I use. Sear both sides good in a carbon steel pan (cast iron also works well) then place the pan in a oven already heated up to 350. Cook till medium.
Take out and let the steaks rest. Deglaze the pan with red wine, add mustard and butter and reduce a little. Spoon the sauce over the steaks and enjoy.
Son uses a sous vide cooker and the turns out fantastic deer roasts.
Dip in egg batter,roll in flour and fry in olive oil...Season to taste..
Enjoy....
It's hard to beat chicken fried backstrap. I freeze mine in about 1 foot sections, thaw it, butterfly it, season with salt/pepper, dip in batter and fry in hot peanut oil. My grandkids love it and people can't believe it's venison..
Rooster7: Disregard that grill nonsense! Get'cho self a cast iron frying pan! Heat it up, cut that backstrap 5/8" thick while the pan is heating. Add to the cast iron frying pan equal amounts of virgin olive oil and butter Stir this while the butter is melting - do NOT overheat. Roll backstrap steaks in quality flour add salt and pepper then cook for a few minutes per side - till just some pink inside is evident. NO drying out here - and the taste will be sublime. Enjoy. Hold into the wind VarmintGuy
Love some fried deer steak chunks dipped in some flour but taking a fresh blackstrap rubbing it down with olive oil and then seasoning to taste followed by wrapping with lots of bacon and using lots of toothpicks. Grill set at 475 deg 10 min per side and you’ve got Filet mignon.
I used to either butterfly or cut into medallions, but anymore usually cook as small roasts and slice afterwards as New 2 99s posted. Salt, pepper and garlic are all that's needed but I do use other rubs at times. I like a little smoke flavor so start with the pellet grill on low temp for 20-30 minutes and do a finish sear on either a hot grill or in a cast iron pan with butter. I've been getting better results reverse searing in the cast iron pan than on the grill - doesn't seem to dry out as much.
As others have said, don’t overcook it...it’s low fat, pretty dry meat to begin with. One thing I’ve learned is, like a prime rib roast, don’t do that sear-first business. You get it cooking like that and end up pushing the grey, over-cooked zone half way through, leaving a little one inch cross section rare. Despite what you’ve always been told, it doesn’t seal in the juices. Instead, slow roast to an internal temp of 95-100 degrees, then sear the outside in a pan or the hot side of the grill. You’ll end up rare all the way through with just a little bit of grey under the surface.
Another way to avoid overcooking it is to not cook it at all. Backstrap makes great carpaccio. Slice it 1/4” thick then roll it between two sheets of wax paper with a rolling pin until paper thin. Marinate in olive oil, vinegar and capers a couple of hours at room temperature. Roll it up and slice into pinwheels. A plate of that will disappear when everybody’s hanging around having drinks.
About 1/2 thick Cast iron skillet Flour,salt and pepper Crisco or bacon grease Milk or butter milk
Salt and pepper added to flour to your taste
Pieces dipped in either milk or buttermilk to help the Flour to stick to the meat
Put meat in flour and cover it with the flour well
Put oil or bacon grease into the skillet
Get it hot enough that the meat and flour do not soak up the oil or grease. I just wait until I cans get a pinch of flour between my fingers and when I drop in in the oil it immediately starts cooking,if it just sits there doing nothing then your grease is not hot enough.
Cool it hot and fast and keep in mind that every time you add a piece that it drops the temperature of the grease.
Do NOT walk off from skillet. You need to be standing there because some pieces will need to be taken out before others .
As you take out place on plate with several towels on it to soak up excess remaining grease.
I like it best when it is slightly crispy on the outside and a tad less than medium rare on the inside.
I find that the best heat the grease is so hot that it is almost to the point of burning.
As others have said, don’t overcook it...it’s low fat, pretty dry meat to begin with. One thing I’ve learned is, like a prime rib roast, don’t do that sear-first business. You get it cooking like that and end up pushing the grey, over-cooked zone half way through, leaving a little one inch cross section rare. Despite what you’ve always been told, it doesn’t seal in the juices. Instead, slow roast to an internal temp of 95-100 degrees, then sear the outside in a pan or the hot side of the grill. You’ll end up rare all the way through with just a little bit of grey under the surface.
Another way to avoid overcooking it is to not cook it at all. Backstrap makes great carpaccio. Slice it 1/4” thick then roll it between two sheets of wax paper with a rolling pin until paper thin. Marinate in olive oil, vinegar and capers a couple of hours at room temperature. Roll it up and slice into pinwheels. A plate of that will disappear when everybody’s hanging around having drinks.
Cut the backstrap thin 3/16" using a jerky board. Put some flour and seasoning in a bag add the backstrap shake and fry fast and hot in bacon grease. Shake n Bake seasoning and baking backstrap in the oven for 10 minutes is good.