Preparing and cooking Deer Tenderloin
The Tenderloins of a Whitetail Deer are the long strips of meat along each side of the spine at the top of a deer's back. When extracted you will have 2 loins approximately 2-3 feet each in length.
My personal tried and tested preference is to cut each of these loins in halves, giving me 4 individual foot long tenderloins.(each of these will adequately feed 1-2 people)
*I like to marinate the loins that I plan to cook for at least 6 hours but preferably overnight.
*I also prefer GRILLING to all other methods of cooking tenderloin.
*The best advice I can give you is cook the loin WHOLE...Do not cut it into medallions. Cooking the loin whole will provide you with the most succulent deer meat you have ever had.
*Make sure that you have allowed the charcoal (I prefer lump charcoal) about 30-45 minutes to ash over before adding the loins.
*Cooking time can vary, but 7-10 minutes on each side of the loin should do the job.
*I like to wrap my loins in bacon and jalapeno peppers after marinating and before grilling them(monitor loins when wrapping with bacon to avoid grill flare ups)
*Any additions such as onions & peppers will only add to the experience!
*DO NOT OVERCOOK...this isnt beef, venison has little fat and will cook quicker.
**The picture at the top right is a current pic of a loin that I just cooked. I cooked it whole then I cut it into smaller cuts so that you can see what the perfectly cooked loin looks like.**
If you already use this method, keep up the good work, if not please try it out and let me know how it works out for ya at jeff@coloradotwinpeaks.com
Chef Jeff