Venison

The last time we went to my mother-in-laws, she gave us a frozen package of venison tenderloin. Her brother had given it to her, and she said she wasn't sure how to cook it. Mrblocko loves deer meat and snatched that bad boy up.

He had no idea how to cook it either, but had every confidence in my ability to find out on the internet. Sure enough I found this delicious looking recipe for bacon wrapped venison tenderloin from Food.com. I think deer tastes too gamey, but even this recipe sounded awesome.

So I whipped up the marinade, and opened up the package to find...

it had been cut in medallions.

DOH!

There was no way I could reassemble this enough to wrap it in bacon the way the recipe suggested. We thought about wrapping the individual medallions with bacon, but we agreed that the venison would probably get well done before the bacon was fully cooked. Neither of us is a fan of undercooked bacon, or over cooked tenderloin.

So I put the medallions in the marinade I had prepared. After 8 or so hours, Mrblocko simmered them in a small skillet with the marinade.

Here's what some of the meat looked like after it was cooked.

Mrblocko and Blockette really liked it, but of course, I thought it tasted gamey. Hopefully, the next time we get our hands on a deer tenderloin it won't be sliced into medallions and we can test this recipe out properly.

Sweet Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin from Food.com
2 lbs venison tenderloins (a single deer loin or Moose or Elk or Pork or Beef)
1/2 lb bacon (Plain, thin-sliced Bacon is best)
3 cups dark brown sugar
2 cups soy sauce (Regular NOT low-sodium. You'll want the saltiness)
1/4 cup white sugar (Optional for added Sweetness)

Mix brown Sugar and Soy sauce together in a bowl. They should combine nicely into a soupy soy liquid. Put Deer Loin in a cooking tray and pour Brown Sugar/Soy Sauce mixture over loin. Roll tenderloin over in mixture, completely covering it. Let meat marinate in mixture at least 3 hours or overnight in fridge.

Remove loin from tray, and place on a slotted bake sheet with a drip pan or aluminum foil below to catch dripping. Don't throw away marinade.

Wrap a piece of bacon around the very end of the tenderloin, securing the bacon strip with a toothpick. Repeat this process until the entire loin is wrapped in ten or so bacon "loops." The tenderloin should look like an arm with a bunch of wrist watches on it, the watches being the bacon strips.

Drizzle remaining marinade over deer loin. You can continue to baste the loin with the marinade throughout the cooking process with either a brush or a turkey baster.

Place on center rack in oven and bake at 350°F for 30-40* minutes. *This should cook the meat to about Medium. For those of you who prefer rare meat, cut the time to 25-30 minutes and then follow with the "OPTION 2" step below regarding searing.

OPTION 1 - with about 10 minutes of cooking time left, you can lightly dust the top of the loin with white sugar. This creates a sweet crust on top of the bacon. Might be too sweet for some. Try doing it on just HALF of the loin to see if you like it!

OPTION 2 - For a crispier crust and crispier bacon, remove Loin from oven and place the Loin(s) directly on a Grill over medium-high heat to sear the bacon and outer loin.

Remove from oven and place on cutting board. Using a knife, cut the loin between each strip of bacon so that you have many pieces of meat, each with their own toothpick.