Whitetail Tenderloin

How we make it.

1 venison tenderloin
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Half a lemon's juice
2 garlic cloves, smashed

Prep your meat for marinating by cutting off the silver skin. If you have venison, you know what this means better than I do. Pour soy, Worcestershire, olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and garlic into a large bowl or a freezer bag. Add venison and marinate for at least four hours, ideally over night.

Once ready to cook, remove meat from marinade and discard the marinade. Dry the meat with a paper towel. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Place the venison in a roasting pan and roast for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the backstrap. In the meantime, place a cast iron skillet on high heat until smoking. You want it screaming hot. Sear the backstrap in the hot, dry pan on every side, about a minute or two a side. You're just going to have to feel your way through this one. Once seared and browned, set aside at room temperature for 20 minutes to let fully rest. Slice thin and sprinkle with Kosher salt. Serve room temperature with Henry Bain or a nice horseradish cream sauce, anything you'd use for beef.

Why we make it.

Around here beef tenderloin is the Christmas Eve standard. But if you live with a deer hunter, which I do, every now and then a buck makes it's way onto the buffet. This is an upgrade, rustic though it may sound. Venison tenderloin is lean, mild and if done right, can hardly be distinguished from it's bovine equivalent. In short, it's grown on me over the years. The secret is the marinade, the acid of which not only tenderizes the meat, but removes some of the gamier flavors a gal like me prefers be lessened. If you do have a hunter on your hands, you know the pride and generosity of sharing the spoils with friends and family so just douse that deer in balsamic and go with it. That's why we make it.