Stuffed Venison Backstrap

I grew up thinking that the only way to cook venison steak was by coating it in flour and pan frying until it resembled shoe leather. Trust me when I say we went through a shit-ton of A1 Steak Sauce before I moved out. I don’t fault anyone in particular for that style of cooking, because the whole family did it- its just how we cooked venison steak.

I‘d love to say that by the time I moved to college at 18, I had figured out how to remedy this situation. The sad truth is that the first time I cooked venison steaks for my wife- I coated them in flower and cooked them to medium-well... I was 24 then.

The realization that red meat should never be cooked past “medium” didn’t come until I was 25 and got my first smoker. In doing research on how to best smoke certain meats, I learned all about the texture of meat at rare, medium, well done, and everything in between. I started reducing the smoking and grilling time on my red meat- and holy crap was I happy with the results! Now, the only A1 steak sauce consumed in my house is used in the marinade I have for my homemade venison jerky recipe- and I’m proud of that statement!

Another misconception I had, was that venison backstrap should be cut into thin steaks when processing. We processed our own deer as a family, and while I can’t tell you exactly how many venison loins I’ve seen sliced into thin butterfly steaks, I do know the number is well over 100. During my recent explorations, I discovered that whole chunks of backstrap could be stuffed with various ingredients and either cooked or grilled to a different level of delicious.

The first time I tried stuffing a backstrap, I used artichoke hearts and spinach. It was great! Brandi and I both loved it. The second time, I used mushroom stems and spinach. We loved it this way as well! If it was so great the first time, why try it differently the second time around? Honestly - Because we had extra mushroom stems already mixed in with cream cheese from a stuffed mushroom cap dish we had cooked the day prior - we didn't want to waste the mushrooms or cream cheese we already had. Based on this on-the-fly substitution, I think you could stuff a loin with just about anything you'd like- mushrooms, spinach, artichoke hearts, peppers, sausage, bacon, or whatever sounds good to you.

The recipe for the spinach - artichoke version is below. The ingredient quantities are going to be based on the size of the backstrap that you're cooking. For your average venison backstrap, you can use 1/2 of a package of cream cheese as your base. If you're doing a large beef loin, you may need a whole package.

Spinach-Artichoke Stuffed Backstrap

Ingredients:

Beef or Venison Backstrap

Salt

Pepper

Artichoke hearts

Leaf Spinach

Cream Cheese

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 375*F

~Trim backstrap of access fat and silver skin. Slice the backstrap down the center, but not completely through so that the backstrap will unfold like a butterfly. Salt and pepper both inside and out to taste.

~Chop and cook spinach on the stove top in a bit of oil.

~Chop artichoke hearts.

~Mix cream cheese, artichoke hearts and spinach together. Spread across one side of the “inside” of the backstrap before folding the backstrap in half. Should look like original chunk of meat, only stuffed.

~Bake in greased baking dish for ~20 minutes for medium, ~15 for rare. Thicker chunks may need more time to cook.