The best venison recipe I've ever had

[bkoenig]

I stumbled across this the other day while looking for a new venison recipe.  I made it tonight and it's one of the best things I've ever eaten.  My dad raises cattle and I get all the prime beef I can eat, so that's saying a lot.  My wife had never tried venison until a few years ago, and she said it's the best thing I've ever cooked.

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2063485/Re_Bacon_Wrapped_Venison_tende

Here's the recipe.  The trick is to cook it until the bacon is done, but the venison is still nice and pink inside.  Nothing ruins venison like overcooking.

2 venison tenderloins
4 strips of bacon

1/2 C Jack Daniels
1/4 C fresh orange juice
pinch of orange zest
1/2 C red currant jelly
1/4 t salt
dash of cayenne pepper
Mesa Rosa Chipotle spice rub (similar to Emril's Essense)

For sauce:
In a medium saucepan, combine the whisky, orange juice, and orange zest, and
bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced by 50 percent. Add the currant jelly, salt, and cayenne, and stir well.

Cook until thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes

Pat tenderloins dow with spice rub, I prefer to leave it on for 2 hours. Wrap bacon around tenderloin and attach with toothpicks or skewers if necessary. Grill tenderloins on high heat to desired "doneness" (I prefer medium/medium rare). Watch for bacon flare ups!!!

Drizzle whisky sauce on tenderloins twice in the last 2 minutes of cooking. Serve the rest of the sauce with the meal.

[Mudinyeri]

Currant jelly = a great base for all kinds of sauces.  I made a current jelly sauce for our ham at Thanksgiving this year.  Mmmmm.

Gonna have to give your recipe a try on some backstrap.

Thanks.

[bkoenig]

One note on this recipe - I did deviate a little and instead of leaving the venison whole I cut it up into chunks about the size of a golf ball and then wrapped them with bacon.  I don't know if that makes a difference but it sure worked out well for me.