Skillet Venison Tenderloin
Inner loins, butter, garlic. Six minutes in a hot pan on the night you get back to camp.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 60
- protein
- 45 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 6 min
- total time
- 11 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Venison inner loins | about 12 oz | the two small strips off the inside of the spine, not the backstrap |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 2 tbsp | ghee if the cooler ice is questionable |
| Garlic | 3 cloves | sliced, or 1 tsp granulated |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | coarse |
Method
- Pat the loins dry and salt and pepper both sides. Let them sit while the pan heats.
- Get a cast iron skillet hot over coals or a grill grate. Not screaming hot, but hot enough that butter foams instantly.
- Melt the butter. Add the garlic and give it maybe thirty seconds, until it smells like something and before it browns.
- Lay the loins in whole. Two to three minutes a side. They should still give when you press them.
- Pull them onto a plate or a flat rock and leave them alone for five minutes. Spoon the garlic butter from the pan over the top.
- Slice across the grain and eat. Wipe the skillet with a paper towel while it is still warm.
Inner loins are the two thin strips tucked under the spine, and they are the leanest, most tender muscle on the animal. That cuts both ways. There is almost no intramuscular fat, so they go from rare to dry in under a minute of extra heat. Butter is not a garnish here, it is the fat the meat does not have.
Cook them whole rather than in pieces. A single thick strip gives you more margin before the center overcooks, and it holds heat through the rest. Slicing early dumps the juice onto the plate. Five minutes off the heat is the whole difference between this and jerky.
Packing
Loins go in a zip bag in the bottom of the cooler, on ice, and get cooked the first or second night. Butter, garlic, salt, and pepper live in the chuck box and need no cold.
Variations
- Slice thin and sauté quickly with sliced onion instead of cooking the loins whole.
- Dredge bite-sized pieces in salted and peppered flour before they hit the butter. Gives you a crust, costs you the gluten-free tag.
- No cooler and no fresh meat: this works with a shelf-stable retort pouch of cooked venison, warmed in the same garlic butter.
https://www.huntingpa.com/threads/preacher-meat.1133