Chewy Venison

[SMLEshooter]

I skinned and quartered a yearling on Saturday (first time, under supervision of someone who'd done it lots of times).

After quartering, I put it in a refrigerator uncovered for three days.

So today, Wednesday, I took out one of the backstraps and both tenderloins, cut the hard surface off, coated them with olive oil, salt & pepper and let them sit for about an hour. Then threw them on the grill.

The tenderloins came out wonderful! Tender and flavorful.

I cut the backstrap into three pieces and cooked them medium to medium rare, depending on how thick they were. Slightly pink to a little pinker than I would have liked. It was flavorful, but ridiculously chewy.

What did I do wrong?

 

[Wudee]

Maybe let them sit in a marinade or a brine all day before cooking, I marinade my back straps in Moores at least 6 hours before grilling and have good results. Don't know if this makes a difference or not but I keep it covered when thawing etc. to maintain moisture and keep the meat from getting to dry.

 

[Dallasdave]

If you take them off the heat while still rare and let them finish cooking on the plate for a few minutes they won't be over cooked. If you don't like rare to medium rare meat you probably won't like venison,my wife and mother in law would never eat rare meat till I got them to try venison rare now they won't have it any other way

 

[Benhad]

Thats usually how I cook up the tenderloins! Good stuff!

 

[Trout Slayer]

My opinion is, the less you work venison the better. I don't think you did anything wrong but maybe you didn't let the meat rest after cooking. Try letting it rest (as mentioned before) to let it finish cooking and settle the juices and protein fibers. 5-10 minutes in a pan lightly covered with foil..lightly covered.
Also the protein grain of the backstrap of venison is slightly different than that of a cow. After cooking your backstrap and resting it try slicing it thinly against the grain of the muscle and at a slightly biased cut. Remember too that venison is very very lean so over cooking it and/or improper heat source (depending on the cut of meat) can play a huge factor in the quality of the finished product.

 

[yoohoo]

Sounds like bad meat. You'll probably have ebola now.

 

[howl]

If it enters rigor mortis off the bone it draws up more and so is more dense. Remove the tenderloin while cleaning. Leave the backstraps a day.

 

[07JKX]

I cut all my portions and then lay them in a cooler with a thick layer of ice on the bottom, wax paper an then ice in between each layer of meat. Do this for about 5-7 days, making sure you keep the water draining and topping off ice as needed.

After that, they all get patted dry, further portioned, wrapped in plastic wrap and then wrapped in butchers paper. Into the deep freezer they go until needed.

For cooking, I will brine the large roasts in a sea salt/ brown sugar and water mix overnight and then a dry rub and either into the slow cooker or the smoker.

For back strap, I almost exclusively use real apple cider to soak for 3-4 hours, pat dry and then seasons how you like for another 2 hours. Par cook some bacon covered in black pepper, garlic powder and rubbed with a little brown sugar. Wrap backstrap medallions or tenderloin. Then cook. Deer meat does best cooked less. I typically do a pittsburg style sear on my backstrap and tenderloins... for those more squeemish around blood, the get a medium rare. You want medium or above???? go eat cow.

Just not enough fat in deer to cook em through.

 

[Retread]

Can't speak for venison, but my wife has a routine for all the cheap cuts of beef & pork. She washes & pats dry, then she sprinkles sugar liberally on all surfaces and lets them set for 4 or more hours (usually overnight) in the fridge. The next morning she fixes them up with her usual spices and pours on some rum or vodka. Then it goes back in the fridge (at least 4 hours) until time to throw it on the grill. FWIW, most of the stuff we get she slices thin, (Google: Korean Bulgogi) but it works on pork chops. I don't know about a thicker steak.

I worked at a slaughter house (IBP) as a kid. Once it left the kill floor they gutted, skinned, de-headed and halved the beef. They hooked it on a trolley and wrapped a sheet over the outer side. They kept it in a room they called the "cooler" for 24-72 hours before cut the sides into quarters. Some beef went on to be processed down, some was shipped out as quarters.

 

[BHJ]

I usually keep mine covered or wrapped in the fridge not sure how being uncovered would affect it unless it dried out.
If I had to guess I know you say medium, medium rare but I'd guess if it was "chewey" it was overcooked.