I did something odd today, I had a frozen backstrap that I was going to put in the crock pot with some delicious broth (to make gravy later) and after it had cooked on hi for about an hour I thought to take it out and slice it into 1" thick pieces so it would cook sooner..
So.. I take out the chunk of backstrap, slice off an inch off the end of it and it was PERFECTLY medium rare almost straight up rare in the middle, so I cut off a little and tried it and it had my tongue slappin' the roof of my mouth wanting MORE! It was tender, juicy, VERY flavorful, tasted better than a good high dollar cut of NY strip I can tell you that much! And this venison was in my freezer since January of 2013 to beat all! I did trim off a slight bit of freezer burn but a very little bit maybe a tablespoon.
When I got tonsil cancer in 2013 I had a LOT of deer in the freezer and after radiation I could not swallow it, couldn't eat the venison sausage I had made the year before, but now I have stumbled onto a way of cooking it where I can chew and swallow it easy so it's a whole new ball game now! It went down easier than chicken or pork, which I still cannot eat chicken breast or a lean pork chop it's just too chewy and turns to a ball of dry fiber in my mouth and poses a serious risk of choking so I avoid it.
I thought I would never hunt again for freezer meat but that's all changed now lemme tell you! W00h00 this makes me SO happy!!!!
This means, I can take a frozen backstrap or near frozen, toss it on the Traeger grill on smoke at 180F, and let it smoke while it thaws out, take it off the grill when the internal temp is 110F and sear it in a hot iron skillet until it's 135F - 140F and that's either rare or medium rare, and have venison fit for any gourmet table....