Recipe pass along

Sweet Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin

2 lbs venison tenderloins (a single deer loin) **Also known as Backstrap to people who know the difference. I didn't write this recipe, just sharing and correcting. There are tenderloins inside the ribcage near the pelvis. The backstraps are outside the ribcage straddling the spine from the front shoulder to 3/4's back approximately. The backstraps are huge. The tenderloins... not so huge.**

1/2 lb bacon
3 cups dark brown sugar
2 cups soy sauce (Regular NOT low-sodium)
1/4 cup white sugar (Optional for added Sweetness)

Directions:

1 - Mix brown Sugar and Soy Sauce (use honey and bbq sauce if you like) together in a bowl. They should combine nicely into a soupy soy liquid.

2 - Put Deer Loin in a cooking tray and pour Brown Sugar/Soy Sauce mixture over loin. Roll tenderloin over in mixture, completely covering it.
 
3 - Let meat marinate in mixture at least 3 hours or overnight in fridge. It's best to marinate for 8 hours if you have the time. Also GREAT to use a Food Saver or other Vacuum device to Vacuum pack/seal the meat with Marinade. With this method, you can achieve Overnight-level marinade in just a couple hours!

4 - Remove loin from tray, and place on a slotted bake sheet with a drip pan or aluminum foil below to catch dripping. Don't throw away marinade.

5 - Wrap a piece of bacon around the very end of the tenderloin, securing the bacon strip with a toothpick.

6 - Repeat this process until the entire loin is wrapped in ten or so bacon "loops." The tenderloin should look like an arm with a bunch of wrist watches on it, the watches being the bacon strips.

7 - Drizzle remaining marinade over deer loin. You can continue to baste the loin with the marinade throughout the cooking process with either a brush or a turkey baster.

8 - Place on center rack in oven and bake at 350°F for 30-40* minutes. *This should cook the meat to about Medium. For those of you who prefer rare meat (like me), cut the time to 25-30 minutes and then follow with the "OPTION 2" step below regarding searing.

9 - OPTION 1 - with about 10 minutes of cooking time left, you can lightly dust the top of the loin with white sugar. This creates a sweet crust on top of the bacon. Might be too sweet for some. Try doing it on just HALF of the loin to see if you like it!

10 - OPTION 2 - For a crispier crust and crispier bacon, remove Loin from oven and place the Loin(s) directly on a Grill over medium-high heat to sear the bacon and outer loin. (Thanks to all of you reviewers who taught me this. It's a great step for those of us who like a cooked crust and a pink center).

11- Remove from oven and place on cutting board. Using a knife, cut the loin between each strip of bacon so that you have many pieces of meat, each with their own toothpick.

12 - You can eat these pieces directly from the toothpick or remove the toothpick and eat like steak.