Yes it's a small plate but it wasn't the only course!
Venison loin is an absolutely delicious and tender piece of meat. I had some friends who were given a beautiful frozen venison loin and wasn't too sure what to do with it... I came up with a few ideas :).
The venison loin is the deer equivalent of a beef tenderloin or a pork loin. It's an extremely tender and nearly fatless piece of meat. Personally I think it also has the least flavor of any cut of meat as well. If you overcook the loin it very quickly dries out. I wanted to do something which could quickly highlight the flavor of the meat itself without masking it.
I decided to dry brine it, which involves cutting the loin into medallions then coating the entire outside of the meat with far too much salt and allowing it to sit on a rack for 30-45 minutes. It's cruder then true brine, but it takes a minimal amount of time. Since there is an excess of salt it quickly seasons the meat all the way into the core and draws a large amount of moisture out of the meat, concentrating the flavor. The salt actually begins to denature and relax the proteins in the meat which will allow them to hold on to more of their liquid and draw more flavors from the smoke as they cook.
