This last blog has been on hold for a little while and is posted on the main site as a hard copy. As you may have noticed, this year the Black Pig team has been confirming our partnerships in our blogs and this little project was the first to kick it all off. Unfortunately it was not written up like our usual blogs. Unless you were a hardcore reader you would have never have found this little gem. The Qfan and I were talking and thought we ought to convert this post to a blog and get everybody caught up on one of our favorite recipes.

I was lucky enough this year to take down a very nice doe, and as usual, we saved the loins for a very special meal at New Year's. In the past we made steaks out of the loins and wrapped them with bacon and then placed onto a hot 500°F grill. This year, I wanted to do something special for our guests and so I had to sit down and do some serious thinking; 'How best to prepare this dish'? Venison is very similar to lamb, in that the loins are very lean once you dress them properly; there just is not enough fat marbling to keep them moist throughout the cooking process. I wanted a nice smoky grilled flavor and l wanted the pink medium rare texture, but also enough fat to keep the meat moist and provide a full flavoured mouthfeel. How could I have the best of both worlds?

The final determination was to marinate the loins with an oil-based liquid without an excess of citrus, which would break down the fibres of the meat. The same marinade as our award-winning Grilled Lamb would be prefect, except we would exchange the lemon juice with "Real Lemon". This way I can get a nice lemon/rosemary flavour without breaking down the meat fibres.

So if you recall our prize winning lamb recipe, we use about two cups of olive oil with a head of garlic and about a 1/2 cup of  Real Lemon and a tablespoon of dried rosemary and place into a blender (we doubled the batch for the larger venison loins).   This marinade went onto our loins for 24 hours.