Roasted Venison Tenderloin with Sage in Brown Butter

My husband, Jerry and I had the most elegant, peaceful and, dare I say, romantic Christmas. We ate tons of delicious food, sat by the fire, listened to Christmas music and watched (way too many) Hallmark movies. It was perfect. Weeks ago I decided to make venison tenderloin as our main entree for the holiday dinner.

I grew up eating venison as both my Dad and brother were hunters, but I do not ever remember eating the tenderloin. I can’t imagine they would have abandoned it, as it is the most tender cut, and nothing on the deer ever got wasted. The deer in New England are called “White-tailed Deer” and the taste and texture is quite different from the venison we had at Christmas; still delicious, but different.

We had Fallow Deer whose formal name is “European Fallow Deer” and is also known as “Common Fallow” or simply “Fallow”. My favorite moniker for this fabulous animal is “King of Venison”.

The Fallow Deer are the sole survivors of the Megacerines, a diverse deer lineage that was widespread and abundant as far back as the early Ice Age. Fallow bucks have flat antlers that are the largest among Old World deer and are the largest relative to their body size. How do they hold their heads up??

Venison from Fallow Deer have a well-deserved reputation for the gourmet, high quality of their meat. Neither Jerry or I have ever eaten meat with this fine and tender of a texture and the flavor is extremely mild; almost like mild beef. Originally native to Eurasia and historically native to Turkey, Fallow Deer are now the most widely kept of the world’s deer and have been introduced to every inhabited continent; both wild and farm raised. The venison I bought was wild and from New Zealand.

Ariane Daguin, founder of D’Artagnan.

This venison came from my new, favorite purveyor of fine everything:  meats and game, seafood, birds, condiments, unique pantry items, etc. Daughter of French chef, Andre Daguin, Ariane grew up in a world of fine foods. At the age of 10 she began deboning ducks, rendering duck fat, preparing terrines and cooking game birds. Daguin started D’Artagnan in 1985. I have not yet been disappointed by anything I have purchased from her. Check out this wonderful company. https://www.dartagnan.com

BACK TO CHRISTMAS DINNER…

Venison tenderloin is extremely easy to prepare. Because it is one of the leanest meats you want to be sure to use lots of butter to saute. I originally planned to rub the venison in ground juniper berries and dried shitake mushrooms, but decided those flavors might be too strong and overpower the gentle taste of the deer meat. So after cleaning the tenderloins of any silver skin, I simply coated with generous salt and pepper. I did fry some sage leaves in brown butter to garnish the tenderloins. Very yummy!

As you can see this is way more than 2 people need for dinner, but we have enjoyed lots of leftovers!

The tenderloins arrived fairly well cleaned, but I did not want one scrap of silver skin that could possibly mar the tenderness of the loin. Silver skin is a shiny, whitish membrane of connective tissue that covers the muscles of larger cuts of meat, like pork, beef, lamb or deer.

To remove the silver skin insert your sharpest pairing knife just under the silver skin and gently pull and lift off the membrane using your knife to coax away from the flesh. It generally comes off quite easily.

Bring a heavy bottomed skillet (I prefer cast iron.) to high heat and add about 8 Tbsp. of butter (1 stick). When the butter foams up and turns a beautiful caramel color, gently drop in each piece of tenderloin.

Using a spoon, baste the tenderloin with the brown butter until the bottom side has a nice crust; about 3 to 5 minutes. Flip and continue basting. Two of the tenderloin pieces were much smaller so be careful not to cook each piece for the same length of time. Remove them sooner so they don’t overcook.

Venison should be cooked rare to medium rare. We like it rare! Once each side is nicely browned, pop the pan into a hot 400 degree oven for about 10 to 15 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads about 130 -135 degrees for medium rare. I cooked ours until 125 degrees. The meat does continue to cook once you remove it from the oven. I had the other foods for our dinner already in the hot oven so it was preheated.

I served the venison tenderloins with Spinach Souffle, Roasted Butternut Squash with Pecan Crust, and Hasselback potatoes.

Hasselback Potatoes don’t really need a recipe. They are that simple to prepare. Said to have originated at a Stockholm restaurant, Hasselbacken, in the 1950’s, the dish is named after the restaurant, which is located on a steep mountain near a hazel thicket. The Swedish word for Hasselbacken means “hazel slope”.

To prepare, cut slits in the potato, about 1/4 inch apart, being carefully not to cut all the way through. Push as much butter as will fit into each slit using your fingers to smooth out and push the butter all the way into the potato. Just be careful not to push so hard you split the potato open. Top with lots of coarse Kosher sea salt. Bake at 400 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours (depending on how large your potatoes are) until a fork tells you they are tender inside and crispy out. These potatoes were pretty large so we had leftovers there, too. They made a wonderful Pommes Anna next evening with the leftover venison, extra Spinach Souffle and leftover Butternut Squash. I love leftovers!

Pommes Anna

I will blog the Spinach Souffle at at another time. I make a lot of spinach dishes (spinach cakes, timbales and more), but have never made a Spinach Souffle. A little more work than the Hasselback’s, but very delicious.

For dessert we had a Peppermint Cheesecake with Whipped Cream. That’s for another blog, as well!

I hope your Holiday celebration was filled with lots of love and good spirit.

This is my last blog for the year.

I have enjoyed every minute of cooking and talking with you about food!

Looking forward to a bright, happy, healthy 2025!

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Roasted Venison Tenderloin with Sage in Brown Butter

Ingredients

• 4 pieces Venison Tenderloin
• 8 Tbsp. Butter That's 1 stick.
• Coarse Kosher Salt/Freshly ground black pepper Do not skimp on salt or pepper.
• Sage leaves for garnish Depending of their size, about 3 leaves per serving.

Instructions

• If your oven is not already on, preheat to 400 degrees.
• Remove any silver skin, tendons, or things that look like they don't belong from the meat. Generously salt with coarse Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. If you're not cooking right away, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until ready to cook. Remove from the fridge and bring to room temp before sauteing.
• Heat the butter in a heavy bottomed skillet until it foams up. Gently add the venison tenderloins to the pan. Try not to overcrowd as you will need room for basting.
• Generously baste each piece of meat with the butter by spooning it up over the meat. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes or until a nice crust forms on the bottom.
• Turn the tenderloins over and repeat the basting process for another 3 to 5 minutes.
• Place in a hot 400 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Use a meat thermometer to test doneness. 130 - 135 degrees is rare to medium rare. Alternatively press your thumb into the meat. Rare will feel soft like the fleshy area at the base of your thumb. I prefer the meat thermometer...more accurate.
• When done, remove from the oven, tent the tenderloins with foil and let rest for another 10 minutes before cutting into 1 1/2 to 2 inch slices.