A Story of Lemons into Lemonade:
I’ll never forget Jen asking me, ‘What am I supposed to do with this?’ Now, if I had wondered what she was wondering when I was still single, I would have had the solution because my food solutions were always the same; grill it, deep fry it, or pickle it.
But, when you’re a newly-wed and your wife, who kicks ass in the kitchen and overall great at cooking asks ‘what in the world is this chunk of meat’ and ‘what in the hell am I supposed to do with it,’ you had better have an answer that doesn’t involve barbeque, peanut oil, or large quantities of vinegar.
The cut of freshly thawed meat that she was holding is what we euphemistically call the ‘football loaf.’ The football loaf (aka sirloin tip) comes from the top of the hind quarter of a deer. It’s full of an assortment of connective tissue (sinew). As you would imagine it’s shaped like a partially deflated football. My solution was comfort food. Meat and potatoes. Toss it in a crockpot and slow cook the thing for 8-12hrs. Treat it like chuck roast, brisket, or ribs where you use low heat for long periods of time to break the meat down and tenderize it.
Sirloin tip. A cut of meat from the deer’s hind quarter that in our younger years used to produce two choices of meal; either ven pot roast or ven pot roast. The football loaf, in the hands of my wife with her exemplary culinary predilections has gone from the last steak to be used from the freezer to the first vacuum packed selection cut open.
Among my favorite sirloin tip selections are her Luau Fajitas. There’s nothing quite like pulled venison and tri-colored peppers over corn tortillas to enjoy and be reminded why you spend all that time wired to hunt and in pursuit of wild game. Get into the Wild and Stay Hangry for the Outdoors my friends.
Into the wild and HangryOutdoors,
Article written by Mike Hiller
