Swine Backstrap

My roommate shot a pig 2 days ago and we have a couple backstraps to cook over the next week. I have a general idea for a recipe, but I wanted to see if y'all have any recipes that y'all swear by. We have a traeger, fryer, gas grill, and skillet so I feel like we can do anything. The idea I originally had was to blend onions, bell peppers, cilantro, jalapenos, and cream cheese into a nice spread. Then pound the backstrap out about a half inch thick and coat that spread all over it. After that, wrap it like a cinnamon roll, wrap it in bacon, then chunk it on the traeger (just don't know what temperature yet). Do y'all approve of that or should I try something different? I appreciate the help!

DON'T pound it... that will ruin it. Look at my other post.

Which post are you referring to? Thanks for the warning

I would imagine that would be good. Here's one of my fav's

marinade: olive oil, soy sauce, honey, sliced onion, fresh rosemary garlic, and pepper. Cut back strap into pork chops, or drop it in marinade whole. Marinade for at least 24 hours. Grill.

'Sous Vide Que' Hog Backstrap

Pan fried is hard to beat.

how big of a hog?

I've done similar mixture but butterflied the backstrap lengthwise, stuffed the middle, then rolled back to a backstrap shape, then wrapped in bacon. smoked at 225* until internal temp was 155*. Then cross cut into 1" thick slices.

my biggest concern with wrapping like you described would be all the stuffing mix would leak out while on the smoker but might work OK in a skillet.

Yes. Butterfly rather than pound

Cut it in 1/2" thick, soak in milk, put in frig until ready to fry. Take it from frig and dredge in flour and fry. Very good and better with white gravy.

I think he wants you to boil it.

You boil carnitas not loin and there are much better cuts of meat for carnitas than loin.

The pig was around 50-75 pounds. I'm new to this, but I feel like an internal temp of 155 is too low?

Also, what kind of rub do y'all recommend?

Guess I am not that picky about it. Chicken fried is great. Another good way is to slice it thin or pound it out and soak in Tiger Sauce for a day. Wrap a piece around a jalepeno slice, bacon wrap that and grill til done.

Might have to try some of these I usually go the lazy route and make pulled pork.

Nah, pork is fine with a little red still inside. Cook it to 165 if you don’t feel comfortable with 155

Eat it at 140 and you will never want to cook it again up to 155.

agree, I used to go to 165 minimum but it was always very dry and usually tough .... USDA new recommendation is 145 but I tend to still go a bit higher on feral pork just to be on the safe side.

I just made a batch of jerky from a backstop and it was delightful!

The best way to prevent trichinellosis is to cook meat to safe temperatures. A food thermometer should be used to measure the internal temperature of cooked meat. Do not sample meat until it is cooked. USDA recommends the following for meat preparation.

For Whole Cuts of Meat (excluding poultry and wild game)
Cook to at least 145° F (63° C) as measured with a food thermometer placed in the thickest part of the meat, then allow the meat to rest* for three minutes before carving or consuming.

For Ground Meat (including wild game, excluding poultry)
Cook to at least 160° F (71° C); ground meats do not require a rest* time.

For All Wild Game (whole cuts and ground)
Cook to at least 160° F (71° C).

For All Poultry (whole cuts and ground)
Cook to at least 165° F (74° C), and for whole poultry allow the meat to rest* for three minutes before carving or consuming.

*According to USDA, “A ‘rest time’ is the amount of time the product remains at the final temperature, after it has been removed from a grill, oven, or other heat source. During the three minutes after meat is removed from the heat source, its temperature remains constant or continues to rise, which destroys pathogens.”

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/trichinellosis/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx5ZKJ0Vozc

The above is why I don't let the govt 'think' for me.

You might as well throw away all wild game if 'needs' to be cooked to 160.

Agreed.

The below information is from the USDA studies on Trichinella. I am a huge advocate for sous vide because you have the ability to hold meat at temperature for hours without the worry of overcooking your meat. According to the science, if I sous vide a pork loin for 3 hours at 126 degrees the pork would be completely safe to eat and it would be a perfect medium rare. This is a full 40 degrees lower than the previously 'accepted recommendation'.

Before you cook all your wild game to shoe leather took a deeper look at the recommendations and the reasoning behind them. You will have a new found appreciation for pork once you eat it at the proper temperature to ensure a tender moist product while remaining completely safe.


Pork information from the USDA

I would butterfly, not pound. Add the mixture you are talking about, my preference would be to leave out bell peppers and add garlic. Wrap in a bacon weave, in my experience this helps keep the stuffing in. Sprinkle with Meat Church honey Hot Hog BBQ rub. Lay on grill seem side up. Smoke to an internal temp of 150-155 depending on what you are comfortable with. Wrap it and let it rest when you pull it off. Slice and enjoy.

That is good info. 90% of trich cases comes from eating black bear. And remember to cook Steve properly before eating him since he still has worm larvae in him.

Instead of using flour I put a Ritz Crackers in s ziplock bag and pound out the crackers till they turn to powder. Dip the pork in egg mixture. dredge through the Ritz crackers, and fry. The Ritz crackers give it a buttery flavor. You can kick it up by adding some cajun seasoning or cayenne pepper in the crackers.

Just wanted to give y'all an update on how the backstrap went. Sorry for the really late update, but school has had me beat lately. I ended up butterflying the backstrap (not pounding it) and put the stuffing in the middle. We wrapped it in bacon, tooth picked it, and let it smoke on the traeger (with apple pellets) at 225 for I think a little less than 2 hours. I pulled it when it reached 160 and let me tell ya, y'all were right about the lower internal temp. I should have pulled it when it reached 150, but I wanted to be on the safe side for my first time. It ended up being a little tough but it was still fantastic! I will be doing this in the future for sure! Thank y'all for the help and information!

You can do a lot of things to help with the tuff. You can butterfly it and pound it a little with a meat mallet. You could butterfly it and let it marinade for 24 hours in some apple cider vinegar/worteshire(who the hell knows how to spell that?) salt pepper and garlic etc. Keep trying you will learn with every attempt.

Hmmm ive eaten a heck of a lot of rare deer. For years we tasted our ground sausage meat raw which includes both domestic and wild pork... I have had a few odd fever outbreaks etc. I usually do not go to the dr unless I think im going to die lol... I wonder how many worms I got in me

Worcestershire ... Wor-cester-shire

Well it is a good cut of meat. I liked grilled and smoked meat but any cut works to a degree. On the backstraps maybe sear and then wrap in foil with onion, etc. and cook/bake a couple of hours at about 325-350 degrees.