I’ve never had a piece of backstrap that needed much doctoring to be delicious, but it is sometimes fun to experiment with flavors. I usually have to make this with tenderized steaks because my husband swears I’m ruining good backstrap when I put literally anything on, in, or with it. Rest assured, either cut you pick will be delicious. If you have one lying around, you can even throw this together with a full tenderloin. I’ll leave the argument over which cut to use, up to you.

This little gem is a reverse jalapeño popper. Deer stuffed with a jalapeño cream cheese mix, and wrapped in bacon. Dare I say, an even better version of the Texas Twinkie. This a great potluck dish that’s as pretty as it is tasty.

Ingredients

• 1 package of tenderized steaks around 1 1/2 lbs.
• 1 jalapeño
• 1 block cream cheese
• 8 pieces bacon
• 15 minute smoke
• 40 minutes at 350

Directions

Let 1 block of cream cheese sit out of the refrigerator to soften for a half hour. While the cream cheese is softening, cut and devein 1 medium-large size jalapeño. You can also use 2 small jalapeños. If you are concerned about spice, I would suggest checking how spicy the jalapeños are before you cut all of them up. It really feels like roll of the dice at the grocery store will jalapeños these days. Some of them will light you up for a week and others are no spicier than a bell pepper.

Fine dice your jalapeño pepper and set it aside until the cream cheese has finished softening.

Once the cream cheese finishes softening, mix in the diced jalapeños until well incorporated.

Lay out the bacon in rows.

I’m not one to pigeon hole a cooking method usually, but you really do need a pellet grill for the best taste on this recipe. We love the heck out of our Traeger and make this with the signature blend pellets, but it will cook well with the mesquite or hickory pellets too. If you don’t have a pellet grill, you can cook this the same timing, minus the smoke time, on a charcoal or gas grill.