Food and hunting!!! My favorite topics!!!
GaTech,
First of all welcome to TFL; its a good bunch of folks here. I'm with you -- the venison tenderloin is one heavenly piece of meat. I see you are an engineer. If your work is in genetic engineering, why don't you build us a deer with a row of about six t-loins down each side?
The single best thing I have ever eaten involved Italian wild boar: pappardelle al cinghiale. Its a wild boar ragu served with inch wide ribbon-type pasta. Just thinking of it makes me drool. Come to think of it that was the best meal I have ever had in my life. While on our honeymoon last spring, my wife and I spent a day on a farm in the Chianti region and had lunch in the farmhouse. The pappardelle was my first plate which was followed by a plate of grilled meats (chicken, short ribs, rabbit and sausage made with more wild pork) served with cubed potatoes baked in olive oil and rosemary (golden crispy outside, hot and tender inside). I like the Italian sausage found in the U.S., but it is nothing like the smoky, salty, porky, beautiful flavor of that sausage. All that was washed down with the house wine (Chianti Classico Riserva, of course!). Then we had a glass of the house vinsanto with biscotti (the biscotti gets dipped in the strong, sweet wine) which was followed by a bowl of gelato (ice cream the Italian way!). It was vanilla sprinkled with a few drops of the house balsamic vinegar. I know you're thinking "Vinegar on ice cream?:barf:", but don't knock it until you've tried it! Then we toured the vineyard and took a stroll to the tasting room!!! I won't even go there...
I would go back in a heartbeat -- just for the food.
Jack
PS. One more thing GaTech -- and I just have to say it --
GO DAWGS!