elk meat question

[gar man]

I have always heard how good and tender elk meat is. Well the one I have in the freezer is tougher than boot leather. I had it cut 3/4 thick. Is that to thick? Even the chops are tough. They taste fine but we can't chew the damn thing. If I can't get it tenderized the next step is to grind all of it up, I hate to do that to all of those steaks. Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[Elkhunter]

I had only one like that. The flavor was great, you just had to chew it all day to eat it. We ended up grinding the entire thing, made burger and Italian sausage out of it. We tried just about everything. The only thing we did not try was marinading it in an instant coffee/water mix. Another thing you can try, which I read about after grinding mine is kiwi. Slice up some kiwi and rub it on the meat. It supposidly helps break down the meat.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Gar Man, I am serving an Elk Rolled Roast with venison sausage in the center, slow cooked on a Brinkman Smoker today at my annual Christmas Party. You Might want to try putting together some rolled roasts and cooking them in a crock pot. It certainly is an alternative to just hamburger. Good Luck.

 

[Bambistew]

I have had a tough elk or two as well. One was a spike... if you can belive that. He hung in just above freezing weather for a week too...

I have cooked it many ways. One of the best is to slow roast it in a moist environment.

Pot roast will turn the toughest meat into delicious edible pieces.

Crock pot it with two cans of chiles and a can of french onion soup and a little chipolte sauce, patatoes carots and oakra... One of my favorites.

Maranade in Mcormicks Hawiaiian sauce and add olive oil, garlic, then sear it on the BBQ, rap in tin foil, add some of the marinade and top it off with blue cheese and cream cheese roast it untill it starts to fall apart.

You can boil the steaks for about an hour or untill they start to fall apart, make them into BBQ sandwhiches, or another one of my favorites, Enchaladas... If its tough, just cook it until it falls apart...

Sometimes meat is tough if you cook it too fast too hot. Try cooking it on the BBQ on low for about 20min or untill meadium/medium well. Slow cooking will sometimes make tough meat edible, others it won't help.

good luck
Ivan

 

[hornhound]

I've had one tougher-than-nails spike bull also, I figured maybe he was tough because he was running when I shot him.Were these other tough eaters shot while running or spooked badly?

 

[ktc]

Bottle it!

Makes a bad elk taste good and a tough one tender.

I bottle my entire elk now.

 

[Bambistew]

Now that you mention it, the spike I shot was spooked out of some timber by a couple hunters. He was standing broad side when I shot him and dropped like a rock. The other was a bull shot during bow season that was missed by my friend but stopped about 20 yards away and I corn holed him. He ran about 50 yards before colapsing. But on the other hand I crippled and chased a bull for about a mile before I killed him and he was one of the most tender elk I have ever taken... So I don't know... I think its like beef. Some are select and some are prime...

What do you mean "bottle it" as in drink a bottle of Jack and eat some stakes when you get cotton mouth?

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-17-2003 12:57: Message edited by: Bambistew ]</font>

 

[T Bone]

All my elk meat spends time in the crock pot or goes the jerky route.

 

[ktc]

How dare you use the word beef and elk in the same sentence! All beef are good. All elk, well......

Bottle, yes you could drink while you eat the stuff. That would help it, especially coming out the other end.

Bottle it is cutting it into one inch squares, putting it in a canning jar, adding a teaspoon of salt, 2 baby carrots, pressure cook it for one hour at 10-15 pounds and wal-la! Edible, tender, tasty ,precooked elk meat. Marth Stewart would be proud!

TBone, your elk sounds about as good as mine until I bottled it.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-17-2003 15:23: Message edited by: ktc ]</font>

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Not picking on any one person, as almost everyone seems to say it that way, but the term is "Voila." (pronounced Vwalla) It is French for "There" or even "There it is." It is not "Walla."

 

[ktc]

Thanks for the English lesson or French or what ever the hell it is.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-17-2003 18:23: Message edited by: ktc ]</font>

 

[gar man]

Thanks for the tips. So what I am hearing here is, if I put it in the croc pot tonight I might have something buy the time Christmas roles around?

Oh well, I am glad to here I'm not the only one that has killed one that was tough.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I actually like it baked at about 275 to 325, in a roasting pan with a tight-fitting lid and about a cup or so of some liquid (water, teriyaki sauce, onion soup, beef broth, barbecue sauce, etc.) for about 4 or 5 hours. The lower the temperature and the longer the time, the better.

Long. Slow. Moist. Heat. Tender. Tasty.

I'm getting excited! I'd better stop before this gets moved to the adult section!

 

[OAKSTER]

Take a nice roast and marinade it for a while in a mixture of say Worcestershire, A little soy sauce and a generous helping of dry cooking sherry. Add some salt , pepper, garlic salt and rub a little liquid smoke too. Let it marinade over night. Then get the crock pot ready and add potatoes, onions, celery. Generous amounts of water and 12 oz of a fine lager or stout. Put the roast in there and let it simmer for about four hours. Then grab two old tennis shoes and throw them in for the final two hours. You can then throw the rest out and eat tennis shoes.

 

[JoseCuervo]

For simple....

Throw it in the Crock pot before work, with water covering all the meat. Add some bullion cubes and turn it on low. (If you want to do more work, throw some onion in also).

When you get home, put some Cream of Mushroom soup in. If too thin, then thicken with cornstarch, and it should be just as tender as can be.

Don't be discouraged yet.


Or, for French Dip sandwiches, put the meat in the crock with water and Au Jus sauce (from a package), and cook all day. Buy some long rolls, and "Presto" (I can't spel Voila) you have French Dip sandwiches. Add a bit of fresh horseradish, and you are set.

 

[Moosie]

Elkgunner.. Do you cook everything that way. Thats how you told me to cook the Pheasant

I BBQ almost everything. I have about 1/2" steaks and I marinate it in OIL mixed with my special sauce (No jokes please

)

AND WALL-AHH !!!

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Do you use 10/30 or 10/40 oil, and is that from the can or from the crankcase?

"wall-ahh" -??? I didn't know you were from Crete, Moosie.

 

[Moosie]

I do have CON-Crete for my driveway

COOKING OIL!!!!!!!!

-thread killer

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

Try running it through a cuber or take the old meat mallet to it.Now chicken-fry a steak and see what you think. Next time, sample a steak before cutting them all that thick.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Welcome to Moosie's, Brittany Chukarman! Thanks for the advice.