Sage taste

[406LIFE]

I'm late to the convo, but I wonder if you got the skin off quick enough? That has been to biggest component to flavoring antelope I have found. I've shot them in sage, grain, and hay fields and never noticed a difference.

 

[jtm307]

I'm with JLS. Part of the fun of game meat is tasting the uniqueness of each animal. With the exception of the backstraps, my antelope always has hint of antelope-y flavor. To me, beef tastes like an overcrowded feedlot, so I don't mind a bit of sage-ness. Steaks usually get salt and pepper, roasts get braised for 8 - 16 hours with onions, garlic, bacon fat and cilantro. I grind as little possible.

 

[JohnCushman]

Are you sure it's 'sage' tasting, and not the unique flavor antelope has?

 

[cking13]

I got the hide off within 30 minutes 406. And John...no im not sure. This is my first antelope experience. It just kinda tastes like the sage smelled so I assumed.

 

[6mm Remington]

As lots have stated antelope meat is one of the best wild game meats there is. I love it. Try this though.

Thaw a package of steaks naturally and don't thaw them in a microwave. Put some milk and eggs in a glass bowl and mix them. Put your thawed antelope steaks in the egg milk mixture in the fridge and make sure the steaks are covered in the milk/egg mix. Let them sit a couple hours if you have the time.

Heat a cast iron or other similar skillet with some butter and olive oil in it. Take a whole tube of Ritz crackers and crush them in the package and continue crushing them onto a glass or ceramic plate making sure the crackers are broken up into small pieces. Take your steak out of the fridge and make sure you take each piece and dredge it through the egg/milk mix and then quickly roll into the crushed cracker crumbs on both sides. Put into the pan cooking at medium to medium high until the cracker browns on one side. Flip over and do the same. After a while you can tell by how the cracker crumb cooks if they are done enough. If you do it right the steaks should be medium rare or just slightly pink in the middle. Salt and pepper and enjoy. If there is any wild game taste at all I have found this removes it completely. It is fricking awesome! Elk, moose, deer, antelope, and other wild game steaks taste great cooked like this.


You can use other different types of crackers or pre-maid cracker crumbs that are seasoned to get a variety of tastes, but Iv'e found it hard to beat just plain old RITZ crackers.

I also like to cook steaks in a heated pan with butter and olive oil doing this. Roll the thawed steaks into a bowl with flour in it and then cook them that way. It helps keep the moisture in the meat since wild game has no fat in it. Salt and pepper for to taste. Another way is to mix seasonings into the flour and stir it all up and then roll the meat in the flour and fry. So many ways to add variety this way. I really like a plain old antelope steak cooked medium rare on an outside grill, but just frying them up in a skillet on the stove they just aren't as good that way. Rolled in flour really helps in my opinion on flavor and taste. You usually have some nice crumbs of flour left in the skillet to add milk and more flour to in order to make gravy from also.

I guarantee you will like the chicken fried wild game steaks as I have described. It's not necessary to soak them in the fridge a couple hours bit I don't think it hurts and might make them a bit more flavorful and tender. My understanding is the enzymes in milk help break down the meat fibers.

David

 

[nrpate05]

I have heard that soaking in milk for awhile can eliminate some of that strong taste your are getting. I've never tried it, but apparently it can work.

 

[Brian in Montana]

Are you sure it's 'sage' tasting, and not the unique flavor antelope has?

Antelope does have a unique flavor, its a wild taste, but not what I think of as gamey, like a lot of the mule deer I've shot. As somebody else pointed out, antelope steak is really good chicken fried. That is egg bath, then a light breading, skillet cooked in canola oil until brown and crispy. Add peppered cream gravy. Good, good stuff.

 

[480/277y]

Tried my first antelope steak tonight. It's not too bad except it taste like the sage smells if that makes sense. Is there anyway possible to pull some of that flavor out of the meat?

Antelope definately have a sage undertone. Sometimes overtone...
I brine them. Salt water with sweet/heat works.
We have tried the milk method too, and it somewhat works but
Not as well.

 

[onpoint]

I'm gonna' have to try eating some sage if that's the taste I'm enjoying every time I throw some antelope steaks (which is very often) on the Weber.
Standard procedure for us:
Coat with olive oil, Mrs. Dash lemon pepper on one side, Mrs. Dash steak on the other, grill to desired temp, eat.
Hope to bring two more of the sagey things home in about a week.............

 

[480/277y]

I'll guarantee you it is more location and what they are eating.
Alaska bears gorging on blue berries is good eats.
Take that same bear eating fish and not so much.

Take a antelope eating agricultural fields is not going to taste the
Same as one scratching out a living on sage flats.

 

[cking13]

The sausage and jerky are excellent! I'll fiddle with the steaks tonight

 

[1_pointer]

I'll jerky/sausage a corn fed whitetail before I will a pronghorn. They are the #2 favorite meat at our house. Only thing that rates better is bison.

 

[vanish]

I have never thought my pronghorn tasted like sage, but we've always taken them in SE Colorado in shortgrass prarie. There is no sage there. Now, that being said, we just got our first Wyoming bucks and there was plenty of sage around. I'm curious if these will have a different taste.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

I have never thought my pronghorn tasted like sage, but we've always taken them in SE Colorado in shortgrass prarie. There is no sage there. Now, that being said, we just got our first Wyoming bucks and there was plenty of sage around. I'm curious if these will have a different taste.

Ship them to me and I will conduct the appropriate disposal....

 

[cgarner]

I treat my antelope steaks like I do a beef steak. Season the same and grill to rare/medium rare. Always been delicious.

 

[cking13]

Just tried a steak again for lunch. Soaked in bring for a couple of hours and seasoned with mrs dash garlic and herb and Montreal steak seasoning. Pan fried in olive oil. Not a hint of sage and this is some of the best meat I've ever had. Dont know what happened with the last one, but it definitely didn't taste like this.