primitives discuss dining on elk

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/115736485

Oh my.

OffWithTheirHeads (9,380 posts)    Thu Dec 26, 2013, 09:04 PM

Anybody have experience with Elk?

My BIL got his elk, had it professionally butchered and now has about 200# of Elk in his freezer. Yesterday he gave me about 20# of steaks, ground Elk etc. my wife wanted nothing to do with it saying she wants her meet from the supermarket like that's more humane? I explained that not only was this organic and hormone free but also "free range". She is now on board but I have never even tasted, much less cooked Elk. I know it is very lean and has to be treated differently than the cow meat from farmer Safeway but I am looking for ideas. I think a long marinade along with some kind of mushroom/ Ruby Port sauce would be the right direction but that is just a gut feeling. Again, never having tasted Elk, I have no idea.

^^^the primitive from Tucson, at whose place Amber stored her stuff.

Scuba (33,340 posts)    Thu Dec 26, 2013, 09:12 PM

1. Sounds like stir fry.

Cut it in thin strips, marinade it for a few days (or weeks, depending on toughness) and then into the wok with some v*****s and soy sauce.

OffWithTheirHeads (9,380 posts)    Thu Dec 26, 2013, 09:24 PM

2. Stir fry is generally very hot. In fact, I just bought a new oven with a burner

That burns at 19,000 BTU just for the wok. I'm told low and slow with Elk.

Scuba (33,340 posts)    Thu Dec 26, 2013, 09:26 PM

3. Good advice. The thin slicing and marinade are intended for the same purpose ....

... and the soy sauce will mask any "gamey" taste.

OffWithTheirHeads (9,380 posts)    Thu Dec 26, 2013, 09:30 PM

4. Hey, I'm willing to try anything once. Maybe I'll substitute it for pork

In one of my stir fry recipies.

Scuba (33,340 posts)   Thu Dec 26, 2013, 09:30 PM

5. If you've got an elk, you've got enough meat to try lots of things.

OffWithTheirHeads (9,380 posts)    Thu Dec 26, 2013, 09:43 PM

6. I didn't get it. My BIL did. Although I like my guns, I'm not real big on killing

much but paper. As such, I only have about 20# but it will be fun.

Galileo126 (192 posts)    Thu Dec 26, 2013, 10:17 PM

7. Having going to school in WY,

Most of my friends used to hunt. Elk is best done fast & hot, rare with a nice sear.
 
Don't over cook it.

It's funny... I prefer the elk liver over the elk meat. Call me crazy....

Kali (36,377 posts)    Thu Dec 26, 2013, 10:39 PM

8. elk is very similar to beef

cook it like you would any lean beef - add a little fat of some kind to the ground if you are making burgers or at least cook them with a little fat or oil in the pan, slow cook roasts or stew meat/tougher cuts and you may be able to cook the steaks like lean beef steak (hot fast for short time, even grilling) or you may have to sear and slow cook a longer time - just depends on the meat.

pengillian101 (2,232 posts)    Thu Dec 26, 2013, 10:42 PM

9. My father used to hunt elk, and would get summer sausage made out of it.

It's lean so maybe the butcher added some other kind of meat too (I think?) and it was delicious. This was many years ago.
 
Here's a link to make it at home. Can't say I've used this recipe, but it might be fun to try.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/venison-cheddar-jalapeno-summer-sausage/
 
Have fun dining - it's a great flavor meat.

eridani (40,252 posts)    Fri Dec 27, 2013, 07:02 AM

10. Salt port?

I bet that would work for sausages and ground meat also.

GoCubsGo (13,837 posts)   Fri Dec 27, 2013, 05:40 PM

11. It's very similar to venison, from what I understand.

I have never had elk, but it's interchangeable with deer meat as far as recipes go. Venison is pretty close to beef. You can use the ground meat as you would ground beef. It would probably be really good in a stroganoff. You can also cube the steaks and use them in stews or chili. There are loads of venison recipes on the Internet, and your mushroom/Ruby Port sauce idea is an excellent idea. I think it would be quite yummy! If you broil the steaks, the marinade is a good idea. Or, you just braise them.

love_katz (794 posts)    Fri Dec 27, 2013, 09:11 PM

12. My family ate elk and venison when I was growing up.

Of the two kinds of meat, we liked elk the best.

The flavor is very like beef, much milder and less gamey than venison.

I seem to remember that my dad said the secret to cooking game meat is to not overcook it, which makes it tough and dried out.
 
It is much lower in fat than beef, and being free of the hormones and antibiotics that commercial beef can have, is much better for you.
 
Enjoy! If you can find a copy of this cookbook, it might help: Enduring Harvests, by E. Barrie Kavasch. It is a book of Native American recipes, and has ways to use all kinds of natural meats and foods, including 'gator (which I've never eaten). I believe she says you can substitute buffalo or elk meat in recipes calling for venison.

If you can't figure out what to do with the elk meat, send it on out here. Yum!

OffWithTheirHeads (9,380 posts)    Fri Dec 27, 2013, 09:28 PM

13. Oh, believe me, I'll figure out what to do with it!

Never had Venison but I've eaten Gator. Tastes like Chicken, as does Rattlesnake. Not something I'd do again unless I was really hungery, but who am I to judge? Maybe I didn't cook em right.

Jenoch (4,107 posts)    Mon Dec 30, 2013, 09:50 PM

14. I have not had elk for a while, but we eat a lot of venison.

Since it is so lean I cook it like beef tenderloin. I cook the loin by cutting it into bite sized pieces and quickly frying it in butter and eating it with a quick beef sauce. We also make stroganoff by adding a little sour cream.
 
The ground venison goes into chili, bolognese sauce, cottage pie, etc. really, almost any recipe that calls for ground beef. If you want to make hambhrgers, I'd mix in some ground pork.*

*oh now, surely the primitive's joking; wouldn't that be like mixing beef with turkey or fish with lamb or pork with pheasant?

Ew.

Fortinbras Armstrong (1,565 posts)   Tue Dec 31, 2013, 10:52 AM

15. Two years ago, I had a very bad experience with elk

I had some, and spent much of the night throwing up. My wife, who had exactly what I had to eat, other than the elk, was fine.

[longview]

Free meat?  Probably good, healthy meat?  Just cook and eat the darn stuff and thank the brother-in-law.

I don't like really rare anything, but otherwise agree with the poster who said fast and hot heat.  Sear the meat.  This works great with bison, too.

[tanstaafl]

After he eats elk, he'll never go back to beef.

Back in Wyoming, someone gave me 10 pounds of ground elk and about a half dozen strip steaks from the leftover elk in his freezer. All the ground elk went into chili pot. Grilled the steaks at my apartment. At work with the chili, people would line up at 0700 to get at it, it was some of the best chili I ever cooked.

[BattleHymn]

*oh now, surely the primitive's joking; wouldn't that be like mixing beef with turkey or fish with lamb or pork with pheasant?

This is the only way I'll touch deer meat (outside of deer jerky).  I've had deer every which way since Tuesday, and it's way too gamey for me without mixing it with other meat.  It's pretty common to mix it with pork here.   

Outside of this technique, the smell of cooked deer makes me think of beef that was fried up in a cat's litter box.  Gross.   

[JLO]

This is the only way I'll touch deer meat (outside of deer jerky).  I've had deer every which way since Tuesday, and it's way too gamey for me without mixing it with other meat.  It's pretty common to mix it with pork here.   

Outside of this technique, the smell of cooked deer makes me think of beef that was fried up in a cat's litter box.  Gross.   

Well, I absolutely love venison tenderloin (or backstrap as some call it).   Cut the loin into 1/1-2 to 2" individual filets, then sear in a buttered, cast iron skillet.  Serve with sauteed onions and mushrooms in a butter sauce poured over the steaks. 

It's better than a beef Filet Mignon in my book.  Others prefer to roast the whole tenderloin, just like a prime rib.  Both ways are delicious and should be served somewhat rare.

A pal sometimes shares when she gets deer.  Lucky me. 

[Big Dog]

Mmmm... elk....

The DUmmy should have signed up here and asked us. He'd get good advice here.

[longview]

This is the only way I'll touch deer meat (outside of deer jerky).  I've had deer every which way since Tuesday, and it's way too gamey for me without mixing it with other meat.  It's pretty common to mix it with pork here.   

Outside of this technique, the smell of cooked deer makes me think of beef that was fried up in a cat's litter box.  Gross.   

I've had to deal with some darn gamey stuff that guests shot.  They shoot for horns.  Some old goats (antelope) I did grind with beef fat.  That, or turn it into chorizo or pepperoni.

I shoot for meat.  The kids and I always tried to get doe tags, and take a dry doe, or if we had to take a buck tag, we get something young. 

But, free meat?  I can make the worst of it good to eat.  And as long as we had cattle, lol, my kids never got beef until the youngest was born and hubby was in tech school and we moved to town.  Beef = dollars.  Game?  Pretty cheap. 

[Big Dog]

I've had to deal with some darn gamey stuff that guests shot.  They shoot for horns.  Some old goats (antelope) I did grind with beef fat.  That, or turn it into chorizo or pepperoni.

I shoot for meat.  The kids and I always tried to get doe tags, and take a dry doe, or if we had to take a buck tag, we get something young. 

But, free meat?  I can make the worst of it good to eat.  And as long as we had cattle, lol, my kids never got beef until the youngest was born and hubby was in tech school and we moved to town.  Beef = dollars.  Game?  Pretty cheap. 

We'd butcher a steer every spring, and trade a quarter with a neighbor for half a hog. At the end of each summer, we would butcher chickens. Dad and I put venison and pheasants in the freezer; I shot rabbits for the pot.

The only meat I remember coming from town was "store-bought" bacon, the occasional ham, and turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[Skul]

LongV and Tans, both get a 
Cook it. Don't play little liberal games with BS sauces and such.
What is it with liberals that they think they have to throw silly names at food.
DUmpmonkeys sometimes just piss me off.

No, DUmpmonkeys always seem to piss me off. Always.

[DefiantSix]

No, DUmpmonkeys always seem to piss me off. Always.

It's one of those rare things that DUmbshits consistently excel at.

[NHSparky]

It amazes me how people who can barely boil water seem to want to overdo everything because they thing they're the next Emeril Lagasse.

Seriously.  Just sear it, put it in chili or stew.  It's lean, so no more than medium rare.