elk recipes

[beagledude]

I bagged an elk in Central Montana last week and now have a freezer full of elk meat (along with some venison). Anyone got some good or interesting recipes to share ?

 

[tmoniz]

I cooked mine the same way I do a good piece of beef. Makes a great pot roast.
I never told the family what it was. Steaks, roasts and hamburgers and such.
Every body raved about the Swedish meatballs at Christmas time.

The guide's cook told me to marinade the steaks over night in Coke a Cola.

I did, and the results were very good.

 

[BDB]

I am not a huige fan of the coke marinating but that's just me. For high quality steaks, I just rub a little seasoning (pepper etc) on them and grill them on high heat to medium rare. For lesser cuts I marinate. Quite often I cube it. Since I butcher my own I end up with lots of cubes as I prefer that to getting 50 pounds of ground!

Good cubes are for kabobs and so-so ones are for stews, crock pots, chile etc. For the marinate, here is my favorite:

1 part olive oil
2 parts milk
1 part soy sauce
Lemon juice (couple of ounces)
Throw in a bunch of black pepper or lemon pepper (preferred)
A couple of table spoons of italian seasoning.

Mix it all up, throw the cubes in and stir occationally. I will marinate anywhere from 4 hours to overnight depending on the cuts involved. Now cut up some onions, mushroooms and pepper to 1" or so squares. Marinate them in the same mixture for about 1 hour, just drain it from the meat. Make the kabobs up and throw them on the grill. Has been A++++ reports from all who have eaten it.

I am hoping to shoot a cow elk next week and if I do, plenty of it will be done up just as stated. Roasts are also awesome. I take one and pour in a can of cream of mushroom soup, cover and roast it just like a beef roast.

 

[Quacker Wacker]

I have been in the process of experimenting with my first Elk, killed this year. The meat is lean like any deer, but seems to be more mild, certainly more so than the sage eating mule deer. I believe you can cook using the same recipes you use for beef, with some exceptions. Those, for me, would be that while I like beef steaks and certain roats med or med-well, I would never cook Elk or Venison more than med-rare. At Med rare you will get about the same feel and taste in your mouth as a med beef steak since all cuts has slightly more texture. When cooking anything low and slow, i/e pot roast or crock pot, I don't believe you can simply let it go forever as the ultra-lean will dry out. I recommend for pot roast or stew, to flower and brown quickly it hot oil to crust, as this will help retain moisture and still get you to that nice soft pull apart texture you like.

So far I have had great success with:

Steaks: With Beef I like the BBQ as hot as I can get it. With Elk, as well as venison, I like 3/4" cuts, I start with say 4 backstrap pieces coat in olive oil and season with salt, liberal pepper(I love hot shot- which is a mix of red and black pepper), ground garlic(not too heavy on gamey meat) and dried rosemary. First I take 2 pieces of bacon, cut into 1" pieces, place half of those cast iron skillet on med, melt out most of the fat remove bacon, add 1/2 of med onion cut into slivers and about 4-5 mushrooms cut thick add some butter for flavor, cook until onions start to carmalize then remove all to side. Add remaining bacon, cook half way, then turn heat up to high, add equal amount of olive oil to bacon grease in pan, then add steaks quickly, cook for no more than 60 seconds per side for rare, and 90 seconds for med-rare, remove all bacon and steaks to side pan. If doing more than one shift of steaks, keep adding small pieces of bacon and olive oil to keep pan lubed. Now when all steaks are done and everything is removed, take one finely chopped large shallot(or two med), and add to hot pan and toss just untill loose and slightly brown, then take about 1/4 cup of red wine(I like $2 buck chuck) and add to hot pan if it all evaporates immed add a little more just enough to leave about 1/8" bubbling in the bottom. Scrape all the crusties with a wisk. Now you need some extra cold red wine, about 1/2 cup with about 2 tsp of corn starch wisked into it very well, and about 1/2 cup of beef broth. Add the broth, let that heat 1 min, the restir the wine/starch, then add half and allow it to boil for a min, then continue to add into boiling mix in pan until the consistency you like. Add back the onions, mushrooms, and any juices that have drained from steaks. Serve with Wild Rice, or Garlic Mashed Potatoes, or any side you like. Bread is great too with this sauce. One hint, the sauce doesn't always taste as good right away in the pan, but by the time you get to the table - yummy. A variation to this is not to add the mushrooms or the wine and shallot, but for breakfast do the steak and onions w/ even more bacon pieces and fry a few eggs over easy. I will place onions over steak then add a fried egg over each steak, break the yoke and add some hot sauce. Serve with fried potatoes. These are both excellent with stronger tasting venison. If you prefer less covering up of natural steak taste just omit the sauces(wine/egg).

Stew: 2 lbs of good stew cut, remove the junk membranes where possible, in 1.5" cubes. Dredge liberally in flour, add salt/pepper/paprika, but shake off loose clumps and brown in very hot oil(I prefer 1/2 bacon grease and 1/2 canola oil), keep enough oil for a min 1/4" in bottom of pan. Flour from meat and oil will mix into a rue(gravy), if very thick add enough water or liquid beef broth to thin so you can drain into cup and set aside. Place into crock pot over a bed made from cubed onion. Add 2 stalks chopped celery, add enough light beer to cover all ingredients, add 2 bay leaves, tbsp of parsley, black pepper and seasoned salt to taste as well as 1 tsp of beef broth powder. Cook on high for 2 hours add 3 med chopped carrots, cook another hour, add 4 med cubed red or white potatoes, add enough beer to keep covered. Cook for another hour, and add frozed corn, peas, and lima beans(about 1/2 cup each) then cook another 30 minutes or until frozen veggies are warm. Now stir lightly to break down flour on meat to thicken gravy, add back you rue you set aside earlier and bring up to a simmer. Taste and salt/pepper and even hot sauce(tobasco) to taste. After 3 1/2 - 4 hours meat should fall apart with fork or spoon. Good for vacuum packing and putting in freezer.

Chili: My family are wimps so if you like hot chili this ain't it, but you can always spice it up. Brown 2lbs of ground elk along with 1 large finely chopped onion, do not drain oil-pour directly into crock pot. Add 1 30 oz can of basic chili beans in sauce(this is not dennisons or that type it is usually hunts or the generic brand for the store you shop at, they are simply white beans and chile sauce), add to this 1 15 oz can drained kidney beans, 1 15oz can diced tomatoes, and 1 small can of (mild, med, or hot) enchilada sauce. Add 1 tbs of cumin, 1 tbsp of chili powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp, salt, and either red pepper flakes(my pref) or cayenne pepper. Should be thick. Cook in Crock pot on high for about 2 hours. Reseason with salt and spices to your taste. Now I also add about 1 cup of ketchup and am light on spices. I serve with grated cheese and hot corn bread.

 

[Hoback Hunter]

Killed and eaten a few elk over the years. I've come to realize that anything worth steaking out on an elk is worth grilling with a light basting of olive oil, or if you're not watching your cholesterol, bacon grease (it's by far the best).

Start with a nice thick top round or bottom round steak (back strap and tenderloin are even better) - baste one side in a little bacon grease, then baste the other side before you flip it. Season afterwards. One of the best darn steaks a guy can kill on his own. Never cook it more than med rare.

I like the roasts well enough, but have gone to cubing them more than leaving them as roasts. If I end up with roasts, it's because I was tired of carving for the night. A full elk can take days of hard work, just to get it all cut and wrapped. Then if you start grinding and mixing sausage, you can add a few more days.

As for cubes and grind, there's no limit to what you can do. I love tacos so will take the cubes and cut them really small, cover them in chili powder, lime juice, olive oil and some salt for a few minutes, then sear them on a griddle or fry pan - makes great carne asada. Serve with chopped onion and cilantro on corn tortilla's.... with a cold beer and jalapeno's on the side.... mmm, that's some good hoof.

If you mix your grind with 20-30 percent ground pork shoulder or pork roast (not suett, but actual meat), you can make some lean, prize-winning sausage.

I got recipes if you're interested.

 

[fossilman]

Beagledude,was your elk hunt in the Bull Mountains between Billings and Roundup?
I've done alot of hunting in that area.....

 

[beagledude]

Thanks for the recipes guys I'm going to have to try these.

My hunt was outside of White Sulphur, Meagher county, east of Helena. If you don't mind shooting a cow, it's a good spot, the last week of the season is either sex and you could even draw for a second cow tag.