elk steaks on the grill

bryan

Bryan Armatys
Has anyone got a good way to cook Elk steaks on the grill? This is my first attempt.
Thanks
Bryan
 
If the meat was cared for and aged at the locker treat it like good beef... and don't over cook it...

I have had moose and elk that was as good as the best beef ever...
 
Rub a bit of olive oil on both sides, a bit of salt-pepper, do not over cook it as it is generally lean, medium rare is about right IMHO.
 
'Fraid not

Stephen: I have not done any hunting since about 1990. The meat came from a customer................good customer!
Bryan
 
Elk steaks are notorious for being bad tasting and tough as shoe leather, best thing to do is send what you have to me for the dog.

Dan H -----bark, bark:D:D
 
one of my wives marinated them in beer and brown sugar several hours before grilling. Good eats.
 
Pick up some McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning. It doesn't hurt to rub a little olive oil on both sides as mentioned in a previous post, then shake a bit of the steak seasoning on both sides, rub it in good, and grill it over hot coals to a medium to medium rare.... It's awesome. I used to want to shoot a big bull every year I went out west elk hunting...nowdays I just make sure I bring one home for the freezer as it's some of the best wild game meat I've had.
 
My deer hunting buddy is a chef, man o man the food is good at camp :D. Anyhow he won't use spice with salt in it when cooking meat, says the salt makes it tough. I don't care for olive oil and stopped using it because, to me, the meat tastes like olive oil. The reason I mention this is because he tells me to use whatever you like the flavor of, not necessarily what the standard is. For instance, he cooked up some deer meat, stared at the "juice" in the pan and tossed in some crannberry jelly to empty the jar, and the leftover white wine and bubbled off the moisture until it was a sauce. Not sure if he through in anything else but it was the best sauce/gravy I've ever had.
 
haven't tryed it on elk but it's hell on deer:
1) cut in steaks not over 1/2 inch thick
2) trim all the tendions away
3) marinate in equal parts of Dale's, olive oil and pepsi (sorry I'm a coke man but coke don't work), marinate for 3-4 hours in sealed bowl @ room temp not in fridge, shake bowl when you walk by to remix marinate
4) light grill, turn on high to heat grates then turn to low, throw on meat, shake on lowerys seasoning salt and pepper
5) only turn ONCE!! cook on low and slooow, about mid rare is just right, if ya cook it until it looks done it'll be tough as leather
6) report results back to me here on BRC

the wind is my friend,,,,,,,,,,

DD
 
Cook the meat like you would any other meat. Elk is the top of the list of all game meat. Sear it hot and fast, do what ever you want to do to get it where you want. Eat and count yourself among the luckiest men on earth.

I hear and read all these convoluted steps and have got to say, these folks sound scared of it. I like it in a gravy for cold weather eating over dutch oven biscuits. Toss the meat with a little flour, salt and pepper, make a simple gravy and go for it.

With elk, I all ways thought I was in tall cotton. I don't know how you can go wrong, if you treat it as you do beef. Growing up we called beef, slow elk.:)
 
I can tell you that the heart (moose) my partner cooked at 44 mi Taylor Highway, AK that was salted was TOUGH. I cooked some the previous eve and it was great.

Still remember-canned corn, moose heart for dinner. Migrating geese honking and aurora for dessert-1967.
 
Was gonna stay out of this but here goes:

First and foremost. Cut the darned steaks at least 3/4 to 1 in thick. If you wanna dip them in olive oil that's fine. But Good Seasons or any good Italian dressing works just fine also. After they have marinated for anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours in the oil based product. Take them out and DRY them off real dry. Then throw them on the very hot grill and cook til carmelized on the outside and no more than med on the inside the rarer the better.

This is how you cook loin steaks, filets, flatirons ,and top sirloins.

Anything that comes off the leg can and should be pounded breaded and fried just like a chicken fried steak. You still don't want to cook them to death tho.

We eat an average of two Elk a year and that's how we do it. We cut only the Flatiron steaks out of the shoulders, the rest we grind with 60/40 beef trim in a 2 to 1 ratio for burger.

After we cut the top rounds and sirloins out of the hind quarters we usually grind the rest with pork butts to make Italian sausage.

Just remember the more you cook game the tougher it's gonna get
 
Last eve I cooked a deer backstrap. Itwas about 6" long and about 2 1/2" diameter. Temp outside at that time was 10 degrees.

Fired up the grill-both burners HIGH for about 8 min and then put the meat right over the fire-leaving it on high. I did turn it at about 7 min and took it off at 15.

Was perfect but did have some charred area where it sat over the fire. Trimmed it and wife and I ate it all. She said 'goood thing I didnt save 1/2 of it like I planned'.

It was pinkish in the middle. Actually it should have come off 2 min sooner.
 
Was gonna stay out of this but here goes:

First and foremost. Cut the darned steaks at least 3/4 to 1 in thick. If you wanna dip them in olive oil that's fine. But Good Seasons or any good Italian dressing works just fine also. After they have marinated for anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours in the oil based product. Take them out and DRY them off real dry. Then throw them on the very hot grill and cook til carmelized on the outside and no more than med on the inside the rarer the better.

This is how you cook loin steaks, filets, flatirons ,and top sirloins.

Anything that comes off the leg can and should be pounded breaded and fried just like a chicken fried steak. You still don't want to cook them to death tho.

We eat an average of two Elk a year and that's how we do it. We cut only the Flatiron steaks out of the shoulders, the rest we grind with 60/40 beef trim in a 2 to 1 ratio for burger.

After we cut the top rounds and sirloins out of the hind quarters we usually grind the rest with pork butts to make Italian sausage.

Just remember the more you cook game the tougher it's gonna get

Now why would ya' want to stay out when you've got good info? Thank you for your insight.

I like 'em grilled HOT and red on the inside gener'ly but I've gotta ask a question about this marinating business.... I was in Canastota NY at IBS BR School and the locals grilled up some cow. Canastota range has a big firepit and they loaded 'er up with charcoal and flung some marinated steak on it. I managed to go kype one about ten minutes before they were "done" and it was just FANTASTIC!! Like, I'm a complete carnivore but this thing was truly magnificent. I asked the cook and he said that "it'd been marinating in buttermilk since yesterday"........

Can anybody enlighten a complete NON-chef type as to the merits and preparation of a buttermilk marinade? I'd be a real hero around here if I could duplicate this steak. And yes we do bring in grain-fed Midwestern beef or high country elk, we're not going to try fix a rank grass fed western steer with it.

thanks


al
 
The Buttermilk is great for removing a wild or Gamey taste. Actually there's a better chance of that grass fed steer tasting gamey than some of the Elk I've had.

Nothing beats good Elk. If we are having something young and tender we will usually forego the marinade and just salt and pepper it.
 
If it's a old bull it can be tough. I only shoot rag horns and spikes and i just put garlic and salt and pepper. on them and dont over cook it what ever you do.
 
On this gamy meat subject, I just don't have it happen anymore. Back in the early 70's and old time Alaskan told me a secret about game preparation. It all starts with what you do in the field.

Use apple cider vinegar, paint all the pieces you salvage twice a day while the meat hangs. Since that lesson, I have treated all my game meat this way and old bull in the rut tastes just like a young bull with this treatment. Got one with a rut swollen neck? Paint it with vinegar. White vinegar works, but I don't like the smell and use apple.

I have tried different marinades in the past. I don't need them anymore and have just plain lost the need since I learned this vinegar trick. I use a 4" paint brush and pour the vinegar in a can to work from.

Vinegar makes all meat equal.

My BMBC stew (bull moose,bear and caribou all tastes great done up with a load of carrots potatoes and onions).

When I get lucky enough to have elk, it gets ate up to quick to mess with.:D
 
How Well Do You Know The History Of That Elk?

Bryan
If the steaks were given to you by Dwight Scott and Kenny Hottenstein you might check to see if it already has grill marks on it.
The grill I'm talking about came from a van they were driving on there way home from Flagstaff on Interstate 17.
Its probaly already been tenderized.
Lynn
 
Elk

I have always used Apple Cider vinegar in a spray bottle to spray inside & out of all wild game. I agree with the tougher cuts to treat like country fried steak. But other I like it grilled just like a good steak plain with no salt or marinade. Fresh biscuits, fry up some bacon & then fry onions & mushrooms.
If folks have come up with something tastier they may have kept it for themselves.
Semper Fi
 
Al,
I wished I would have known about your trip to Canastota,We could have "party-ed hard". I have no Wapiti experience,only deer,bear,birds,fish and road kill, but I would say that most of the responders to this thread have a handle on the wild game prep thing.Now,You know what it means to truly be" An American", It ain't about cheeseburgers!
Joel
p.s. Sorry, Dennis S and the rest of my Canadian brothers , I should have said "A North American".
Joel
 
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