Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Best cuts of elk?

What say you? Thanks...

Like everything else IMO

backstraps and loins with the rounds being 3rd

Gary, mind if I ask a question on your thread?

Anyone have tips on "tenderizing" Elk meat? I've heard Citrus Juices can work at times..

I love the flavor of Elk meat, but it always seems to be "chewy".

Loin would be my favorite.

Ken, shoot a tender spike next time. A slow cooker also works great for tenderizing the meat...

I agree that the tenderloins and back straps are the best cuts.

KC

And aging the meat. I let last year's bull hang in a locker plant for 20 days--longest I had ever done--and it was more tender than I ought to have expected.

We cook our elk in a cast iron oven, or my wife has an electric roaster that we use also.. Both make very tender elk.. However it has been years since we have had a bull in the freezer..

I think 708 has a point also.. We usually have our elk aged any where from 14 to 21 days... I think it makes a positive difference..

I beat the round steaks into submission with a tenderizing hammer.

Sometimes I also smother venison with some brown gravy to which I have added some onion bits and mushrooms bits. This works great on an old sage buck.

KC

Makes a difference depending on the elk also.

A lot of us have found that with the no gut method of processing the elk in the field, the back straps that are deboned right away are tougher than some of the round steaks even.

Ageing sure helps most of them.

We've had a lot of discussions on here about meat care in the field and tenderness. My opinion...I've done a bunch of them gutless and in my experience, they've been the toughest. I think leaving the meat on the bone at least until it stiffens up helps with tenderness. The last 3 I've done I've been able to hold off on boning for 6 hrs or even overnight and they've been very tender. That's not always possible, of course.

I've also read that cooling too fast will make them tougher. Obviously, when you shoot one the situation is dictated by the weather so you don't have many options there.

Good point. We usually hang ours for at least a week. I didn't comment on my favorite cuts of meat in my last post. Probably because the obvious answer is backstrap and loins, but I also like BBQ'd ribs

Rock Chuck,

What happens in both deboning warm meat and cooling too quickly (before rigor mortis has come and gone) is the meat cells actually contract in length, which is what makes the meat tough. Cooling too fast, however, doesn't matter UNLESS the meat goes from warm to freezing solid in a few hours.

I always age mine as long as I can (until I got to pack up to come on home). After it's vacuum packed at home it's frozen. As soon as I know I'll be cooking some elk, say next weekend, I'll let it age again in the fridge for 5 or so days before cooking.

Always been tender and tasty for us.

The bset cuts of Elk? The first ones that open it up obviously.-Muddy

All of those usual suspects for marinades can help.

Key though seems to be that I either cook it very little or very much. It's game meat that I killed and cut myself, I don't need to worry about killing off cross contamination germs like with commercial meat mass processed in huge facilities.

Her's our typical scenario,

Shoot a 3 y.o. bull on Opening day, (Sat) or Sunday,The bull will be quartered or the gutless method, We do both.

Monday or Tuesday, outfitter arrives with horses and hauls the Elk down to his ranch at 9000 elevation, there the meat will hang in his cooler until we get pulled out on Thursday,

Then we keep the meat on ice in a large homemade cooler for the 24 hour drive home,

We get home Sat and the meat usually gets to the butcher Monday, and they may not process for a few days.

It can be 10 days, or more, from punching the tag, to Processing.

I doubt many people have the ability to "age" much longer than that.

Hence my original question above.

I'd had many conversation here with aging elk and with Mrs. Mule Deer via email.
The difficulty I have as a non-resident hunter is that my options are limited.
In our Jan. hunts in NM we usually have overnight temps well below 32* and usually below 0*. Very hard to hand and age before skinning and at least quartering. Hence all aging is done before cooking as GoDogs mentions.

Last years Oct. hunt saw me traveling with 3 96 qt. coolers and big blocks of ice.
the 3 1/2 year old bull has been pretty darn good with proper preparation. Even the kabobs have been stellar.

I envy you guys who have access to a meat locker.

Here are last weeks elk kabobs marinated in teriyaki/garlic for 4-6 hours. Red potatoes pre-cooked, red, yellow and orange peppers and mushrooms. Separating the meat from the veggies allows you to control the cooking temp and time better.

With all the deer, it's tenderloins in first place and everything else a distant second IMO. Also, aging elk meat is very beneficial. Tough to do here in Arizona though.

In AZ, an archery bull may well be taken when ambient temps are 90 degrees.