Wifey is cooking an elk roast today and looking for a new trick or two. Lately, our elk roasts in the crock pot have turned out on the dry side, no matter how low and slow we cook it.

Any suggestions and words of advice would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance

I usually put the roast in the crock pot, add just a half cup of water and sometimes a half can of coke. Beer or wine would work just as well.
Then add the onions, vegetables, garlic powder, pepper and whatever other spices you prefer.
Even on low, I usually only let it cook about 6 hours or so. Usually comes out falling apart and a little red in the middle. Doesn't last long around here.

Bob

Not a crock pot recipe but this is my all time favorite way of cooking back strap roast:

Take an 8 inch length of solid back strap, thaw and allow to reach room temperature,

Mix equal amounts of diced fresh rosemary (I use frozen this time of year), Kosher salt, pressed garlic, and pepper with olive oil to make a paste. Sometimes I add honey.

Spread the paste over the roast and pierce with a fork 100X. Roll over, apply paste and fork pierce 100X. Thinking of my ex-wife helps me with this step.

Skewer the roast length wise and suspend in a cooking dish, insert thermometer, allow to sit for 4 hours at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 425, cook for 10 minutes, turn down to 250 and cook until desired temperature - don't open oven door during cooking. I like my rare and use 122 but that is a tad too rare for my wife so she nukes her pieces for 10 seconds to reach medium rare.

Slice thin, 1/8-3/16.

Left over diced pieces in a burrito are every bit as good as the first meal.

This is very similar to how I make a rib roast - aka prime rib.

Just did a whitetail 2 lb blackstrap this week. Thawed, pat dry; lightly flour, then sear all sides in a hot pan with some coconut or vegetable oil. I then put a slit in each piece of meat (four pieces) and insert a garlic clove.

Place in the CP with a cup of your choice of red wine (I used a Port) and two cans of Cream of Mushroom soup. The key to wild meats and CPs is plenty of liquid.

Add in cut up potatoes, carrots, and onions. I add cut up Porte Bella mushrooms also and start out on "high" for an hour, then "medium" for an hour, then "warm" or "low" for about 4-5 hours.

The flour with the oil, wine and mushroom soup makes a delicious gravy. Pretty simple and pretty darn good.

Here's how I used to do it � with any good eatin' meat, not just elk! � beef, antelope, sheep, wild boar � for years.

All came out just right! Never a flub!

There's nothing especially magical about the timing � this is the way that fit my work schedule at the time.

� After supper, put the meat in the crock pot. Just the meat. Nothing else.

� In the morning, turned the crock pot off just before going to the office.

� At lunch time, put the meat on a platter, poured the broth into a jar, threw the bone, fascia, blood vessels, nerves � all the junk � into the trash. Picked the muscle tissue apart and returned the shredded lean meat to the crock pot. If we were going to have guests who didn't like spicy food, I put some of the shredded meat in an aluminum pie plate on top of the other meat.

Stirred a bottle or two of Kraft barbecue sauce (some times hickory-smoked, some times mesquite-smoked) into the meat. Turned the pot back on and went back to the office.

� At supper, served on large buns, open-face, with the usual variety of side dishes. I especially liked dill pickle. Never tried cheese, come to think of it, but that ought to go well, too.

The key is the searing and not cooking too long, as per George's suggestion...

It is easy to make Swiss Steak in the CP... Sear steaks cut from roasts and place on a bed of pureed tomato, an onion chopped and fried just till translucent, an fresh garlic. I like to add sage, thyme, and rosemary. Tarragon is good, too. Cover with more tomato and more layers of steaks as needed. Cook on low in the CP.

Serve over rice...

For deer roasts, which should translate to elk easily enough, rinse the roast, pat dry with a paper towel. Trim off any tendons and connective tissue. Leave the bone in if possible, depending on how the roast was cut.

Cut/poke slits all over well down into the meat.

Coat with a dry rub of your spices of choice. I keep it simple - garlic powder, salt, black pepper, white pepper, and make sure to push it into the slits.

Coat on all side with good olive oil and again poke it into the slits, and use enough to make sure the bottom of the crock pot is coated. Sprinkle more of the rub on top. Do NOT add any liquid. Use only olive oil. The roast will supply the rest.

Cook until it is just about to fall apart tender. Takes about 10+ hours for a deer roast on low.

can of cream of mushroom soup and a can of tomato soup. maybe 2 cans of each depending on crock/roast size. best if completely submerged. season with salt and pepper if desired, or add some minced onion or garlic. slow cook all day on low, add chopped potatoes/carrots midway through if you desire.

use sauce as gravy. my wife's favorite recipe, and it's super easy. you can put the roast in frozen as long as it's covered with the soup.

Thanks folks! Will give each suggestion careful consideration. Our main problem is (in my mind anyway) is the crock pot is still too hot, even on low. Leave it overnight....it is well well done, and very dry. This has happened to the last two CP's we've bought.

She has mixed in the usual stuff, water, mushroom soup + spices...it seems that the soup, etc ain't enough to make the meat moist. My reasoning is that it gets too hot, too quick, searing the meat and closing it off, so to speak, so the moisture can't get in there. Your thoughts?

I brown the roast and then add a can or two of Campbell's French Onion soup (depending on roast size), a can of water, a good dose of Montreal Steak Seasoning, and a bunch of carrots, potatoes.

Cut off all the fat, Rub with olive, season as you wish. Then put some more olive oil in a cast iron pan and sear the meat on all sides. Put in oven on 350 til the internal temp is 130, should come up to 135 (medium rare) while resting for 10 to 15 min after removing from the oven. Slice in 1/2 inch against the grain. You can make a sauce from the drippings by heating the pan over the stove and adding beef broth or wine to deglaze and then thicken sauce with corn starch in water. Best way I've ever had. Crock pot makes it too dry unless you're doing a pulled meat BBQ sauce thing.

We rub with olive oil and sear. Then embed with garlic cloves and sprinkle with black pepper. Put in crock pot on low for 5 hours with 2-3 tablespoons of water,onions, and veggies of your choice.

Warning!
do not get between hungry kids and crock pot!

Great suggestions. We use liptons onion soup mix most often. Make sure to add the water and it won't be dry. They now have crock pot meal bags at the store which also are good. Wine and spices tastes just as good.

Great suggestions.....many thanks

Spice to taste.

Sear quickly on grill, as hot as the grill will go.

Turn grill down as low as it'll go.

Put meat on top rack and insert thermometer probe

Put a tinfoil brownie pan with roughly 1Qt of apple juice on the main cooking surface.

Allow the meat to braise to your desired internal temp.

Elk @ ~130F:

Easy Sleazy:
Throw a bottle of good beer, a packet of onion soup mix and a dash of tabascvo in the crock pot. Put your roast in it, cover roast with your veggies, cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I cut away all fat and silver skin when butchering. Crock pot with the following:
Venison Roast: I don't sear just put in crock pot thawed or frozen
Rub roast with:
Garlic salt or 3-4 cloves garlic, crushed. I like garlic
Dried rosemary and thyme equal parts: about a 1 tsp or more
Course black pepper and sea salt: equal parts
Put in crock pot with:
2 bay leaves
1 large sweet onion cut thin onion ring style
2 cups beef broth
potatoes for starch/thickener
1-2 tbsp olive oil.

low heat, cook till smells ready to eat or 8-10 hours.

you can thicken the broth with flour or cornstarch when done if desired.