I have been fortunate to take a good number of bulls (and one cow) over the years and they, without exception, have been the best tasting animal in our freezer. Murphy’s Law or whatever you want to call it finally caught up to me. This year’s bull was a good sized post-rut bull recovering from all the excitement and chaos associated with the rut.

I’ve killed both bigger and smaller bulls, usually post-rut like this guy. They’ve all been excellent at the table. Not this guy. Tough as nails and not really good in the flavor department either. I wish we had the weather where I could have dry aged him but that was not a possibility down here in the SW GA tropics.

I’ll be sure age my meat at least a week in the fridge before cooking this time and use plenty of pineapple juice in the marinade to break down the tissue.

Any other suggestions from the chef’s out there?

Man that was a fun hunt though!!

Waiting for Saddlesore to weight-in the guy has killed more elk than any person I know....

He shot a old bull a few years back, but still managed to chew through it somehow - only guy I know that complains about possibly having to buy hamburger.

I am working on a a 2018 bull at present that was aged two weeks. Still chewy. Besides hamburger which I have a lot of, I use a crock even for the steaks.

I cook them for about 7-8 hours with beef broth, olive oil, Greek Seasoning, pepper,and a little ground sage. They come out fairly dry ,so you want to save some juice to pour over. I usually do 2-3 at a time and eat one that day, then pull (shred) the rest to make sloppy joes sandwiches, or over biscuits or toast with gravy . About 1/2 way thru the 7-8 hours,I will throw in some cubed potatoes,carrots, and a little bit of celery . Also for a little different taste I sprinkle some dry brown gravy mix on the meat when first putting it in.

Do the same thing in the oven in a dutch oven or roaster, cook at 300-325 for about 5 hours.Cook 3-4 steaks at a time or a roast.

I also take 3-4 steaks out at time and sprinkle Adolph Meat Tenderizer on them after thawing. Put them in a sealed container over night in the refrigerator. Then cook one each day on the grill . Don't use any salt on these as the tenderizer will make them salty enough. These make great fajitas when sliced thin.

I had one bull that took me 5 years to eat and a cow moose almost 6 they were so tough.Luckily I shot a few cows during that time to switch back and forth.I shoot mostly cow snow during ML season as they eat better.Then I hunt rifle season the same year, for the fun of it.In my experience, with the no gut method, the loins/backstrap end up being the toughest because the meat is deboned before it has had the chance to go thru rigor mortis

Going through rigor mortis is apparently an important part of the tenderizing process. I make sure mine goes through this before working him.up.

Son in law owns a Mexican restaurant....I love elk fajitas!!

Thanks for all the suggestions this far.

Hank, great advice from saddlesore. I will add, cube em up, works great, bbq, chicken fried etc

Sous vide method is what I use to tenderize the chewy stuff. It works for me and does not dry meat out either because you can hold a medium-rare temperature for as long as you want. I've been known to leave some chewy cuts in the water bath 12 hours or more.

I am very fortunate today. I have a late season license and killed what looks like a yearling. We got nearly a foot of snow this weekend and it is close enough to my house that I can get it home on a toboggan in one piece, then have lots of time to butcher it.

I've found brining works well for tenderizing and helping with flavor on rutting mule deer bucks. The cuts also seem to not dry out as much when grilling after brining. I mostly just use a little salt + a bit of seasoning rub in ice water for 24 hours.

I've had several elk and a moose that were almost too tough to chew. Every one was dressed by the no-gut method, boned before they went into rigor. I quit doing that and haven't had a tough one since.

I think every elk and deer I've killed or seen killed in the last 20 years has been quick quartered , excepting maybe 3 or 4 that were recovered whole or split and quartered in the traditional manor. I do not think in and of itself this method decreases quality or taste much at all. When conditions allow I generally leave the hide on until processing. If it's too warm, or I'm lacking horsepower or motivation, the hide comes off. The few animals that lacked slightly in table quality were either very old, in poor condition, or went from living to frozen in very short order (I think MD called this "frost shortening" in another thread). So I try to avoid my meat freezing in the first 48 hours, I try to shoot younger prime animals, and I wrap all boneless trim in plastic wrap to age in the fridge.

I think some animals are going to be tough or taste slightly "off" regardless of care and aging. For those rare circumstances nothing beats a canner. Either pressure cook the meat or can it. I like to add a splash of tomato juice or vinegar if I suspect taste to be off. This is similar to saddlesore's crockpot cooking advise above, just a quicker method to get there.

Once in while, one simply strikes out. Bagged an Idaho deer once that was horrid table fare. I don't know why, as it was well cared for. Had a different texture and an accompanying bad aroma. Neighbor's dogs really liked it though.

I've also had a few instances where I was concerned about hang time and warm temps and ended up with great cuts.

Rarely bone in the field as most of our trips are of an extended nature. I experience a lot of trim loss with that much surface area exposed for long durations. Interstate travels, however, almost always mandate removal of the spine and brains before coming home.

In my experience, it's a case of garbage in = garbage out. No sure fire cures for the sow's ear.

My bull 3 years ago was a tuff old guy. We made lots of soups and stews and used the pressure cooker. The taste was fine and burgers were great.

Sous Vide.... 12 hours plus, its hard to over do it. Sea salt and pepper, and I put in a small splash of olive oil.

Buy an Instapot.

That the same as a porta poop you use in the woods?

No. Instapot is an electric pressure cooker that has quite a few functions. You can do in an hour what your crockpot does overnight. Or simply use it like a crock pot. Some have sous vide settings as well.

Super handy and will make shoe leather chewable.

I was wondering, as my first guess might end up being the correct one given how this one turned out.

Diet makes a difference. Quite a few years ago, my BIL and I got 2 does in a late season hunt NE of Boise. It was close to 0 and we did it all right in caring for the meat. I don't know what they'd been eating but the meat on both was rank, totally inedible. The smell when cooking would permeate the kitchen. Even the dogs wouldn't eat it - literally. We ended up throwing both deer out. There was some plant up there that they'd been feeding on that was pretty strong.

Had the same experience years ago with a pair of blacktail. Wife would mix 1/4 pound venison with beef burger for meat loaf.
I could smell it 100 yards away in the shop.
Have one away to a kid with no ability to taste, tossed the other to the coyotes. They wouldn't eat it.
The deer were eating creosote brush during a 10 year drought.

With all the discussion on rigor mortis and the importance of an animal going through the full process prior to cutting up, I’m wondering if that may be a contributing factor in this case. I killed him on the 4th day of my hunt. Because of scheduling, I had to cut him up the next day, with the bull hanging, hide off, in a cooler prior to working up. I’ve only taken one bull, way back when, like that. Usually I can let em hang three, four days before getting him into my coolers for a ride home. That may be it.....or he was just an old rank bull.

Allegro marinade, over night in fridge or longer. Been using it for 10 years whether the steak needs it or not. I get it at Wally World

Chemical refinery "soy sauce" based. No thanks.

Lmao

The main ingredient is hydrolyzed soy protein, i.e. fake soy sauce. Make your own marinade using real brewed soy sauce for a marked improvement.

I watched a YT video of a chef showing how to "dry brine" meat in a coarse salt bath. Required very coarse salt, and the process was pretty fast (15 minutes).
Something I'm going to try one of these days.

https://youtu.be/vfZDUVNpjn4

Follow up: Grilled some marinated back straps today that had been resting in the fridge for over a week. Still foul tasting and tough as an old boot.

Still wouldn’t trade the hunt I had for nothin. Life goes on. Might just thaw all my meat and grind it up for burger.

How ya like the antelope Hank?

Sorry to hear that Hank.

Your pineapple juice addition to marinade is SOP at the SKane household these days.

This will help:



Chili Colorado and like recipes may help.

Man! That antelope is delicious! The shewolf has told me to go get her another one this next year so our son and I are headed west ...

Scott glad you like that pineapple juice trick...it works...usually, just not with this bull.

280, got one ...going to use it next time.

Have to give the pineapple juice a try. We also have a tough bull from this year.

Can’t explain this one either?

Id grind it, can it or cube it. Probably all three.