The worst thing you can do to elk is over cook it. Medium is almost over cooked for me. My favorite is to marinate in Italian dressing for about 8hrs, get the grill extremely hot and basically sear the outside. Letting the meat rest for a couple minutes after removing from the grill will result in near culinary perfection. Add some green chili and fried potatoes. If I was headed to the chair tomorrow that'd be my last meal. (unless there was some antelope blackstrap available)
Young bull or cow Tenderloins - Whole Backstraps - Butterfly steaks 1 Hind - Grind for burger 1 hind - roasts, more steaks Shoulders - maybe some steaks(flatirons), grind for burger/sausage, jerky
Big old stinky bull Sausage with plenty of seasoning
Steaks for the best cuts, burger for most of the shoulders, neck, etc.. (we do a lot with burger). I cut and vacuum seal the jerky meat myself, and I cut the backstraps into filets the size for two adults, then cook them whole (like a filet mignon you'd get at the restaurant so it's very slightly charred on the outside and rare in the center.
Sometimes I'll vacuum seal some good shoulder chunks for chili meat, stew, etc..
I have mine cut up now as the processing kills my back. I have them cut up just like a deer, though on either deer or elk I have the shoulders all ground.
I may be the only person in the world that simply looks at an Elk and drools over the meat. I am like anyone else in that I would love to kill a big bull with a big set of antlers but I would be almost as happy to shoot a big cow that has big back straps. :)
I'm with Bowfreak! There's no better meat in the freezer than elk meat for me. I have my butcher process it almost the same as if it were a beef. Steaks, roast, and ground. Now if I could only draw a tag!
Backstraps and tenderloins, along with the top (rump) of the hind quarters get cut into steaks. I also save the rib meat, it's delicious to smoke it for a few hours, then shred for sandwiches.
The rest of it I grind and then split up into sausage and burger.
Bone it out cube all the steaks. And mix 12% pork to the trim for burger. And butterfly the back straps. Chicken fry the cube steaks with bread crumbs and flour in olive oil.
LUNG$HOT - I've wondered about doing that, but it seems like a lot of work to cut through all those ribs in the field. I'd be interested in learning an easy way to get the entire rack off.
Save the shanks! I've made Steve Rinella's recipe (on MeatEater website) for venison osso bucco a couple times with beef shanks and it is absolutely fantastic, I can't wait to do it with wild game.
Backstraps, sirloins, and top rounds are for steaks which get frozen in 2-3 lb sections and prepared by slicing 1/2 inch thick and fried in a cast iron skillet in butter and olive oil for 30 seconds/side.
Everything else is for burger with 10% beef fat. IMO, using elk as sausage (I make my deer into breakfast sausage and brats) or jerky is taking away from some seriously good burgers.
We have elk burger and elk steak once a week each in my house - good stuff.
I prefer to cut my steaks closer to an inch thick, makes it easier to keep them rare/medium rare.
I agree with IdyllWildArcher, when I get a deer and an elk I make sausage out of the deer and save the elk for burger.
I only add 6% fat for elk burger though. I know it's on the lean side, but I've found that it's just enough to keep it sticking together without being too fatty. I use 15% for sausage, that's about as lean as you can go. Any less and it dries out in the smoker. Those are the amounts I came up with after a few years of experimenting.
Backstraps cut 1" thick, tenderloins leave whole, Tenderize round steak for country fried steaks, HB everything else. I add pork meat or beef brisket to the hb. sometimes I make pressed jerky, green chili/cheese summer sausage, jal/cheese summer sausage, green chili/cheese brats. I rarely make these out of my elk though and usually make the sausage out of pork. Being a commercial processor gives me all kinds of options.
Lol, i don't know what all the cuts are and I do it myself.
So i have tenderloins & back straps i cut them 4 -6 inches thick and freeze. When I grill them salt, pepper, rosemary, olive oil hot grill all sides, 3 min pr side (not a very hot grill) then slice inside rare outside medium ish.
Small pieces grind or stew meat.
big pieces steak.
Heart 1" slices freeze, then cut small 1/2" x 1/2" cubes or smaller and fry quick in olive oil, cast iron. Then make a stew with gravy.
Liver 3/4" slices, italian bread crumbs, olive oil butter fry to med rare, best if done right away and don't freeze.
Paul@thefort is hunting, but he does ribs. You have to boil them first to get the fat off and tenderize. I've had them and they are good, but you have to pack them out....
I'm with Old Goat on leaving the loins in 8-10" roasts. I can cut them when they're thawed or I may halve them lengthwise
I process everything myself, though.
As with deer, don't cut through the bones and remove all of the fat.
Roasts can be smoked, cooked traditional, crockpot or thawed and sliced for fajitas, cubed for stews or chili....you get the picture.
Why someone would want to grind as much elk as possible is beyond me.
Years ago in New Mexico David Blanton and I scored on the same day, and he was sending his bull to a processor with a cowboy headed to town. David told the cowboy to "just tell them to grind it all."
The room got quiet, and after a few seconds, the cowboy spoke up and said, "Mr. Blanton, it is your elk but nobody I know grinds an entire elk, nobody...if you don't want any steaks, well..."
When I went on a guided hunt with Fulldraw outfitters we had elk back straps cooked on the grill cut/cooked much like you describe. I don't know what they seasoned it with but outside of some African game it was the best iv ever tasted.
