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Curious how most of you consume your elk meat and mostly in what form..

For my venison, i make jerky, burger, and tenderloin steaks. Some sausage here and there but thats it for the most part.. we really like venison burgers...

Is there anything i should look at for elk that i may be missing from my venison experiences?

Thanks Ben

Backstraps get cut into 3rds and frozen separately to be cut into steaks.

Hams go to roasts in 2-3 lb sections. Sirloins and rounds can be cut into steaks, but are tougher than backstraps. Another great way to eat these roasts is to cut them cross grain into 3 inch sections and then with the grain into the 1 inch sections and throw it in the crock pot for 7 hours with BBQ sauce (for pulled-pork style burgers), or any Mexican sauce made by Herdez (they make a ton of them, check them out on Walmart.com) will make an incredible taco.

I don't cut my meat into steaks till I want to eat it.

I don't use any of my elk for sausage. I think it's wasted on sausage because the burger is so good. My deer I basically follow the same plan, but instead of burger, I make breakfast sausage, hot links, polish sausage, and brats.

I had a supplier buy me dinner two nights ago. I think that steak was the first beef I've had in almost a year.

Elk fajitas...Elk Stroganoff...Elk heart sandwiches...Elk pot pie...

I make sausage over the winter months after the burger is packaged

I use a vacuum sealer and put the meat in those little foam disposable bowls that really helps in the freezer.

I can't man up enough for that one...

love the elk taco idea, thanks idyll

I always start with the est. age of the animal I shoot. It's where every hunter should start but is rarely thought about. Remember that beef served in the US is 2 yo or younger with 2 being the max age for quality.

Here's my guidelines:

1. Animal younger than 3 yo. This is a PRIME animal and where you start thinking about steaks galore. This animal will give you your best tablefare if handled properly. There's nothing that will beat it!

2. Animal 3-5 yo: Backstraps/Loins definitely. Other steaks with caution. Burger/Sausage/Roast/Braising should be bulk of cuts.

3. Animal 5+ yo: Roasts/Burgers/Sausage. This animal is prime for slow cooking or grinding. Don't even think about steaks outside of backstrap. You are just plain wishing.

One nice thing with large game like Elk/Moose is their bones are great for roasted bone marrow. Might sound gross but honestly done right it's amazing.

Things like tongue are also delicious for the adventurous eater.

Outside of that it's very similar to a deer except bigger!

Elk tend to be more steak cuts, and deer/pronghorn end up being more burger.

One new one I learned last year is the Flatiron Steak. It's in the front shoulder. I highly recommend separating out that cut, I found it to be almost as good as the tenderloin.

And then NEVER, NEVER, NEVER grill back straps or tenderloins, beyond MED Rare!

Also, elk ribs, Wonderful.

My best, Paul

I like to bark up the outside, slather on BBQ sauce, and turn em sauce side down...repeat on the other side. Check preferred doneness with a meat thermometer.

Yummy!!!

My girlfriend posts pics of the venison dishes I cook and friends get mad cuz there was no invite to come over! I do roasts for dad's jerky, ground venison for my son, i make his favorite meatloaf and then the rest for me. Doing heart and bone marrow this year. Next thread should be which red wine to serve!!

Tenderloins are kept whole to be grilled whole typically.

Loins are turned into steaks, typically butterflied about 1" thick for the grill and the cast iron skillet.

Sirloin steaks for the grill.

Not more than 4 roasts from the rumps and occasionally I'll cut a roast from the shoulder. I won't say that I don't like roasts because I've had some great elk roast, but more often than not they are just too dry and I'd prefer to do something different with the meat. I was probably raised on too much home grown beef from my grandfather's fields.

Round steaks for Swiss Steak (one of my favorites) in the crock pot.

I'll typically have some end pieces from the loin and the sirloin area that I'll package as stew meat, but we'd just as soon cut a roast or thick round steak into stew meat if needed.

Any of them could be cut up for fajita's. I think I prefer to cook a steak whole with some dry seasoning and leaving it good and pink then slice for fajitas instead of cutting up beforehand and applying a marinade.

The remainder of the meat(neck, ribs, shoulders, rump, shanks, and whatever scrap meat I have) will be turned into burger. I'll trim the worst of the tendons and ligaments before grinding. There is nothing worse or more unappetizing than a piece of chewy or hard crunchy stuff in my burger,so I do what I can to remove it before grinding. Regardless of popular opinion, I grind in beef suet. I grind the meat, then the suet, then blend and grind together. I go by sight most of the time, but have weighed it out with as much as 10% before and it still never produces the grease that 90/10 beef from the store does.

We go through burger like there is no tomorrow in burgers, chili, tacos, spaghetti, vegetable beef soup.....you name it.

I've never killed in "old" bulls, so don't know that I'd do anything different. Maybe I'll have that experience some day and know the difference. We've cut up a couple older cows and I couldn't tell the difference.

I've never tried this on elk (because I don't have any) but some friends showed us a trick for venison. They soak the chops from the back strap overnight in Coca Cola. The next day they dump off the Coke and soak the chops in a generic type marinade for a few hours. Then they put them on the grill and serve them up medium rare. Best venison I have ever tasted.

The problem with going to the freezer right away with processing, is that the meat doesn't get to age. Bad idea.

I always bone it out and hand cut the pieces I want to keep as steaks. You want it to cool off as soon as possible. If its rocky around you, set the cuts onto the rocks as they are much cooler that the air or ground.

I put everything into meat sacks and haul it out after its cooled.

When I get into camp I go find a stream and cool it all off some more. I rinse and clean the meat and put it back into the sacks and hang in the shade.

I let the water drain out of the hanging meat over night. The next day I pull all the meat out and rinse and cool in the stream again and put it back into the sacks and re-hang. That helps leach out the rut enzymes as well if its a late season bull.

Take it to the meat packager on the third day if you need it packaged and frozen for your trip home if you are out of state.

Matter a fact everyone should get an electric pressure cooker. It's a must for anyone who hunts.

I've also had some canned elk meat shared with me that was really good, but I've not done it myself. It was basically taken out of the jar, pulled apart and heated with barbq sauce then served on sandwich buns. I made a pig of myself and inhaled a couple of them.