Any hints on how to cook ELK

sprinter

Hey all,[p]The husband of a woman who works with my wife recently went hunting in Canada and got a pretty decent sized Elk. He was gracious enough to give me a steak off of it but I have NO IDEA how to cook it. I'm not sure if Elk is a gamey tasting animal or if it would cook up like a normal hunk of beef. I'm assuming its more on the lean side but not sure what flavor to expect. The freezer paper wrapper says "Elk Round Steak" and it feels like its about 3-4 pounds of meat. The package is about 3 inches thick and an oval about 14 inches lengthwise and 7 inches width wise. Not sure if its one steak or two. He did'nt remember how many were in the package either, said it could be one large steak folded in half for smaller packaging. My wife asked him how big the steaks were and he made about a 14-16 inch circle with his hands. I can imagine a round steak from an elk would be pretty big. Anyway any hints or suggestions would be appreciated. Feeling somewhat Fred Flintsoneish with this, really intrigued to see how it comes out.[p]Troy

Nature Boy

sprinter,
I can only help on describing the flavor of Elk, as I have eaten, but not cooked it. The elk I had was definitely very lean, and also extremely rich and dense. I don't recall a gamey taste, and it was some of the finest meat I have eaten. A little goes a long way. I remember it was very tender.[p]My guess would be to cook it like a steak....a sear and then roast til done.
Keep us posted! You will enjoy it.
NB

YB

sprinter,
This might help,I have a friend that said it tasted like vinison.
Larry
[ul][li]Elk Recipes[/ul]

Marvin

sprinter,
I've had the pleasure of cooking and eating elk, both wild and farm raised. Whatever you might do to venison, do the same to elk. As stated, high temps and short cooks. HOWEVER, be aware that up to 1% of the elk in Wyoming has a form of "mad cow disease". There is no case of this being transmitted to humans at this time, but be warned: the potential is there. The State of Wyoming will test the brains of any elk killed in their State for free, but this is not a guarauntee that it is free of the prions. I just had this discussion with my son-in-law who just shot a 700 lb elk and debated about sending meat home. His wife said "NO"; his parents (in their 70's) said "fine" (it takes a lot of years to get the disease). There's a lot on the Web about this, and would recommend reading it before searing that very tasty meat.
Regards,
Marvin

YB

sprinter,
I meant "Venison"
Larry

Citizen Q

Marvin,
Isn't Mad Cow preventable by properly cooking infected meat?

ColoradoCook

sprinter,[p]You generally would brine pork and poultry products and not red meat because of the fat content but you have to wonder if Elk or Venison would benefit from a good brine, especially the leaner cuts. You might try the brine recipe from Cook's Illustrated that I gave in a post after this one. With that much meat, brine one half and compare the taste. Make sure you pat it dry so it sears well. Let us know how it comes out.[p]CC

Marvin

Afraid not, Citizen Q. It's a weird disease caused by "pre" viruses. These are not destroyed even with the temps that can be acheived on the egg. Regards, Marvin

DTM

sprinter,
Well sprinter you do have a fine piece of meat there. An elk
round is similar to a beef round in that it is not as tender as a
loin piece. Loin steaks I grill hot and quick and rare. My preference for round is either a fajita marinade, quick seared and thin sliced across the grain or my favorite, chicken fried with cream gravy and mashed spuds.
Re: Chronic wasting disease. The malady is present in some game herds. Mostly on farm raised animals which I object to anyway. Don't know but 1% seems too high in the wild population. It's caused by a prion, really a relatively simple protien sequence that gets replicated in the cell. Unlike mad cow there has been no proven human pathologies.
But there have been two cases that are suspect.
I eat it and grew up on it so all I can say for sure is you should be safe for 51 years.
DTM