I am very disappointed with how tough my elk meat is. I shot a spike this year (late October) and worked my butt off getting the meat packed out. I had not gotten an elk since 1996 though I have hunted hard every year. Now I find that the meat is very tough and it is most disheartening. The spike took one bullet to the liver and ran off about 75 yards before piling up dead. So clean one shot kill. Meat was well taken care of but is still tough. The tenderloin has been very good and tender but the backstrap steak and the sirloin tip steak that I have cooked thus far were like boot leather. I barbequed the backstrap steak like I normally do. I decided to try breading the sirloin in seasoned flour and fry in butter with some water and a lid. Both were tough. Any ideas on what I can do with my steaks to get them tender? Thanks, Rufous.

Assuming that you're not overcooking the meat, try soaking the meat in buttermilk for about 20-30 minutes.

Then cook meat until it's rare-medium rare.

Geroge

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

These bull elk (although a spiker is a bit surprising to me) can be tough! If George's suggestion doesn't work - use a pressure cooker. Great flavour and very tender!!!

When frying, cook real fast on high heat.

Or, simmer in gravy or a sauce real slow.

If that don't work, use a pressure cooker or make TONS of jerky.

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Jesus is the reason for the season.

One (compound) word: Crockpot.

Beyond that, to be honest, my experience was much like yours -- I have ended up cutting most of the round steaks into stew meat for goulash, barley stew & the like.

John

Did you let the meat hang for a proper time? It's an old saying, and a good one, that you should let your meat hang for 40 days temperature. That means, if it's 5 C , you can let the meat hang for 8 days, 8 C means 5 days etc. The place you hang the meat should be well ventilated and screened from flies. I've used this rule-of-thumb a lot and it works very well for me. The worst thing you could do is to prepare (slaughter and pack away in the freezer) the meat while it is still in rigor-mortis. That's a sure way of turning good meat into leather!

May just be the luck of the draw but with a spike I find it hard to beleive. I agree on the CROCKPOT theory though, they work really well on tough meat.
Best bull I ever had was the previously wounded one I shot last year. Poor guy was being bugged by coyotes, had been wounded (badly) 24 hours prior and he tasted the best! Go figure???

FN

Try to heat the meat in aluminum-folie at low temperature (75 degrees Celsius). It is necessary to use several hours to get the temperature inside the steak high enough (about 70 degrees C.).

Make a marinate of 1/2 BBQ sauce and 1/2 Zesty Italian Salad Dressing. Give it an extra shot of lime juice and let your steaks marinate overnight in the fridge. Cook over coals. This has always worked for me on tough old bulls.

Mac

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When hunting and fishing get in the way of your job, it is time to quit the job!

Any tough cut of meat can be made fork tender with the judicious application of heat, moisture and time. Other than tenderloin and backstraps which I serve gilled and pretty rare, I tend to cook my game meat using some sort of wet braise or stewing method. Just takes a little time and a slow simmer.
Here's a recipe for venison stroganoff which you can substitute elk for if you wish:

--2 lbs lean venison cut into 1" cubes
--seasoned flour to dredge the meat.
--vegetable oil to brown the meat
--1-2 onions depending on size
--about 37 cloves of garlic (OK maybe an exageration)
--one can of beef broth
--1 cup good dry red wine (cabernet or Merlot)
--about 2 lbs mushrooms sliced (you can get fancy here and add wild mushrooms like shittakes or portabellas if you want...if not then fresh button mushrooms will work fine.
--2 tablespoons ketchup
--1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
--Worcehster sauce to taste
--1 lb of medium egg noodles
--1/3 stick butter
--poppey seeds (optional)
--about 1 cup of sour cream
--1/8 teaspoon of marjorum and thyme.
--1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
--salt and pepper to taste.

Coat the meat with the flour and brown in a deep saute pan or large dutch oven. Don't crowd the meat or it will steam. Do in batches if you have to. After the meat has been browned saute the onions and garlic for a little while...until they are opaque. Then add the herbs, parsley, wine, mustard/ketchup, worchester and beef broth add water to bring the liquid over the meat. Bring to a low simmer and cover. Cook until meat is tender...anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. Add the fresh mushrooms and continue to cook for about 15 more minutes. Cook your noodles in a pot of salted boiling water. WHen they are done add the butter and poppey seeds. The liquid in the meat should be reduced and slightly thick by now. fold in about 2/3 cup of the sour cream. Adjust salt and pepper and worchester to taste. Serve the stroganoff over the buttered noodles with a small dollop of sour cream on top.

I shot an old buck deer and it was literally like leather. I was going to throw it out and my grandpa took some meat and threw it in the crockpot (slow cooker) and let it cook all day, like from breakfast until 5pm.
It was so tender it flinched when you brought the fork out. It literally fell apart and tasted good too. Give it a try.

Now I have never tried it on venison, but it works well with tough cuts of beef. Soak the meat in egg whites for about an hour and don't over cook venison. the enzimes in the eggs whites break down the beef. I bet it would work on veison to. Crockpots do work wonders as they have already told you.
JMHO X-Ring

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Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition!

There are two tenderizers known to me
first from the super market: tenderizers containing Papaverin ,same as pine apple fresh I think
2nd: easier to come by: let meat soak in frig in straight unadulterated Coca Cola.As long as it takes.The acid tenderizes particularily if you let it into the meat by first slashing it,also eliminates overly strong gamy taste of prime deer.

sheephunter

in the morning break out your crockpot. arrange you steaks in the bottom with a little lawrys, minced garlic, sliced onion and a bay leaf if you have one handy. Add 1/2 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (add no water). go to work. Come home, make large pot of mashed potatoes. put the steaks on a plate along with a large portion of potatoes. Ladle gravy over everything. Keep a large hunk of bread handy to sop with. Feel sorry for the President 'cause no matter what he's having, it ain't that good. Should be able to cut meat with a fork. You may need to whisk the gravy a bit to completely blend it.

If we're trading recipes, I'll just point you to a couple of cookbooks by A.D. Livingston, who is a big crockpot fan.

"Good Vittles" has several crockpot recipes including the goulash I made last week. The recipe calls for lean beef and pork -- I used elk and leftover cured ham. Mmmm.

His "Venison Cookbook" and "Wild Turkey Cookbook" have excellent recipes as well. I am saving a rump roast to encrust in rock salt, one of his recipes that sounds wonderful.

John

The best tenderizer I have ever used was a food processor. Yep, the first deer I ever shot was an old tough doe, tasted fine but unable to eat it. Tonight, I had very fine venison tacos made with her meat. What I did was debone and cut the meat up into useable portions and froze the whole thing. When I am ready for spaghetti, burgers, tacos, chili, etc, I get a package of frozen out and cube it up, then put it in the food processor (forget those hand crank grinders) to make perfect ground venison. MMmm mmm good. I am never disappointed.

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~Ann

Every day spent outdoors is the best day of my life.

I am very appreciative of your replies. It is strange but somehow I feel my manhood is at stake here. I do not feel it is sufficient to bring home the bacon (in this case the elk meat). It has got to be good eating. Thanks again, Rufous.

I would have to agree with everyone here and their input. I really have to agree with Wachtel because I've never needed crockpots or the like if the deer, elk, moose, etc. was hung for a while. Wachtel's timetable is right on too. Hang it, process it, and the rest is easy.

I shot the elk on a Saturday and got the meat to the butcher on Monday. He cut and wrapped it Wednesday so it hung for nearly the proper time. Rufous.

The hanging theory is, well, bunk. It works on beef because of the intermuscular fat. There's no intermuscular fat on most all game.

I shot an ancient (12 years according to the teeth) old bull elk this year, and did not retrieve him until the next day (bad shot).

Carried him out, and had him cut and wrapped the next day. In other words, EVERYTHING was "wrong" about this elk.

But, he is tender, and very tasty.

The 3 point deer my father in law shot this year was young, gutted within 5 minutes, and hanging at the processor's within 90 minutes of the shot. It's tough and gamey.

I just wish I knew ahead of time!

One thing that helps with cooking ODORS, which can be the worst of game (and seafood) is to add a little Vermouth to the oil. FWIW, Dutch.

rufus-

I don't think anyone has mentioned this and something to consider...you may not be use to game meat. Beef and elk will be very different. Generally speaking elk will be much tougher than beef and may take awhile to become accustomed to the difference. To help with your 'boot leather' problem an easy cure is a wooden tenderizing mallet.

Hope you enjoy your spike, any elk in the freezer is a good elk.

Never add water when frying elk meat! Use butter and as litttle as possible with some salt and black pepper to taste. Heat is right when you can just hear a sizzle while frying. Rare to medium works best with elk. Even in stews the more water you add the tougher the meat will be. I usually add beer for moisture in stew.

I prefer to add the beer to the cook.

Look up a recipe for steak Dianne and team it up with spike's mallet.

The classic beef burgundy with a bit of additional tomato paste and some carrots will work well as a break from the standard stew.

I had a tough one a couple of years back that made a great sausage when mixed with 30% pork. If that interests you there are a number of good recipes (italian, summer,etc)around. I have a good german one that I'll send you if you're interested.

rufous,

One thing no one has mentioned yet. Perhaps you don't have your tender spike elk after all. Unless your butcher guarantee's that you will get the same animal that you brought in, you may have someone else's tough old Elk.

I have always processed my own game, until last year. For a number of reasons I was unable to process my deer last year, so I searched until I found a butcher that guaranteed I would receive the same deer that I brought in. Not all would guarantee that.

I'm not trying to sow seeds of doubt about your butcher, but it may be a possibility.

Mark.

How long did you "age" it before butchering?

According to my daughter the Sous chef....

Beef you buy in the supermarket (in the US)is aged 20-30 days before butchering. A little less in the midwest.
Most restaraunt quality beef is aged 45 to 90 days.(it hangs at 38-40 degrees) If your critter was cut up within a day or two, it's gonna be tough no matter how you cook it. You can try to thaw and re-freeze it, that will help break down the muscle fiber and long slow cooking techniques(like in a crock pot) also will help breakdown the tough fibers.

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Don't tread on me!
Pennsylvania Frank