On a recent Meateater podcast, Steve Rinella was hunting in Tanzania and commented on how good African game animals taste when compared to the USA elk etc. Bearing in mind that the African animals hunted and consumed were all older trophy quality males....I have eaten European rhebuck, reindeer, wild boar etc but never the American variety of antelope. We eat game meat most days, and with minimal spices and preparation they are very tasty, seldom if ever a "wild" taste. Wondering what the general consensus is.

Watching. I am frankly not a fan of deer venison, and find elk -- and better, moose, more palatable. Never had antelope except as jerky so that doesn't count.
The kudu, gemsbok and mountain zebra we had in Namibia was delicious.

None of our game animals are antelope.

Moose, elk, and deer are all cervids.

Pronghorn is closer to a goat, and the mountain goat is a goat.

We do have very limited mountain sheep as well. They do not taste like domestic sheep at all.

Bison is rather comparible to other bovines.

In my mind, antelope taste closer to our domestic animals than to deer. It is a lot less gamey tasting than our deer.

I do think that the fact that your game is generally found quickly and processing starts almost immediately is a large part of why in general African game tastes better. I personally don’t think that you can generically state “antelope taste better than North American game meat”… occasionally I’ve had fairly strongly tasting African animals, and I would put the moose I shot in AK up against eland, although eland does tend to have more inter muscular fat than moose.

I like pretty much everything except bushpig --- I've seen what they eat under cat baits, but I think eland is the best and most of the African antelope are quite good, wildebeest is a bit course. That said, you really can't compare to venison on this side of the pond. It's just different. Would be like comparing lamb and veal and beef. I like them all.

Folks,

The pronghorn and dall sheep are my favorites for NA game by a long way. Pre rut deer and elk can be pretty mild. A rutty buck is a little hard to take. Moose was always our staple in AK and better than caribou.

My favorite African game is Tommy chops shot that day followed by a hartebeest backstrap that I got to cook myself. Leopard tenderloin fried in butter and garlic is pretty special too.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Folks,

The pronghorn and dall sheep are my favorites for NA game by a long way. Pre rut deer and elk can be pretty mild. A rutty buck is a little hard to take. Moose was always our staple in AK and better than caribou.

My favorite African game is Tommy chops shot that day followed by a hartebeest backstrap that I got to cook myself. Leopard tenderloin fried in butter and garlic is pretty special too.

Mark

Leopard tenderloin or back straps are better than most people realize. Quite good, IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Folks,

The pronghorn and dall sheep are my favorites for NA game by a long way. Pre rut deer and elk can be pretty mild. A rutty buck is a little hard to take. Moose was always our staple in AK and better than caribou.

My favorite African game is Tommy chops shot that day followed by a hartebeest backstrap that I got to cook myself. Leopard tenderloin fried in butter and garlic is pretty special too.

Mark

Leopard tenderloin or back straps are better than most people realize. Quite good, IMO.

I heard a story of a hunter who shot a leopard, and insisted on eating it all himself!

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
None of our game animals are antelope.

Moose, elk, and deer are all cervids.

Pronghorn is closer to a goat, and the mountain goat is a goat.

We do have very limited mountain sheep as well. They do not taste like domestic sheep at all.

Bison is rather comparible to other bovines.

In my mind, antelope taste closer to our domestic animals than to deer. It is a lot less gamey tasting than our deer.

I do think that the fact that your game is generally found quickly and processing starts almost immediately is a large part of why in general African game tastes better. I personally don’t think that you can generically state “antelope taste better than North American game meat”… occasionally I’ve had fairly strongly tasting African animals, and I would put the moose I shot in AK up against eland, although eland does tend to have more inter muscular fat than moose.

I have never served “gamey” venison/whitetail deer. Feed it to a non-hunter every week who use to be anti hunting until eating my venison. That was a 5 plus year old buck too.

Folks spend dang near C note for dry aged beef. All that is, nothing but controlled rot that makes the beef taste, guess what, gamey.

You may not have deliberately served gamey meat to a nonhunter, but if you shoot enough, eventually you will get a rutted up old buck that just doesn’t taste good regardless.

There is a reason why mostly folks don’t eat bull cattle.

As to dry aged beef and gamey flavor, I can’t say I noticed that on the very rare occasions that I have ate it.

I generally don’t do that because it’s a lot more money, and I don’t think it’s “better” than normal beef flavor wise. It may well be more tender, but I think even a regular round steak is plenty tender enough to eat.

I’ve ate more different things than most. I’m not that picky, and willing to try most things once.

I don’t care for flaky fish… how do I know that? I’ve ate it more than once. I could eat it again tonight if I had to, whether because it was all there was and I was very hungry, or if it was a socially required gesture, but give me the option, no.

Kind of the same with dry aged beef. I can eat it, it’s fine, it tastes good, but $100 for something I can get for $20 is just silly to me.

Deer? I’ve had that be so tender and succulent that no one complains except for the vegans.

The choice of recipe, care given to the animal after it was killed, how well it was killed all play a role in how it tastes. Deer venison tastes like deer. Some folks don’t like it. Some deer is gamier than others, but in general its flavor is more gamey and stronger than African antelopes. Again, in general.