I was recently in the Northern rockies (Wyoming, Idaho, etc), and of course, some menus listed elk or buffalo in some form.
I ordered a dish that had elk *loin*, and it didn't taste very different from beef. As I thought about it, I realized that the reason was that there's probably more taste in fat than in protein, especially lean protein.
I also had an elk "chop"--actually, some elk attached to a piece of bone--and it was similarly low in taste.
I have two questions about this stuff:
1. What happens to the other parts of the animal? Where can you order the elk or buffalo (etc) chops, roasts, etc? Liver? Etc.
2. Do elk, buffalo, etc actually have a taste that differs significantly from beef?
A few game meat addresses for you:
http://www.gamemeat.com/venison.html
To me, buffalo tastes like how I wish beef tasted. A rare ground buffalo burger will make you want to never eat a beef burger ever again.
And it's been a long time since I've had a buffalo steak, but I remember it just tasting leaner and more flavorful than run of the mill supermarket beef.
Agreed. I don't know where you are geographically, but Devon in Monrovia(Los Angeles area)serves elk and wild boar.
Definitely meats from different mammals taste different!
As far as bison go, I have seen bison liver for sale, so it seems that it would be available. Bison meats are available for sale in the meat case at all Whole Foods stores in my area (the Triangle of NC), you may want to check there or at a local natural/organic foods store. Bison tends to be much leaner than beef; definitely keep that in mind when preparing it. If you prepare it the same way you do beef, you'll end up with an incredibly dry piece of meat. The flavor of bison would be closer to that of grass-fed beef than grain fed.
The only elk I've ever tried was game elk rather than domesticated elk. I remember the meat was quite flavorful, and almost sweet. It was prepared simply (rubbed with a garlic clove, seasoned with s & p, and grilled to med. rare), and did not have a "gamey" taste at all. I am not sure what domesticated elk tastes like, that could account for the lack of flavor.
Bison are basically the same shape and size as beef cattle and are fabricated pretty much the same way. Some of the offal is coveted- liver, heart, tripe- and is available by request, by advance special order from some of the vendors mnosyne linked. Most of what is available however are the rib and loin cuts, a few specialty plate/brisket cuts (skirt, flank, sometimes hanger), shanks, and rounds. Most of the rest is ground up for burgers and hot dogs.
As for the antlered beasties- at this time there is no such thing as "domesticated" deer, elk, antelope, or caribou- what OrganicGal is referring to is "ranched" cervenae (latin for deer & elk). Though hunted animals are deeper in flavor because of their rugged lifestyles and varied diets- the meat can be too extreme for our domesticated palates and is usually quite tough (hense the preponderence of braised, stewed & ground game recipes). The ranched stuff is basically free-range and grass fed- grain finished- it is slaughtered young while still tender and tends to be much more consistant in size- useful for portion control in restaurants. Because they havent been fully domesticated and bred into flavorless meat cubes on legs, yet, even the ranched venison has a lot more flavor than cheap beef.
I brought 4 venison tenderloins to my father's house for a birthday meal- each one had a distinct flavor from the next- some tasted almost like lamb, some tasted more livery/gamey, and some had a more neutral flavor- closer to strong beef.
Your original post, Howard_2, is a pretty good question- to me, I think grass fed beef tastes different from grain fed, tastes different from lamb, tastes different from pig, tastes different from rabbit, tastes different from pheasant, tastes differnt from duck... of all of those, only pheasant tastes anything like chicken ;^) My point being- beef tastes good when it is distinctly beefy, and though lamb is another fatty red meat, it is best when it is distinctly "lamby." Cervenae- the antlered beasts- taste more like lamb than anything else (actually, they taste more like goat- kid) but venison is "venisony" the same way that beef is "beefy." Buffalo- even a good one- tastes quite a bit like grassfed beef with a certain je ne sais quois.
Sorry to go on and on... as any cook will tell ya, the best way to learn is to taste- expect variation from animal to animal, cook nothing past medium, and remember that anything braised with carrots, celery, onions, and red wine tastes like carrots, celery, onions, and red wine- alligator, antelope, bear, caribou, deer, elk, frog, goat, grouse, goose, hare, iguana (aparently takest like fish, actually), kangaroo, llama, lion, mutton, ostrich, pheasant, quail, rabbit, squab, snake, turkey, wild boar, yak, and zebra- all have distinct flavors that can be almost completely masked by overcooking in a heavy braising liquid!
They make bison hot dogs?
There are bison hot dog stands in Alaska.
Weird... my second hot dog chat in as many hours on as many boards!
Yup- I have had bison hotdogs... I'm sorry to say they were the worst meat product I've ever put in my mouth- It was the brand, not the product... the company I worked for where I learned about game meats has been developing a line of game meat bratwurst- it doesn't seem as much of a stretch to say "buffalo sausage with chipotles"
Organic Gal.
With no intent to offend other contributors your post was uniquely concise and accurate.
Critters taste like what they are BUT where they are, what they have been eating how old they are , whether male in rut etc. etc. all can effect flavor.
In my considerable experience the biggest obstacles to enjoying ALL game is bad handling after the kill and over cooking/marinading .
As you have suggested we have grown accustomed to bland meat, slaughtered too young .
Even farmed "game" is homogenizing to some degree.
Having been raised on varmints and poached large game i love them all!
Thanks for an excellent post.
dick
Cervidae. No, I'm not being a prat, it is just important if you want to do a google search. I know that not out of any deep font of knowledge, but because the French "cervidés" (deer family) is very similar to the Latin root.
An Argentine friend, not satisfied with the beef here ("here" is Montréal), was enthralled with her first taste of bison.
I usually buy the ground bison, for budget reasons, and find it very good indeed. At the Jean-Talon Market, one can also find ground red deer (cerf rouge) for 9,90$ (Canadian, of course) a kilo - as there is no waste or shrinkage it is not very expensive. I have bought game roasts, etc, but they were a treat, usually for friends from Europe.
I have Native relatives - I'm not part Native, this is through marriage etc - and have had the opportunity to have game hunted by Inuit and Amerindians - yes, it can be tough simply because the animal exercised and was very low in fat, but it is delicious if properly cooked, and of course chemical-free.
I've found the meats to be quite full of flavor. Definitely leaner and less fat, so it might also depend on how it is prepared.
I've had elk, bison, and ostrich. I find bison and ostrich too lean, unflavored, and too expensive. I also find they're a pain to cook; there's no room to make a mistake on doneness. If you overcook bison and ostrich, it's an expensive lesson in sawdust preparation. Elk and other game animals I've enjoyed immensely but they're too expensive to prepare in place of beef. There are several stores in the SF Bay Area that sell elk, antelope, bison, ostrich, boar, etc. A Halal butcher (about two miles from me) is where I get elk and antelope when I want to make a special meal.
I'll give a good nod to buffalo. It's rich and satisfying without being too "gamey."
I've never cooked ostrich, but I've had it in some good tacos in Portland. Closer to beef than to chicken, but yes, definitely leaner in taste.
I like the smooth texture of Ostrich, which is sort of a cross between a filet of beef and raw chicken when cooked rare, but the leaness makes it kind of bland.
Bison is slightly beefier than beef, but a lot of the time you'd be hard pressed to distinguish it from beef if no one told you what it was.
Buffalo is delicious. montanabuffalo.com sells a wide variety at good prices...their buffao brisket and hot dogs/Italian suasage and bratwurst are great, as is their bison pastrami.
I grew up in Buffalo, Wyoming and have eaten Elk and White-tailed and Mule Deer all my life. And its all about how you cut your meat to begin with. Like when we make our burgers instead of using suet (basically lard or fat) we get bags of bacon ends and bits and this adds a nice flavor and texture to it. To me I would take an elk or deer burger over a beef burger anyday or a straight generic cut steak as well. However if i'm going for a certain cut say the back-straps aka the "fish" i'd take a deer or elk but if its going to be a cube steak or a t-bone or new york cut i'm gonna take beef. And where i'm from if you ever get the chance get a hold of Schiermiester's from Kaycee, Wyoming. They have the best beef this side of the Mississippi.
I have had buffalo, venison, and emu and liked all of them. I agree with Pei that once you have a buffalo burger you will never want ground beef again! Now, if I could only remember where I got that one!
They sell buffalo meat at our local grocery store. Sometimes it's ground and sometimes it's steaks. The butcher insists that he is going to keep stocking it until more people start trying it. It's a certain brand, but I don't know the name.
I eat quite a bit of ground bison and bison burgers. You cannot overcook them! Definitely more "finicky" than ordinary ground beef, but also a deeper, richer flavor. I'm lucky enough to get the meat at my local farmer's market (June-Oct.) and I've gotten some to tide me over for the winter (a local bison rancher sells pastured bison meat at the market). I do have a couple of bison steaks in the freezer, but I've not cooked the steaks before. I had so-so luck with a bison pot roast, but I think it was *me* not the bison meat! The burgers, though, are out of this world if grilled properly!
I'm lucky too, in that this particular rancher sells a fabulous buffalo-pork summer sausage. In fact, I've got a couple of sticks of sausage in the freezer that will be making the long trip to SE Penna. as one of my dad's Christmas gifts. He loves it! And I gave a stick of the hot (cayenne pepper) buffalo summer sausage to my best friend from Christmas, a VERY welcome gift.
i'm also a big fan of bison (call it bison when ordering from a butcher or farmer, not buffalo) and will repeat other posters' good advice: don't overcook. much leaner and "beefier" than most beef, similar to very good grass-fed beef. farmed bison is an environmentally friendly pastured livestock option, because bison don't pull up grasses by the roots, contributing to erosion, like cattle do. i also like yak for stews and slow braises. elk can be great when prepared well and i've found it to have great flavor.
some more, er, down-home pricing on bison:
http://www.shop.specialtycheese.com/c...
bbqboy: that full-circle site looks great as well, i gotta say!
Digging this up from '07....I don't want to hear I should have searched first.
I have been gifted with several one pound packages of frozen ground elk from a hunting trip in No Cal. Apparently s/he was very large, if that means anything.
I tried my first ever sausage in casings, and it went well, given only two of us will eat it. The "hunter" and his family said it was good as well. And offered more elk, and I shrieked "we still have plenty!".
So now I want to try Moroccan meat balls.
So I used this recipe, but with 50:50 ground elk, and pork shoulder.
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12...
I also added a "little bit" (1/2 tsp ?) of "African curry" from Whole Spice in Napa, a "little bit" of "ras al hanout", and "a little bit" of ground grains of paradise from there as well...I really wanted to get some use out of these.....haven't tasted yet. It's "melding ".
Anything I should consider, given the elk/pork shoulder blend before I cook? I would like the bit of gaminess I expect from lamb. Would this be similar? I plan on doing the harrissa tomato sauce.
by Jen Wheeler | Need a spring vegetable guide to what's in season? Consider this your spring produce cheat sheet—complete...
by Rachel Johnson | Whether the kids are still distance learning or returning to a classroom, with school back in session...
by Kelly Magyarics | You’ve sprung for a gorgeous piece of enameled cast iron cookware; protect your investment by cleaning...
by Debbie Wolfe | Home chefs love wood cutting boards because they are durable and reliable. Wood boards are attractive...