Moose Meat Quality

[SliverShooter]

Both bull moose I killed were middle aged, the meat was/is excellent. I rank it right behind Antelope and Bison equal to big horn and elk. There are a lot of factors that determine if any animal becomes good table fare: How you care for any animal in the field; What it was doing before you killed it: What it does after the bullet/arrow hits it; How fast you recover and cool the meat; How you keep the meat cool (reread KD’s post above); How you avoid contaminating the meat (read AKDoc’s post on the previous page); How you age the meat; How you cut and package it: How it is cooked. Do them all correct, you get good meat. Do any of them wrong and it can affect the taste and/or tenderness.

Try to treat my meat the same as your butcher would if you delivered a cow or pig to his shop to be processed. Not always possible in the field, but I do my best. Usually, the meat from all my game animals is great.

 

[Kevin Dill]

I concur completely with Walt's (SliverShooter) post. From the moment the animal goes down, care for the meat as though it is your most important task. Obviously, job one is getting the animal butchered....a big job on a bull moose. Keep the meat away from any actual dirt, soil or sand. A bit of vegetation like moss or twigs clinging to the meat is of no consequence. Moose hair is coarse and typically rather easy to remove from meat, but it's still best to do what you can to keep it away.

Cooling the meat as quickly as possible is critical. Heat is your enemy and will degrade your meat or render it inedible in a worst case scenario. Do whatever is required to cool meat. This is easy when air temps are cool enough, but what about a dire situation where warm weather hits...a bull gets killed...and you can't get the meat out for days? You'll have to do whatever is necessary, because loss of meat due to warm weather or heat is still a failure on your part in the eyes of the law. Some will find what I'm about to say as contrary to their beliefs....

If it ever comes down to warm weather wasting my meat, I'll be immersing the bags of meat directly in cold water (a creek) as much or long as necessary to chill the meat. I know it's been done and it absolutely saved the meat with no loss of quality. Cold water will wash away some of the blood and cause some blanching of the meat surface, but it will be chilled which is critical. This is obviously a last-ditch effort and shouldn't be (imo) used unless it comes down to preventing spoilage of meat.

 

[JPD350]

I've yet to taste my moose meat this year, I went thru great lengths to make sure everything was done well out in the field and when I packaged it up for shipping at the hangar the meat was quickly broken down and put in totes and taken straight to Alaska Air Cargo. When I picked it up in Denver 4 days later I find out that the meat probably never saw a freezer and not much time in a cooler either even though I shipped Priority/Frozen/meat. One tote bottom was completely destroyed and some of the sharp plastic pieces poked a couple bags and they were leaking. I opened a few bags and smelled them but couldn't detect any rot, I was a pretty bothered! I had to drive to Abq so I found a store that had dry ice and repacked all the meat into coolers and by the time I got to Abq 7 hrs later most bags were starting to freeze, once home I got them all in my freezers and froze them. I just started butchering yesterday and will try some burger this evening, keeping my fingers crossed that it is still good!

 

[Short Track]

That sucks !! I have had problems with UPS, and meat sitting in their depot when it should have been loaded on a plane. But the union guys were too lazy to lift up the box. True story!! I had to pay (pray) the butcher to pick up the meat and re-freeze it. Happened twice.

 

[ColeyG]

I've had meat from 20 different moose at least including a handful of big, old bulls that were taken mid to late rut. The only one I can remember having a strong flavor was a cow that was road kill in December of January. The time of year, manner of death, and care for the meat after the fact likely contributed to that. All of the bulls, young and old, have been excellent.

 

[The_reaper_33]

I feel like I’m spoiled compared to everyone else… moose sounds magical by reading all the comments I thought elk was the magical meat. I shoot moose every year I’ve had it all young, old, butcher by my self hung 2 weeks, butchered by shops hung for weeks…. And the best moose meat is the ones that hasn’t been frozen yet I found freezing the meat decreases the tenderness and increases the gamey taste. But I found there isn’t a dramatic different between young old male female to say shoot this one or that one….. so elk isn’t the magical meat? I been longing to go on a elk hunt

 

[z987k]

I feel like I’m spoiled compared to everyone else… moose sounds magical by reading all the comments I thought elk was the magical meat. I shoot moose every year I’ve had it all young, old, butcher by my self hung 2 weeks, butchered by shops hung for weeks…. And the best moose meat is the ones that hasn’t been frozen yet I found freezing the meat decreases the tenderness and increases the gamey taste. But I found there isn’t a dramatic different between young old male female to say shoot this one or that one….. so elk isn’t the magical meat? I been longing to go on a elk hunt

Elk hunting is more fun.
Moose is the best wild ruminate I've ate.

 

[Mountainrancher]

I’ve eaten meat off two big mature Shiras bulls and it is my favorite wild game meat. The steaks are the only wild game that can compare to beef in my opinion. And if you find that you don’t like the steaks moose makes some of the finest burger you can find.

 

[Model70Man]

Moose = good eats!

 

[VernAK]

I’ve eaten meat off two big mature Shiras bulls and it is my favorite wild game meat. The steaks are the only wild game that can compare to beef in my opinion. And if you find that you don’t like the steaks moose makes some of the finest burger you can find.

Don't forget chili.....

 

[AKDoc]

Don't forget chili.....

Oh yeah…chili, Irish Stew, curry moose, etc., etc…..

 

[VernAK]

Oh yeah…chili, Irish Stew, curry moose, etc., etc…..

Doc,

Every few years, I lay out moose burger on flats in my smoker and smoke it for an hour or so on low heat.
I then pressure can it. Combine that in some Morrison's Pepper Gravy and you have the better biscuits and gravy fixins ever.

For the past 40 years I've had my annual lake trout fishing trip where biscuits and gravy are the morning menu after a couple hours on the water. It's the only food stuff I'm required to bring.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Smoked Moose Meatloaf:

Make up your favorite meatloaf recipe using moose burger. Shape it and place in a baking pan.
Smoke the meatloaf at 215F until the internal temp hits 135F. Remove.
Let the meatloaf sit 5-10 minutes, then carefully remove to a cutting board using spatulas.
Slice into thick pieces using an electric knife.
Grill slices over medium fire just enough to sear each side.
Coat slices with favorite bbq sauce just enough to caramelize over heat.
Serve immediately.

Don't overcook the meatloaf or grill the slices too long as they will dry out and be chewy. You can add more sauce at the table if desired. An iron skillet can be subbed for the grillwork in winter. Add your favorite sides and maybe a good easy-drinking refreshment.

 

[AKDoc]

Doc,

Every few years, I lay out moose burger on flats in my smoker and smoke it for an hour or so on low heat.
I then pressure can it. Combine that in some Morrison's Pepper Gravy and you have the better biscuits and gravy fixins ever.

For the past 40 years I've had my annual lake trout fishing trip where biscuits and gravy are the morning menu after a couple hours on the water. It's the only food stuff I'm required to bring.

Smoked Moose Meatloaf:

Make up your favorite meatloaf recipe using moose burger. Shape it and place in a baking pan.
Smoke the meatloaf at 215F until the internal temp hits 135F. Remove.
Let the meatloaf sit 5-10 minutes, then carefully remove to a cutting board using spatulas.
Slice into thick pieces using an electric knife.
Grill slices over medium fire just enough to sear each side.
Coat slices with favorite bbq sauce just enough to caramelize over heat.
Serve immediately.

Don't overcook the meatloaf or grill the slices too long as they will dry out and be chewy. You can add more sauce at the table if desired. An iron skillet can be subbed for the grillwork in winter. Add your favorite sides and maybe a good easy-drinking refreshment.

Thanks friends…great ideas. My wife makes an awesome moose meatloaf and moose meatballs…she’s Italian!

 

[VernAK]

I'm Swede but that Italian sausage that Indian Valley Meats produces from our moose is quite good.......but then Italians may have better....no doubt.

 

[HandgunHTR]

The only thing I can add to this discussion is that just because moose meat tastes like beef, doesn't mean it is beef, or should be cooked like beef. It should be cooked like venison.
What that means is that if you cook any chunk of meat (steaks, backstrap, tenderloin) to more than medium rare doneness, it is going to be tough. If you don't like your meat semi-bloody, then you shouldn't be eating chunks of venison. Stick to ground.
A good sear always helps. If you are doing roasts, then low and slow is your friend. Also, sear the meat before putting into the dutch oven/slow-cooker.
All of these things will help to improve the quality of your meal when eating venison.

Finally, a great recipe for some of those harder to cook pieces of meat (shoulders, necks, rib rolls, etc) is this one: https://www.realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/smoked-venison-shoulder-barbacoa-recipe

It is a favorite in my house and it preserves really well if you have a vacuum sealer. Just make it, eat what you want, vacuum seal the rest and when you want more pull a frozen package out, toss it in some boiling water and it reheats right in the bag.

 

[cgasner1]

Doc,

Every few years, I lay out moose burger on flats in my smoker and smoke it for an hour or so on low heat.
I then pressure can it. Combine that in some Morrison's Pepper Gravy and you have the better biscuits and gravy fixins ever.

For the past 40 years I've had my annual lake trout fishing trip where biscuits and gravy are the morning menu after a couple hours on the water. It's the only food stuff I'm required to bring.

Any chance you wanna write this out for a simple person it sounds like something I would enjoy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[VernAK]

Any chance you wanna write this out for a simple person it sounds like something I would enjoy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's pretty much like above.
I lay cheese cloth type material on the grates in my smoker and thinly spread loose ground meat on the cloth. Smoke for 1-2 hours......then pack the meat into widemouth jars and pressure can 100 minutes at 10# pressure.

I like the Morrison Pepper Gravy as it's simple and good......I put lotsa burger in my gravy unlike most restaurants. Biscuits are your choice but some like it on toast or hash browns.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Smoked moose burger can be used to make some of the most luscious rustic chili ever served up. We do that every winter. For a special treat you can peel all the meat off the ribs and save it aside. Cut/slice into bite sized pieces and smoke these. Use to make smoked moose rib chili or whatever calls to you.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Moose is darker and more flavorful than elk IMHO however, I still place elk a rung above moose in terms of table fare. You can do more with elk whereas moose requires more seasoning, different applications that are better for strong meat flavor (chili, mexican food, stew, rubs on steak, breaded & fried, etc.) If you were to blindly taste elk and moose loin unseasoned, fresh off the grill, I think most people would prefer the elk to the moose. But not everyone. Moose is distinctly different.