What are you cooking with your game meat?

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Becca

Becca

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Looks awesome Glenn! I might have to try this soon...we have a bunch of caribou hot links that would probably make incredible gumbo. I will try it out sometime soon, and let you know how it turns out!

Just made some bison "gravel". Brown up a bunch of bison meat, season it to taste (I douse it heavily in Montreal steak seasoning). Then dehydrate until drier than dry. Take a bag on the trail and throw a handful into Idahoan Mash potatoes, mix with noodles or raman (no spice packet), etc. Works great for any type of game burger.

I have been meaning to try this for awhile Gman, do you use a dehydrator or do it in the oven? What kind of temp? I use a small dehydrator to do fruit and veggies, but have been reluctant to do meat with it because the trays are hard to clean. I had read you could do it in the oven. Does it take long to rehydrate the gravel in the field? How long is the stuff good unrefrigerated?
 

Gman

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I put the cooked meat in the dehydrator. I just have the normal, fan based one. Do it around 140. Takes me close to 24 hrs to get it the way I like it. DRY. Once all the moisture is out it'll last indefinitely in the field if kept out of the direct sun. I know people who keep it in a ziploc in the pantry for 6 months at a time. I use a little olive oil when browning and this adds to the dehydration time but I also think it may help in try clean up because mine just comes right off. Barely anything to clean after.

Probably takes 15-20 mins to rehydrate. It's not my main staple but anytime we have ground we need to cook up or make use of with no real plans I add to my gravel stash! I actually keep mine in the freezer when at home... but never worry about it in the pack.
 
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Becca

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Mini Mooseloaves for Lunch!

So we've been a little busy the last few weeks, and last night as I was getting ready for a few days at work I realized pickings were a little slim in the grocery department at our house. Digging through the freezer, I discovered mini moose meat loaves I had made and vacuum sealed a few months back.*

I had forgotten how tasty these were, I just used my regular mooseloaf recipe (ground meat, Italian breadcrumbs, beer, lipton onion soup mix and egg) but instead of shaping into a loaf, I put single portions into a greased muffin tin to bake.
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I defrosted two per meal, and Added half a baked potato and a serving of mixed veggies (from frozen I had on hand) to make a serving each for today and tomorrow's lunches. Posting this from work on my only 30 minute break during a 12 hour shift, sure beat cafeteria food or cereal :)

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2rocky

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Becca, I respect you as a hunter, cook and writer, however I take issue with this statement:

, and that it is totally free of chemicals, hormones and preservatives.

All animals have hormones. They are what regulate the reproductive cycle like rut, and antler growth.

And if you are talking about a feedlot steer that HAS had hormones given to it, a SALAD has a higher level of hormones in it than the hormone treated beef. (Estrogen in case you were wondering) Beef alone has 3 nanograms of estrogen. Implanted beef has 5 nanograms of estrogen. A salad has 12 nanograms of estrogen. Birth Control pills have 36,000 nanograms of Estrogen.

Chemicals? Like di-hydrogen monoxide that kills thousands of people each year? That is H2O more commonly known as water. Yep it is a chemical. Another word that has been twisted to sound sinister.

Preservatives? Vitamin E that is in high levels in fat is a natural preservative. So is salt in the seasonings we use.

My point is that if we adopt the misguided vocabulary that has permeated popular culture today we are only reinforcing the wrong message. I deal with this a lot since I have a number of Organic animal producers as clients.

I tell folks I like to eat wild game because "I take an active role in my food chain". I don't want to alienate the parts of conventional Agriculture that have given us the least expensive, and safest food supply in the world.

There are some mighty good looking recipes on the pages earlier. Good stuff!

I like the Sausage custom made by our local butcher from my venison, and elk. Perfect in Lasagna and spaghetti sauce.
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I usually accompany it like so....

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I need to start taking more pictures of my meals...
 
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Ryan Avery

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2Rocky, I am no expert but I helped out on a small cattle ranch several years back. I remember they gave all the feed lot cattle two natural steroids and three synthetic hormones. I don't now what they were. But it does make me wonder.
 

2rocky

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Actually Ryan, I can get a bonus of 6-10 cents per pound if I certify them natural (non treated). Generally the hormone is estradiol.

I don't know of any cattle ranchers in our area who use implants anymore.
 

luke moffat

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Having never had a "beef" steak until I was in my teens and growing up on moose I still much prefer moose and caribou stakes over greasy fatty cows. But everyone has there preferences no big deal there at all. I really don't care which "hormones" or "chemicals" are added, I just my palate just flat prefers eating animals that have chemicals that are limited to H20, and whatever is found in willows and lichens. :D I know its more to do with the type of animal than whatever is given the cattle, but thats my preference.

Not to take anything away from what you do 2rocky at all. Just what I prefer, that's all, give me a leaner steak from game over a fatty cow steak, but I'm in the minority on that I know.

Ok back to the regularly scheduled posts on what tasty things you guys that know how to actually cook something are preparing your game meat....
 
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Becca

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Canned Moose Carnitas Tacos

Canned Moose Carnitas Tacos

I purchased a pressure canner several years ago, and when we are fortunate enough to have abundant salmon, we can it up for use in dips, salads and casseroles. Pressure canning is a great way to preserve fish and other low acid foods long term, without requiring a fridge or freezer. The contents of the can are fully cooked, and sterilized by the high temperatures of the canning process so that they don't spoil.

On the advice of my father-in-law, I canned up 6 quarts of moose steaks in my pressure canner last winter. *I needed to free up some freezer space (imagine that!), and we had a bunch of year old moose steaks that I didn't mind experimenting with. *For this batch I didn't add anything to the jars except raw steak in chunks, and 1 tsp of canning salt. *The texture of the canned meat is not like regular steak...it is so tender it falls apart when you spoon it out of the jars, and lends itself well to meals like stroganoff, stew and chili, as well as just warmed up, mixed with BBQ sauce and eaten warm on buns. Tonight I was in the mood for an experiment, so I made Carnitas Tacos.

The jar of moose meat. Not that appealing to look at, though it does make it easy to skim off the already limited fat.

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I warmed the meat in a saucepan (remember, it's already fully cooked!), and added onions, garlic, orange and lime juices and spices.*

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Once it reduced and the onions were soft, I placed it in a casserole dish and baked it in the oven for an hour, stirring once half way thru. This let the meat get a little crispy!

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Served in corn tortillas, garnished with lettuce, sour cream and guacamole!

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rebecca francis

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This is spicy apricot elk stir-fry with fresh summer vegetables. This is from Bearguide's archery elk last year. So yummy! :)

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Fresh caught then grilled salmon, fresh veggies from the garden, and fresh corn shipped up from my father-in-laws garden.
 

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Becca

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Biscuits and Venison Sausage Gravy

Fixed this favorite for breakfast on one of our two mornings at home between sheep hunting trips. Figure we burned enough calories packing out my ram to earn it :) Luke is looking a little on the skinny side these days...

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BuckSnort

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Food looks great!

AK T, that salmon pic made me drool...

Becca, Never made gravy from game sausage...Does the sausage have pork fat mixed in it or do you make a little Rue with some butter and flour to help with the gravy?
 
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Ptarmigan breasts wrapped with bacon, smothered in cream of mushroom soup with added mushrooms, fresh sautéed cabbage out of the garden, and stuffing.



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Becca

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Food looks great!
Becca, Never made gravy from game sausage...Does the sausage have pork fat mixed in it or do you make a little Rue with some butter and flour to help with the gravy?

Our meat processor does add a small amount of pork fat...approx enough to equal the fat content of lean ground beef. I find most of this fat cooks out when I brown the sausage. I typically drain this off, but leave it to thicken the gravy with a little flour. This time of year we can spare the calories :)
 
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Thanks Becca. These were the last of the ptarmigan breasts from last year. Congratulations on your ram, I look forward to seeing some of the meals that you put together from that bad boy :)
 
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Becca

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Ground Caribou Stroganoff Casserole

A portion of our upcoming moose hunt will utilize ATVs, which means we can take a cooler along and enjoy some "real food" in the field. This week I made and froze several meals for this purpose, including stroganoff casserole with rotini pasta and ground caribou. I vacuum sealed the meals and froze them, in the field we will drop the bags into a pot of boiling water to heat up dinner in a hurry.

The picture below is a portion I saved for my lunch today at work. Served with a salad consisting of fresh lettuce, green onion, broccoli and carrots from my Mom's garden:

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BuckSnort

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Looks good Becca.. I used to do the same thing for hunts close to the road... Spaghetti, Stroganoff, and stews work great for this...
 
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