Wife doesn't like elk

[svivian]

I gagged and nearly puked the first 5 deer steaks I was fed. Other folks' deer (didn't grow up in a hunting family). When I processed one of my first deer myself I noticed it tasted much better, mild flavor, no gameyness. I believe that game processors are interested in speed, not flavor, and they're including too much fat and silverskin in the packaged meat, and it contributes to the gameyness flavor. If you grew up eating it, it doesn't bother you. But if you didn't, well...

This ^^^ Also not letting meat hang and bleed out fully.

 

[EdP]

I think your wife does not like the idea of eating wild game.

I have no idea what "gamey" means other than "its red like beef but doesn't taste like beef." Red meats I've had include bear, deer (WT & MD), elk, pronghorn, horse, bison, and beef. They all taste and smell different from each other. Horse was the best followed by pronghorn, then elk, but my wife likes deer better than elk.

 

[TheGDog]

My Sister in Law is a headcase and claims she hates game meat. We had her over to our house for a BBQ and she decided to eat a burger instead of the chicken they brought. She loved it! After I informed her it was 100% venison she spent the next hour throwing up in the bathroom.

It's all in their heads.

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WhatTF? So... did she self-induce that vomiting like with her fingers? ....or? (Definitely headcase, I agree)

 

[TheGDog]

+1 for the milk trick. Buttermilk works the best with its higher fat and enzyme content.

Hrmm... think as a test I'm gonna try the Buttermilk soak on the coyote I just recently got. IF anything can quell their scent it'd work for anything else, I'd imagine.

 

[bsnedeker]

WhatTF? So... did she self-induce that vomiting like with her fingers? ....or? (Definitely headcase, I agree)

Lol....don't know, didn't really care! I think a big part of her freaking out was getting more attention which is a game I refuse to play with people who are (in theory) grown adults.

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[TheGDog]

Lol....don't know, didn't really care! I think a big part of her freaking out was getting more attention which is a game I refuse to play with people who are (in theory) grown adults.

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Ah... gotcha... one of "those". An "Attention Whore"/"Drama Queen" I feel ya.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I definitely wouldn’t lie to her but I do agree that it’s all in her head. The whitetails my family consume don’t taste “gamey” and they love acorns.

Maybe try some new recipes/ways to cook and let her try it. Try aging the meat and removing the silver skin before cooking.

You must not be married long. The obvious answer is to tell her it’s beef and when she tells you it’s good, then you hit her with the “AHHHHHH HAHHHHHHHH!!!! I effing told you so!!!! Take that!!!!!”

 

[TheGDog]

Report back your findings.

I’ve used it in all manner of fish with consistent results. Just don’t use it on your grind. The reason my dumbass knows that is one year I took 250lbs moose trim to a processor outside of anchorage and they ruined the whole batch. What sucked was I took the time do all the trimming and cubing myself and it smelled like prime beef when I had it bagged up. When I got it back it smelled like a rut pit and I wasn’t even sure it was my bull. You couldn’t even open and thaw it in the kitchen it smelled so bad. I tried the milk trick and made a pink soup sludge that I tried straining only to end up with pink paste…fail. I ended up giving it to a guy at work who had hookups at another butcher shop. They added a metric shit ton of bacon and jalapeños to it and apparently it was edible. Total shame though. I at least had a freezer full of steaks and roasts I kept back.

What are you referring to when you say "pink paste"? Are you saying you gave them cubed meat so they could turn it into ground, and you're saying for some reason that ground then now smelled strong? Am I following the story there?

Yeah ok, I don't think I'd have tried putting ground into milk. But I suppose actually you could, but you'd have to remember that when you do that first browning of the ground that you do before you add your spices and tomato sauce, like for a pasta dish... that you'd have to be sure to do that browning of the meat on lower temps and drain the grease well afterward, then proceed with spicing and adding everything else into the dish.

Definitely things like adding spicy stuff into the soaking water does help with curbing a meat with a strong scent. Note I'm saying meat though. Not silverskin, nor the slimy viscera coating. Gotta make darn well sure all that is shaved off / pulled off, if you don't wan't that strong scent. Then if using smoker, I like to very much perforate the meat so the flavorings can seep in thru and thru in the meat, so not only on the surface of your pieces! The flavor is all throughout!!

 

[knale87]

You must not be married long. The obvious answer is to tell her it’s beef and when she tells you it’s good, then you hit her with the “AHHHHHH HAHHHHHHHH!!!! I effing told you so!!!! Take that!!!!!”

Haha long enough to know that wouldn’t fly with my wife. I’m fortunate she likes wild game and expects our freezer to be full so I don’t have to deal with any of that.

 

[hunting307]

I grind my elk with some beef fat. I also do some of it with pork so I can make sausages and other things. Try marinating the steaks for her that will take the little game taste out, cook to 125 then off the cast iron. I put onions and mushrooms over it too to complement it. Then with the ground she wont be able to tell it from beef. The roast should have plenty of seasoning to take the hint of game flavor away. I use a ranch packet, Au jus, and a beef stew packet. always turns out great.

 

[Whisky]

My wife's family raise beef. She grew up eating a lot of beef. There is no tricking her with wild game at this point. She simply doesn't like it, unless it's jerky.

Also, I'm a fairly competent cook, know how to care for my meat, and have killed a few different animals... And I can tell when I'm eating a wild game meat instantly, when it's in steak/roast/burger form. Ya'll that kill animals that taste exactly like beef are pretty lucky.

 

[Laramie]

Looking at the draw odds out west I am completely fine with those that don't care for the taste. Cook it all well done and serve with ketchup...