Which is the best game meat?

G'day Rookhawk
Now that's what I call a response, wow, I enjoyed your comments, and look forward to trying some of the species mentioned.

I will give the offal a miss though :)

Hey, just curious about the black bear, I take it that the meat is delicious out of 'Berry Season' too ?

Thanks for sharing

Regards
Rob

I’ve heard from Rinella and others that what a black bear eats really matters. (Same for brown/grizzly bears) If they are near fish or dumps, they taste like bad seafood and garbage.

If you’re hunting black bear that is in God’s country they are sweet, probably from the Berries, Corn, Vegetables, and dessert-snack baits they frequent.
 
Rookhawk, you must write a recipe book! One of us must collate all the best recipes from this thread, Ill ask @Callie Anne Cooks if she would be willing to take it on.

Very little credit goes to me. My spouse is an excellent cook, I just make sure that I trim meat correctly, get it cool fast, butcher it right, and preserve it properly. On the prep side, I just make sure I don’t cook anything on a grill past rare/medium-rare. That’s when game starts to taste like rotting horse carcass.

As an aside, if anyone is reading this thread and doesn’t like rare meat, you need to get educated and you need a gadget. Rare meat doesn’t taste like game, however people are put off by the weird raw chew and they are concerned about CDW or trichinossis.

The solution is Sous Vide (get the Anova on Amazon).

You throw the meat in a zip lock OR you have it vacuum sealed. You put the sealed meat in water, put the sous vide machine in, and set it to the exact temp you want. So if I set a bear steak to 130F for 3 hours I know I’ve made medium-rare bear and I’m 100% sure I cooked off an pathogens. 100% of the meat is 130F, no raw spots. Then kiss it to a broiler or 800F grill for 30 seconds to get a crust on it.

you cannot overcook food with a sous vide, it’s not possible. Whatever meat done ness you like, that’s what it is 100%. No more raw middle and extra well done edges!
 
100% wild food:
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That does it rookhawk, you are writing the book!

Kevin, you're in Zim so you know a lot of this stuff already. The Zim folks can make some amazing game recipes! I'm still learning to do things the "Rhodesian Way" like making Jaffals <sp?> with piri-piri and want to start making biltong with American game this year...these are things that are fully perfected in Zimbabwe already.
 
Okay, I don't mean to thread-jack this thread but here is a dynamite recipe that no hunter I know has had before.

I call it Mauritius Venison and its a fusion of White African, Native African, Arab, and Asian influences that have mixed in the ingredients used on the island of Mauritius. It's fool proof kabobs that come out tender and flavorful. You'll have to trust me that the outcome is amazing even if the ingredients may sound putrid.

First you need cubed meat. I personally hate overdone game roasts and pot roasts so what I do is I use the muscle groups from game that you would typically grind into mince.

How to butcher: Do not butcher in the accepted "western way" on game. Game fat of many species (especially anterled species) tastes putrid and greasy. Game is tough because of silver skin. All these things are compounded when you butcher in a western way by bisecting across the grain of different muscle groups to create steaks/cutlets. Instead, take the ham of any game animal and just disassemble it. Make piles of separate muscle groups and remove the silver skin and fat from each. You now have some 15 different muscle groups cut up into miniature roasts from an average hind quarter and they are skin, fat, and tendon free.

Cut these clean muscle groups into cubes, nice big cubes about 1.5" x 2". You'll now note that the tough-as-shoe-leather cuts are incredibly tender because there is no cross-grain or tendon resistance to the meat.

I like to cook for an army, so I recommend 3-5 pounds of cubed game as butchered above for this recipe.

In a big bowl you'll make your "quick marinade". This marinade is quite salty and should you leave it marinade longer than two hours, it will become unpleasant.

1.) Ginger root. Pealed and Minced. Perhaps 4 table spoons.
2.) Thyme. Fresh or dry. 1.5 table spoons.
3.) Garlic. Optional. 2 table spoons.
4.) Black pepper. Ground coarse. One table spoon.
5.) Green onion. Optional.
6.) One table spoon of "Sambal Oelek". If you don't have this, its a thick chili sauce mixed with garlic. It's hot.
7.) 3 table spoons of Oyster Sauce.
8.) 3 table spoons of Fish Sauce, such as Patisse. (Be advised, fish sauce smells like putrid rotting fish. Trust me, it changes drastically and is key to the dish, as is the oyster sauce...don't modify the recipe removing either of these two keystone ingredients!)
9.) 2 table spoons Soy Sauce
10.) Vegetable Oil, about 2 table spoons.
11.) Cilantro (Some call it Coriander Leaves) 2-4 table spoons. Also in addition, or in lieu of Coriander you can use flat-leaf parsley. We use both if we have both.

Mix all this together and let it sit refrigerated for 2 hours but no longer. Shorter is permissible if you're in a hurry.

Side dishes that are easy: Mix in wild oyster mushrooms, store bought button mushrooms, white onions, yellow onions, mini-peppers (Green-Yellow-Red), Bell Peppers, Zucchini, or any other "Kabob Vegetables" you want in the same marinade with the meat.

Put all of this on skewers. Do NOT put vegetables and meat on the same skewers like they show in all the pretty cookbooks...that doesn't work unless you like burned X and raw Y food. Meat on meat skewers, veg on veg skewers.

Grill all on a brai, BBQ grill, or in desperate winter months throw it on a cookie sheet (suspending the kabobs across the sheet so they are elevated) and broil them in your indoor oven. If broiling at 500F or if grilling at high heat such as 500F-650F you will rotate them every 1.5-2 minutes. The meat should be done in about 5-6 minutes and then rested. The veggies may need to be cooked for longer, up to 15 minutes on cooler sides of the grill so they roast and do not burn.

Serve with Sudza (if you're an African), or couscous, or quinoa, or rice, or whatever other grain/starch you like with your meat and vegetables. Some enjoy using indian Naan or greek Pitas with the meat and we've been known to make a yoghurt-mint Tzatsiki/Raita sauce for the kabobs and consumed them in a Greek Gyro or Indian style as well.

***Optional step: Some people have access to coconut water (not milk!) and choose to brush the coconut water on the meat while cooking. I used to do it, I don't anymore.

You want the kabobs medium-rare to rare, DO NOT overcook them or they'll be salty, musk laden balls of disgust.

The chemistry: The sugar contents of the marinade along with the glutinous proteins in the oyster sauce, fish sauce, and soy sauce all take on a chemical transformation that creates crispy edges on the meat (e.g. like teriyaki) without any acrid bitterness. The fish sauce adds flavor and none of its raw gross smell remains. (you will think the fish sauce has gone bad if you smell it uncooked...its not bad)

I've prepared this meal for easily 50-100 people of every conceivable culture including very finnicky meat-and-potato types and everyone loves it. No one knows its game at all, just incredibly flavorful kabobs.

full
 
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G'day Rookhawk

You are an extremely lucky man, you have definitely made a 1 in a million catch with your spouse, as all those meals look mouth watering, of course the photographer is great too, as the meals are presented superbly. (y):)

Regards

Rob
 
Kevin, you're in Zim so you know a lot of this stuff already. The Zim folks can make some amazing game recipes! I'm still learning to do things the "Rhodesian Way" like making Jaffals <sp?> with piri-piri and want to start making biltong with American game this year...these are things that are fully perfected in Zimbabwe already.
Talking of which Rookhawk, am about to finish my own build of an UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker - not that I'd have to spell it out by your knowledge of fine cooking description). Should put it to good use if the season gives up a leg or two of some Zim "nyamazana"...
 
Okay, I don't mean to thread-jack this thread but here is a dynamite recipe that no hunter I know has had before.

I call it Mauritius Venison and its a fusion of White African, Native African, Arab, and Asian influences that have mixed in the ingredients used on the island of Mauritius. It's fool proof kabobs that come out tender and flavorful. You'll have to trust me that the outcome is amazing even if the ingredients may sound putrid.

First you need cubed meat. I personally hate overdone game roasts and pot roasts so what I do is I use the muscle groups from game that you would typically grind into mince.

How to butcher: Do not butcher in the accepted "western way" on game. Game fat of many species (especially anterled species) tastes putrid and greasy. Game is tough because of silver skin. All these things are compounded when you butcher in a western way by bisecting across the grain of different muscle groups to create steaks/cutlets. Instead, take the ham of any game animal and just disassemble it. Make piles of separate muscle groups and remove the silver skin and fat from each. You now have some 15 different muscle groups cut up into miniature roasts from an average hind quarter and they are skin, fat, and tendon free.

Cut these clean muscle groups into cubes, nice big cubes about 1.5" x 2". You'll now note that the tough-as-shoe-leather cuts are incredibly tender because there is no cross-grain or tendon resistance to the meat.

I like to cook for an army, so I recommend 3-5 pounds of cubed game as butchered above for this recipe.

In a big bowl you'll make your "quick marinade". This marinade is quite salty and should you leave it marinade longer than two hours, it will become unpleasant.

1.) Ginger root. Pealed and Minced. Perhaps 4 table spoons.
2.) Thyme. Fresh or dry. 1.5 table spoons.
3.) Garlic. Optional. 2 table spoons.
4.) Black pepper. Ground coarse. One table spoon.
5.) Green onion. Optional.
6.) One table spoon of "Sambal Oelek". If you don't have this, its a thick chili sauce mixed with garlic. It's hot.
7.) 3 table spoons of Oyster Sauce.
8.) 3 table spoons of Fish Sauce, such as Patisse. (Be advised, fish sauce smells like putrid rotting fish. Trust me, it changes drastically and is key to the dish, as is the oyster sauce...don't modify the recipe removing either of these two keystone ingredients!)
9.) 2 table spoons Soy Sauce
10.) Vegetable Oil, about 2 table spoons.
11.) Cilantro (Some call it Coriander Leaves) 2-4 table spoons. Also in addition, or in lieu of Coriander you can use flat-leaf parsley. We use both if we have both.

Mix all this together and let it sit refrigerated for 2 hours but no longer. Shorter is permissible if you're in a hurry.

Side dishes that are easy: Mix in wild oyster mushrooms, store bought button mushrooms, white onions, yellow onions, mini-peppers (Green-Yellow-Red), Bell Peppers, Zucchini, or any other "Kabob Vegetables" you want in the same marinade with the meat.

Put all of this on skewers. Do NOT put vegetables and meat on the same skewers like they show in all the pretty cookbooks...that doesn't work unless you like burned X and raw Y food. Meat on meat skewers, veg on veg skewers.

Grill all on a brai, BBQ grill, or in desperate winter months throw it on a cookie sheet (suspending the kabobs across the sheet so they are elevated) and broil them in your indoor oven. If broiling at 500F or if grilling at high heat such as 500F-650F you will rotate them every 1.5-2 minutes. The meat should be done in about 5-6 minutes and then rested. The veggies may need to be cooked for longer, up to 15 minutes on cooler sides of the grill so they roast and do not burn.

Serve with Sudza (if you're an African), or couscous, or quinoa, or rice, or whatever other grain/starch you like with your meat and vegetables. Some enjoy using indian Naan or greek Pitas with the meat and we've been known to make a yoghurt-mint Tzatsiki/Raita sauce for the kabobs and consumed them in a Greek Gyro or Indian style as well.

***Optional step: Some people have access to coconut water (not milk!) and choose to brush the coconut water on the meat while cooking. I used to do it, I don't anymore.

You want the kabobs medium-rare to rare, DO NOT overcook them or they'll be salty, musk laden balls of disgust.

The chemistry: The sugar contents of the marinade along with the glutinous proteins in the oyster sauce, fish sauce, and soy sauce all take on a chemical transformation that creates crispy edges on the meat (e.g. like teriyaki) without any acrid bitterness. The fish sauce adds flavor and none of its raw gross smell remains. (you will think the fish sauce has gone bad if you smell it uncooked...its not bad)

I've prepared this meal for easily 50-100 people of every conceivable culture including very finnicky meat-and-potato types and everyone loves it. No one knows its game at all, just incredibly flavorful kabobs.

full
Great recipe and nothing in there sounds putrid!
 
As I have posted many times I been successful many time with moose; as a result we eat a lot of it in our house old ( 2~3 times a week) . My favorite part of the moose is the heart, browned , stuffed with a bread or rice base stuffing and roasted. Its a camp favorite with potatoes & gravy. But my favorite north american game with out a doubt is cougar ( mountain lion) , very very tender and tasty.
As for African game your going to laugh, but the older woman at the camp prepared guinea fowl that had simmered for a few days and served with Mielie maze, I thought it exceptional.
the other meal was Buffalo bone marrow on bread served with sand grouse jalapeno poppers , and of course lost of cold beer.

Of course its been said that I am not fussy, ill eat the goat and the rock he was standing on.

Regards
Pat
 
Talking of which Rookhawk, am about to finish my own build of an UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker - not that I'd have to spell it out by your knowledge of fine cooking description). Should put it to good use if the season gives up a leg or two of some Zim "nyamazana"...

a UDS is a brilliant idea! I thought one would be perfect in Zim where you need durability and self-made grills.

And with unlimited Mopane wood for coals? Oh man!!! Amazing.

I wonder how lightly smoked biltong would taste? Cool smoke for 40 mins just for flavor, then dried the traditional way?
 
There is nothing quite like a 7 and a half year old mule deer buck taken on about Nov 15th with a couple of poor hits. Fortunately. It is all upward from this low point. Culminating in Halibut cheeks if we're in the ocean, or culminating in oryx meat if we're in Namibia. If Rookhawk's receipe can save said muley, it will have proven itself on some rank tablefare. This year, I'll try it....and report back.....FWB
 
There is nothing quite like a 7 and a half year old mule deer buck taken on about Nov 15th with a couple of poor hits. Fortunately. It is all upward from this low point. Culminating in Halibut cheeks if we're in the ocean, or culminating in oryx meat if we're in Namibia. If Rookhawk's receipe can save said muley, it will have proven itself on some rank tablefare. This year, I'll try it....and report back.....FWB


Yeah, there is rank meat out there. What I do with rank meat is enhance and push the rank further. (play to its strengths)

Truths with game meat I've found:

Nothing is rank when its raw or rare. The more you cook it, the stronger the musk you obtain. So try the game rare. Or make Tartare and Carpaccio. If you come to the conclusion raw/rare is too much musk and game flavor, you must go the other direction.

Cook the musk meat to way beyond well done. Crock-Pots, Slow Cookers, Stews. This will make any game, even a yearling tender deer, taste like old mutton and goat. And that's what you do, you make awesome indian curries with it and everyone swears they are eating a classic goat curry packed with flavor...but its really 7.5 year old mule deer that smells like a garbage scow.

With cooking, you must hug the cactus. Figure out the strengths of the meat and push the meat in that direction. Cooking time and doneness arrests or accentuates the flavor profile.
 
Yeah, there is rank meat out there. What I do with rank meat is enhance and push the rank further. (play to its strengths)

Truths with game meat I've found:

Nothing is rank when its raw or rare. The more you cook it, the stronger the musk you obtain. So try the game rare. Or make Tartare and Carpaccio. If you come to the conclusion raw/rare is too much musk and game flavor, you must go the other direction.

Cook the musk meat to way beyond well done. Crock-Pots, Slow Cookers, Stews. This will make any game, even a yearling tender deer, taste like old mutton and goat. And that's what you do, you make awesome indian curries with it and everyone swears they are eating a classic goat curry packed with flavor...but its really 7.5 year old mule deer that smells like a garbage scow.

With cooking, you must hug the cactus. Figure out the strengths of the meat and push the meat in that direction. Cooking time and doneness arrests or accentuates the flavor profile.
I have also found muleys to be on the...difficult side. I usually resort to slow cooking it.

Have you tried a tartare or carpaccio with any African game? Are you aware of any species with a reputation for parasites?

I also love your last quote "with cooking, you must hug the cactus." I will be stealing that for sure ;) It also works great when describing Laphroig!
 
I have also found muleys to be on the...difficult side. I usually resort to slow cooking it.

Have you tried a tartare or carpaccio with any African game? Are you aware of any species with a reputation for parasites?

I also love your last quote "with cooking, you must hug the cactus." I will be stealing that for sure ;) It also works great when describing Laphroig!

Which game has parasites? The classic African game that you don't screw around with is Duiker. They live near humans and eat feces...you're begging for bad things to happen with that meat raw/rare.

In the USA, bear is a parasite wonderland. However, it tastes amazing rare to medium-rare. Hence, a Sous Vide to cook it at 120F to 130F for many hours ensures you cooked off the creepy-crawlers, yet you did not make it well done.

We have done Tartare and Carpaccio many times with Oryx because honestly, what else can you do with Oryx? Oryx is the tilapia of meat. It is tender, fat-free, but also scentless/flavorless. Any cooking makes it taste like whatever sauce you used and nothing else. It's great for raw preparations because you still have that subtle flavor profile. Heck, when you field dress an oryx and your hands are coated with blood, you smell your hands and they have no smell or a delightful, subtle scent. This is the opposite of any antlered animal where you smell like blood and guts when you're field dressing the animal. I assume the Oryx evolved to be scentless to survive the predators of Africa?

I also do Carpaccio with stinky-old-USA-buck. Bucks (whitetails) don't start to smell until you start to cook them, assuming they were properly bled. Freeze a backstrap, get it out frozen, cut it into the thinnest frozen strips possible, plate them frozen, watch them thaw. Then apply the vinegar, lemon, capers, shallots, garlic, olive oil, and arugula drizzled lightly on top and serve with cocktail bread, crackers, toast points, etc. People just love it. It has a subtle flavor from the game that is pleasing, even if the game when cooked would be less pleasant.

In the winter we make Carpaccio once or twice a week over here. I have three kids that feast on it. When I make it, we always make 3-4 giant platters of it for cocktail hour for 5-10 people. (probably 1KG or 2 pounds)

P.S. - I understand your Laphroig analogy. I'm sadly an uncivilized Cretan that wants to enjoy Scotch but has failed completely. I've tried to like it for 15 years but I cannot drink any of it. It all smells like a necropsy I did on a moldy cat cooked in formaldahyde for high school anatomy class. Hence, I must go with bourbon where the charcoal finish conceals the dead-cat-autopsy flavor. :)
 
One more trick I'll throw out related to game preparation. This one goes out to a dear friend and sportsman "Ted" that passed away.

Quick Brine and Quick Smoke is the technique.

The quick brine is a 15 to 30 minute process. Get an absurd amount of salt. Match it with equal part brown sugar. Mix it together. That's the brine. You are free to add to that brine things that swing it to a particular style. For trout, scallops, or poultry, I pour in some capers, lemons, garlic, and white wine. For Wild Turkey Breasts and even Goose Breasts I throw in poultry herbs like sage, thyme, rosemary, or others. But the quick brine slurry base ingredients are the same.

Quick smoke: Get your smoker or grill going at 300-350F. You're not smoking, right? That sounds like grilling? Now pour on a PILE of your favorite wood. I'm an idiot and lack the skills to smoke with some woods that can become acrid if overdone (e.g. Mesquite, Hickory) so I stick with fruitwoods that can't be overdone. (Apple, Cherry, Pear, Choke cherry, Crab Apple...anything sweet and high sugar content). You dump the meat that was quick brined onto the 300F-350F grill and watch the smokey disaster in your back yard while tipping off the neighbors not to call the fire departement. 15 to 20 minutes later, you just smoked a whole fish, turkey breasts, or any other medium sized meat. Scallops are so small they are done in 5 minutes. Its a race to impart smoke flavor before the meat gets overcooked and dried out.

Turkey breast done this way and sliced thin is absolutely tender. Fish done this way is as good as any commercial smokehouse. Your total time investment start to end was less than one hour.

The reason small game sucks is that slow cooking it robs it of the tiny amount of fat remaining on the animal. Quick Brine / Quick Smoke cures and smokes that meat before it overcooks. And its done impulsively when you lack the time for a 23 hour smoked brisket or other such nonsense.
 
There are currently two quartered bulls in my chestfreezer that I need to sell. Tried a fillet. It wasn’t great. I think per definition sable are hunted as trophies, hence old bulls are mostly shot, so not the best table fare. I’m sure they’ll do the trick if you make biltong and dry wors

Eaten fair bit of different parts of sable and usually good, even the fillets from old bulls...but also can remember the fillets from one that were so tough could hardly cut them and gave up on the chewing bit...but that was only time I can remember that....
 
With the lifting of the local hunting restrictions in Zim we are scheduled to begin our hunt around the 17th July. We will then have a go at the various cuts. I am liking the sound of thin cuts in garlic butter!
 
"Hawk is obviously a skilled chef. I have copied the recipe and placed in my hunting and camping cook kit.............and jotted down your advice too...thanks...........FWB
 

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