Any "wild game" experts out there?

L

LoneStarTom

Guest
I've been contacted by a producer of an "outdoor" TV show and he has invited me to bring one of our pits to a filming of one of their shows featuring cooking game. NOW, he actually wants ME to do the cooking. They will have antelope(cuts) and wild turkey breasts. I NEED HELP. For the antelope, I was thinking a good marinate would be in order followed by a very low heat smoke in the vertical and finish them off on the grill.............maybe? SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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http://lonestarcustompits.com/index.html
 
Marinade is a must imo. Pull the meat at 140 degrees then let meat rest and temp climb. Or as you say pull it earlier...125/130 and quick hit on the grill.

I probably would wrap the meat in bacon until it's pulled for the grill.
 
Cook the antelope (chops or steaks?) high and fast to rare or med-rare. Do it all the time on the BGE. I think low and slow and it would come out dry.

Paul
 
I do not think there is enough fat to go low and slow. Cook it like chicken (hot)
 
Game...

I do Venison two ways and the yare equally good I'll give you one way and if you can dig it then you are good to go. If you dont like it let me know and I'll give you another.

We will assume that the game was handled properly once it was harvested. (Dressed immediatly, cooled immediatly and let to hang for a few days up to a few weeks in 35 - 37 degree cooler)

It would be good to know if it was a buck or a doe however we can probably assume that it was a buck since it came from a Prong Horn.

1. Depending on the cut of the meat - say a roast - you will marinate in the following for 6 hours or a little longer, remembering to turn it every hour or so.

2. 1c Olive Oil
3 or 4 cloves of garlic crushed and minced
1 tbsp Fresh cracked black pepper
1 tbsp Fresh or 1tsp dry rosemary
1/4 cup of NICE red wine, a little on tthe dry side. (Remeber if you wont drink it, then dont cook with it.
2tsp kosher salt (Corase if you have it)

3. After it's marinated for a while you will want to wrap it in a good quality pepper bacon, thick sliced and use toothpicks to secure.

Here is where you options get fun...


You can:

A. Rotissire till rare or med rare.
B. Low and Slow till Med Rare and finish on the grill to char the bacon and get the juices folwing

Regardless on how you cook it let it set for a while once it done. 10 to 15 min. Don't muck with while you are waiting!

Remove bacon and disgard

Slice in 1/8th or 1/4 inch slices and serve with a wild mushroom gravy and sauted onions.

Ok now I'm hungry...
 
We smoked a wild turkey a couple of months ago.
It was a whole bird.
We took brisket fat, stuck it under the skin and injected it w/a couple of sticks of melted butter. Added some CokeACola, bird rub some whiskey to the butter before we injected.
We cooked it on my Klose offset at 250 degrees and ran the temps to 180 in the thighs, just like a whole chicken.
The meat was extreemly moist and delicious.
I would run the breast to an internal 165.
Good luck, let us know how things went.
 
See what happens when you move to Texas Tom. It's good on ya mate. You're a good cooker you'll do just fine. :-D I would go hot and fast on the game. Use the microwave :wink:
 
I've done several antelope hindquarters. I never marinate them. Just a little seasoning, wrap completely in bacon and put on at 225-250. I go by color on them....so when they get a good color I like, I wrap in foil till done.

As for wild turkey breast, I marinate overnight in italian dressing and smoke it high (275-300).
 
I would assume that the turkey breast is skinless since no one likes to pluck them. If it is you will want to give it an artificial skin made of thick cut bacon otherwise it will really dry out. If the skin is still on, I would drop the bacon. Wild turkey breast are a much different shape than a Butterball. They are much thinner and will cook quickly. Inject lightly with butter and your favorite seasoning. I would cook it to about 156-157 and pull and let it rise to above 160. Pull a little earlier and put over high heat if it looks like it needs to brown up a little.

Antelope is very lean so I would have a very hot fire and go rare for steaks. If it is a roast and you want to go slow, you will need to introduce some fats. I have used a larding needle for venison with good results. Cook very rare then brown over high heat.

If you have never used a lard needle see the following:
http://www.recipetips.com/glossary-term/t--33375/larding.asp
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-larding-needle.htm

Let us know how it turns out.:smile:
 
Larding

Good call on the larding... That is always a good chioce too...
 
Main thing with game meat as stated above, It is usually all very low in fat content. Real easy to over cook and dry out like a piece of shoe leather.

That being said, all the stuff above looks great!
 
Here is how I like to do most of my wild game steaks:

For 2 Steaks:

Steak
1/4 Cup Alaskan Smoked Porter - rest of pint is for the chef
2 TBSP Teriyaki Sauce
2 TBSP Brown Sugar - Packed
1/2 tsp each: Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder

Sometimes for a little variety, I'll use seasoned salt like the 4S from Penzeys.

If cooking for a crowd - make sure that you have 1 pint of Smoked Porter for every couple of steaks. It would be a shame to only use that beer for the marinade without enjoying it yourself. I'm just sayin.........

Marinate overnight, drink beer the whole time and tell lame hunting stories over and over again. Makes for a fun weekend.
 
Lots of good suggestions but I'd inject the marinade ; and be sure it's high in olive oil. How much meat is involved? Might influence the injection method.
 
Lots of good ideas. Thanks for sharing. I'll let y'all know how it turns out.
 
LoneStarTom said:
I've been contacted by a producer of an "outdoor" TV show and he has invited me to bring one of our pits to a filming of one of their shows featuring cooking game. NOW, he actually wants ME to do the cooking. They will have antelope(cuts) and wild turkey breasts. I NEED HELP. For the antelope, I was thinking a good marinate would be in order followed by a very low heat smoke in the vertical and finish them off on the grill.............maybe? SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
_________________
[URL="http://lonestarcustompits.com/index.html"]http://lonestarcustompits.com/index.html[/URL]
Click to expand...

cf41af5c.jpg

Boy, nothing like cooking somethng unfamiliar for guests. Do you get a practice cook in before the real thing? Any idea which cuts of the antelope they are giving you?
 
Is that your neighbor Wayne? Bet you've NEVER cooked speed goat before:wink:

Paul
 
Good advice so far. I tried some meat from a Antelope cousin when I was deployed once. It was marinaded and grilled. Great flavor. I know that there was some wine in the marinade ( a hearty burgundy should work well). You might try hitting them up for a few samples so that you can experiment.
 
thirdeye said:
cf41af5c.jpg


Boy, nothing like cooking somethng unfamiliar for guests. Do you get a practice cook in before the real thing? Any idea which cuts of the antelope they are giving you?
Click to expand...
I'm thinking steaks, chops, etc. I'll need to find out for sure. Unfortunately, no practice cooks.
 
Dustaway said:
you could always get bad santa or gordo to help you but never together:mrgreen:
Click to expand...
Aaaaah.......my favorite mentors. I think I'd be hard pressed to get them up to Minnesota where the filming will take place.
 
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