BBQ Moose - 1st Attempt

My neighbor killed a moose in Maine. He showed me the beautiful rack and told me about the exciting hunt. I'd love to have been there with him. It sounded like so much fun.

He gave me a 4.5 pound chunk of moose meat. He said it came from the "sirloin" area. I have never cooked moose before in my life. In Virginia, we have white tail deer and elk but no moose. So, this was going to be fun. Here is the meat.



I decided to take the "safe" route and cook it like white tail deer. So, I added the trinity (onion, carrots, celery) to a pan to rest the roast on with a little red wine.



I seasoned the moose meat with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and some thyme.



Then, I wrapped it in bacon.



Here is an "in progress" pic just before I foiled it. I set the keg to about 325F using oak for smoke and let the roast get up to about 125F internal, removed the bacon and wrapped it in foil.



I let it cook in the foil until it probed tender. I don't know what the internal temp was at that point.

Here are the finished pics. Even though I grew up eating white tail deer meat, I still never understood the meaning of "gamy flavor" until trying moose meat. I know now. In fact, I found it so offensive that I graciously gave the whole thing to my neighbor that gave it to me. He loved it.





Thanks for looking.

My neighbor loved it, so I may be a bit sensitive to the flavor. He is from up north and grew up eating moose. I have read how that the time of year a moose is killed influences the flavor of the meat because of the moose's diet.

The meat was good and I was surprised that I liked it. But then the after taste kicked in and I didn't like it at all. Maybe that's just the way moose tastes, I don't know.

HB-BBQ said:

That looks really good Bo, sorry it was too gamey tasting after your efforts. BTW not to be a asshat and correct ya but I beleive that vegetable base you used is called a Mirapoix (pronounced Mira-qua). A trinity is basically the same but you omit the carrots and replace them with bell peppers.

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Thanks, bro. Where I come from onions, celery, and carrots are the trinity. Growing up, bell peppers were rarely used when roasting meats unless making chili or stuffed peppers.

expatpig said:

I cook moose quite often, as the largest member of the deer family,it should generally be cooked like venison. Why this moose tasted to gamey is probably because it was a large bull, they look good in the pictures, but not so good on the plate. We prefer a young cow or a yearling calf. In this part of the world, if you have a permit to harvest a cow, and she has a calf with her, that's yours as well...a bonus! and moose nose is a real treat!

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This was a bull so that may have a lot to do with it.