Cooking Elk

I would cook like venison. Indirect heat. wrapped or toped in bacon, to med rare. Will dry out on you if you do not watch it.

I have smoked venison, elk, and moose roasts several times. One method I have used is similar to the high heat chuckie (pulled chuck roast) method I learned from posts from patiodaddio and adapted to my needs. Here is the cliff notes version.

For roasts from the shoulder or leg
Put rub of choice on meat. Smoke at 300+ until the meat hits a temp of 150-160. Foil with liquid of choice. (dark beer, broth, wine, etc.) Cook until meat hits 200. Rest 30 min to an hour. Pull that beautiful meat, sauce if you'd like, and make yourself an elk sammich.

Another thing I have done with boneless elk/moose/venison is cure (corn) it and then smoke it. (pastrami)

This one I learned from a cool website called the Michigan Sportsman's Forum

For up to 5 lbs. of boneless roast. Needs to be less than 2 inches thick.

5 tbs. Morton tenderquick
3 tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tbs. paprika

Place meat in ziplock. Put mixed cure over meat and work cure into meat. Keep meet in fridge. Work the bag and flip it once a day for 6 or 7 days. On your smoking day, soak the roast for 1 hour in cold water. Pat the roast dry and lightly coat the roast with garlic powder and freshly cracked black pepper. Smoke until roast hits 150.


The last one I learned from years cooking wild game and trying every marinade known to man. Finally I came full circle and realized that sometimes simple is best!

If you have a loin roast get a Weber kettle fired up with the coals on one half of the coal grate. Trim all the silverskin off the meat. Make sure the meat is even in size on both ends. If the roast has a tail end and it gets small you can fold it over itself and tie it so the whole roast is even. Coat with olive oil and rub with coarse black pepper and sea salt. Sear on all sides for 1 1/2 minutes a side over a screaming hot fire. Place the roast on the non-fire side and indirectly cook until the roast hits 130. Rest 5 minutes and serve with the best red wine you can afford. It will be worth it!

I've had venison that tasted gamey, and venison that didn't taste gamey at all. I'm supposing it's all in the way it's prepared. Is it the same way with elk?

Tish in answer to your question that would be a yes. And the reason some animals taste "gamey" and some don't, from killing alot of wild animals I found out it seems to have alot to do with what the animals are eating if it is nutritious or just sustainable grain, the weather is it cold causes animals to add layers of fat and lowers gamey taste, and the activity of the animals, alot of the gamey flavor comes from chemicals like testostorone and adrenaline and lactic acid in the body if the animal has been running or working hard right before it is killed or it is not a quick clean kill it has a much gamier taste than an animal that is totally relaxed and has a quick clean kill.

Wow. It never occurred to me that would have something to do with the taste. Very interesting. I wonder if studies have ever been done on the relation between activity and taste? Have to research that one. Thanks, BigBob!

actually I worked a cattle ranch for a few years and there have been studies done on beef cattle that the ones kept in smaller feed lots and feed a nutritious diet and don't do as much moving and free range walking seem to have a more tender cut of meat and more flavor from the marbling, than the free ranging cattle that graze on just grass. The grass makes for a leaner meat with less marbling which lowers the taste and the free ranging the walk alot more and it tones the muscles and makes them a little tougher. I would assume it would probably carry over to wild animals about the same.

I have heard the same thing about the adrenaline in wild animals being shot,if its not a quick clean kill the adrenaline can make the animal taste gamey. I have shot alot of deer both good and bad shots and have not yet experianced this myself. Some of the gamey taste can also come from an animal that was not properly gutted out, especially if it was shot in the guts, now that I have had happen unfortunately.

I agree with Bigbob regarding the diet influencing what the wildgame tastes like. In southern Michigan, where I'm at, the deer feed is mostly corn and beans. As you head north, as towards the middle of the mitten and farther north, the game will have a different flavor because the food source is not from as much farmland.

As for the point about cattle and free ranging, check out "Kobe beef" which has it's roots in Japan. It is arguably the most prized label of beef which also equals STUPIDLY expensive!! One of the big points of Kobe is that the cattle never range much along with a laundry list of other pamperings.

IMO elk is the finest of the game meats available. You can cook it just like beef, but due to it's leaness I wouldn't cook it much past medium. Let's just say my mouth is watering thinking of cooking up some elk!! Enjoy.

Only smoke the elk if you are going to make elk jerky. Cut the roast into 1 1/2" thick steaks and grill hot and fast to medium rare or cook the roast as you would a prime rib or better yet beef tenderloin. If you decide to make jerky, cut into 1/4" thick strips, marinate, and smoke.

I respectfully have a different opinion than Neil in regards to cooking wild game. The way I look at cooking wild game roasts is similar to cooking lean cuts of beef. If you had the challenge of cooking a select or choice grade beef roast from the round what would your options be? One could cook hot and fast to med. rare -medium and slice thin. This could be done on a grill or in the oven as long as the temps are high. The other option would be to cook to a higher temp until it tenderizes by breaking down collogen and fibers like a "pot roast" This can be done on the smoker or in an oven. I would suggest adding a braising liquid at some point to help the process and to infuse flavor. To fall apart the meat needs to get to around the 200 degree mark. Another alternative I suggested is curing the roast and smoking it which could be based on a "pastrami" suggestion like I made or with some different seasoning and cutting one could do a "jerky" as Neil suggested. Long story short, after many years of experience with game I feel that the meat from deer, elk, moose, etc. has just as many cooking methods as beef or pork. Venison is certainly different due to its lean nature but there are many options and I believe one can learn from the methods that are used on lean cuts of beef or pork.