Moose is a truly regional food, and its meat is the purest meat there is. Any moose cut is great for grilling, but steak is the best option to impress someone. The moose was shot only 15 miles away from my grill, and today I got two 12 lb (230g) sirloin steaks!
Despite being enormous, moose meat has a softer game flavor than other venison. Moose is quite similar to grass-fed beef in both texture and flavor. Like all venison, it is very lean and needs to be cooked with additional fat to keep the meat juicy. In this recipe, the moose sirloin steaks are seared in a skillet over high heat before being quickly roasted in the oven, steakhouse style. Just before serving, top the steaks with this delectable red-wine sauce and scatter sautéed mushrooms on top.
Serve this moose dish with some of your favorite sides, like a salad or roasted vegetables, scalloped potatoes, or steamed rice.
In a cast iron frying pan, cook the fillet whole with an even cut. Don’t leave it in the pan alone for an extended period of time. Turn it frequently so that the heat can penetrate the meat. It will be even more difficult for the heat to penetrate the center if you burn the surface.
My quest for the best steaks from my moose begins in the field. Most people will remove the backbone before cutting the backstraps and tenderloins. I don’t remove any of the meat from the area between the back legs and the spine. I use a Sawzall to remove the ribs, neck, and back of the pelvis before bringing the spine out whole and placing it in a game bag. In comparison to a boneless cut, I can keep the meat cleaner and hang it longer if the bone is left in. When the weather permits, I hang the meat for a week to two in a well-ventilated area away from the sun.
When it’s time to cook, I’ll trim off any aging crust, but with most bulls, I prefer to leave the fat on the steak. Taste can vary, and is subject to personal preference, but I find most moose fat to be mild. The steaks are thick, so I don’t have to worry about overpowering the natural flavor, and I coat them liberally in Musket Powder Black Label Seasoning. I’ll then sear them on a hot cast-iron skillet in butter on all sides before grilling and smoking them.
The backbone that I bring out of the woods whole yields the best cuts. I enter the shop with the backbone and begin by cutting the spine into 112-inch cross sections. I’ll lay those out flat and rotate them 90 degrees after that. I will get two mirror-shaped steaks from each piece of the spinal column if I cut straight through the middle. Chops, which are essentially the backstrap surrounded by the spine and ribs, are what I’ll start cutting once I pass through the inferior meat and move towards the front. Because this is the area of the spine that contains both the tenderloin and the backstrap, I handle it carefully and precisely because it contains the best meat. Following the same process, I’ll cut T-bone and Porterhouse steaks. My most recent bull produced precisely 26 of these delightful 112-inch treats. Scrape the bone dust off, and they’re ready to package.
After searing, I’ll put the steaks on an indirect heat setting at around 260 degrees in a Camp Chef Woodwind pellet smoker to add a little smoke. It doesn’t really matter what grill you use or how you cook it; what matters is that it gets some smoke and cooks slowly. I keep a close eye on the internal temperature of the meat, and as soon as it reaches 135 or 140 degrees, I take the meat off the heat, wrap the steaks in foil, and give them 15 minutes to rest.
It’s crucial to remember that the way the animal is killed, field dressed, and butchered has a significant impact on the flavor of any wild game meat. Moose are large, difficult-to-handle animals that frequently meet an unpleasant end. Meat can easily become soiled or become too warm. One of the most vital things you can do is to quickly butcher and cool a moose while keeping it clean.