Elk Backstrap Recipe
I’m not a big meat eater, in fact, I don’t even eat red meat. Elk backstrap is certainly a extremely exotic ingredient that I wouldn’t know how to prepare, and that’s why Matt of Wrightfood and I thought it would make a fantastic guest post on Rasa Malaysia. I 1st discovered Mattâs great blog quite a few months ago and was instantly hooked. Matt makes definitely good and sophisticated seafood dishes (you all know how I love seafood) that look like they came out of Michael Mina’s kitchen. Please welcome Matt of Wrightfood as he shares with us his elk backstrap recipe and the story behind it. It is actually refreshing–and new–to have a non-Asian Recipe on Rasa Malaysia; I hope you enjoy this guest post as much as I do.
Elk Backstrap Recipe
Guest Writer: Wrightfood
I have been waiting a little bit to do this recipe. A couple of months ago now Danika’s Dad got a call from a friend saying that he was proceeding elk hunting, and would Matt like some of the meat if he got anything. To be honest, I didn’t have my hopes up. Any time Danika’s dad goes hunting with this bloke, they don’t precisely come back again with a truck load of meat. They tend to come back again slightly fitter than when they left, and somewhat hungry.
Whether this elk was sleeping or not, I have no notion, but somehow he managed to wind up obtaining shot… (follow the story and get the recipe after the jump)
A fast phone call to me from Danika’s Dad, a fast call back again to his friend,and it had been setup. I had no notion what I had been receiving at the time – I was hoping for some decent cuts, but er, totally free is free of charge, and I will take what I can get! Thankfully I got some excellent cuts €“ a backstrap, and a top and bottom round. I am planning to make the rounds into some salumi (a lot more on that later), but the backstrap required a distinct approach – this is usually a genuinely fine eating cut.
Points started to get interesting thanks to my twisted sense of humor. I had been talking to Danika€™s mum about the elk, and she happened to mention that she hated elk (that is refining the phrase she employed somewhat, in case delicate eyes are reading this blog). Ohhhhhh dear. She genuinely shouldn’t have mentioned that. It had been decided then and there. I had been likely to cook her Elk. I was about to tell her it had been steak, and she was going to like it.
Now, you’ll find some factors to know about Danika’s mum. If I cook one thing with wine in, she will most most likely consume it. If I cook some thing in lard, she will most most likely eat it. She has her head screwed on properly basically! So, I figured if I had those two key components, we couldn’t go far wrong.
Juniper berry is a favorite flavor of mine with any game. Oddly adequate it isn’t really a berry, more a seed. It’s flavor is pretty difficult to describe… it is really a tiny sharp, somewhat floral, but also a small earthy.There, that doesn’t truly clear that up does it. The outside in the “berry” could be somewhat flavorless, so you need to smack it hard using the side of a knife before utilizing – just a little crush.
Now, it still being winter here in Seattle, I still have a complete crush myself on roasted root vegetables. Turnips are my vegetable of selection, along with parsnips as well. You possibly can add a few potatoes inside mix as well, and I won’t precisely be annoyed either. It just happens that using the sauce I was planning, some from the sweet root vegetables would be a nice compliment – the juniper/red wine reduction may end up a tad sharp, so some sweeter veg would operate nicely me thinks.
There’s one thing that I try and keep some of in the freezer. Heck, it can remain frozen for, er, virtually ever. LARD. Yes folks, the very good old rendered pork body fat. I’m sure for several that the notion of lard makes men and women run straight to the gym, or their cardiologist, but it gets an unfair wrap. It is excess fat profile is up there with olive oil in terms of health, and is basically much better for you than butter. Certain, go eat your hydrogenised body fat marg, and I’ll eat my lard..
I can tell ya who is likely to see the cardiologist initial, and it ainât me.
Lard happens being a excellent excess fat to roast with. Almost as very good as duck extra fat, which is pretty much as good as goose extra fat. It results in quite flavorful, really crisp roasted veg€¦ and that’s what we all want. Plus, it makes your fingers smell great when you function with it. Rumor has it that men and women would smear it on themselves to remain warm through the winter (way back again when).. you ask me, they just invented perfume.
So how is the backstrap cooked? Nicely, I treated it like a good steak. I cut it into medallions, no less than an inch thick. I heated up a cast iron pan until it had been really darn hot. In goes a tiny grapeseed oil (fantastic for high heat you know).
Get it smoking. In goes a couple of medallions. If you’re lucky, it all catches on fire. Yep, it’s hot sufficient. Blow it out, and keep heading. Sear on 1 side for a couple of minutes, then on the otherside for a couple. You are able to now either turn the heat down, and finish cooking inside pan, or put them into a roasting pan, and finish inside the oven. I opted for the later, considering that I had a fair couple of medallions to cook. You want to make sure you cook this medium-rare – overcooked and it really is just planning to be a chewy mess, because this is really a genuinely lean meat.
The sauce is dead easy. In a small pan I combined a few glasses of red wine, a diced shallot, the crushed juniper berries, some black peppercorns and some thyme. I allow this cut down down to about 1ǚ its authentic volume. To this I additional some genuinely good beef stock (you can absolutely use veal if you’ve it), and allow this reduce down to about half its genuine quantity. This gets strained, as well as a small butter is whisked in for richness.
So.. how did the elk go down?
“Matt this incredible steak”
Sufficient mentioned. She now likes Elk. And yes, I did tell her what she just ate soon after the meal.
