Grilled Marinated Elk

Peggy

Sep 4

Whenever I pop into my local Natural Grocer I look to see if they have elk in the freezer. We love it grilled outside, since I think that brings out the best flavor in meats. The flavor, if you've not had it before, is similar to beef. Not really as wild-gamey as venison tastes to me. I developed a simple marinade that really does a great job of tenderizing what otherwise can be a fairly tough cut of meat. Elk has virtually no fat to speak of, so there is no marbling to help tenderize the meat. Therefore marinating is recommended.

This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and is certainly acceptable for the Paleo-Primal table. I usually serve mine with a small oven-baked sweet potato (if I have the carbs to spare that day), a grilled pineapple slice and a nice green salad. All I can say is man, oh, man, is this good eating. My husband REALLY likes this new marinade and has eaten elk many times now

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb. elk, steaks or shoulder cut 1¼-1½ thick

3 T. extra virgin olive oil

2 T. raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar

2 T. fresh lemon juice

2 T. coconut aminos or low sodium soy sauce (or tamari)

2 tsp. onion powder or 1 T. finely minced onion

1 tsp. garlic powder or 2 Cloves minced garlic

½ tsp. coarse black pepper

1/8 tsp. Chipotle powder (or pinch of cayenne)

4 T. unsalted butter or ghee, melted

6 pineapple slices(optional 1 per person, as they are high carb)

DIRECTIONS: Prepare meat by trimming off any obvious large pieces of sinew. Butterfly larger/thicker roasts so they are between 1¼-1½" thick. Place meat into a gallon plastic zip bag. Mix the next 8 ingredients (all but the melted butter) in a small bowl. Stir and scrape the marinade into the bag. Zip bag and manipulate with your hands to evenly coat the meat. Marinate for 4 hours in the refrigerator, turning and manipulate the meat and marinade bag every hour. When ready to cook, prepare a bed of hot charcoal in your grill. When the coals are ready, place meat on grill. Melt butter. Using a brush, baste the meat (and 5/8"-3/4" pineapple slices if making them) with melted butter/ghee several times while cooking to help with moisture.

This will need to cook about 6-8 minutes on a side if you like your meat very rare. Allow around 10 minutes per side for medium rare, as shown in the pic above. Medium will take about 12 minutes on a side. You ABSOLUTELY DO NOT want to cook game well done on the grill (as it has no fat/marbling to help keep it moist and tender). Therein lies the path to a result you won't be pleased with. And elk is too expensive to fall prey to "death by overcooking". This marinade is also delicious on beef chuck or lamb chops if you don't have get access to elk.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 servings elk, each contains: (does not include pineapple slice if you indulge). One slice of pineapple will add around 100 cals + 19g Net Carbs).

307 cals, 16.7g fat, 2.58g carbs, 0.17g fiber, 2.41g NET CARBS, 35g protein, 202 mg sodium