Hard to eat steaks

[Short Track]

Started eating my Cow Moose.
"Cross Rib Steak"
"Sirloin Tip Steak"

Neither was a good eating steak. Both on BBQ. Marinated for days in Olive oil & seasoning. Both very tough, not tender at all. Chewy.

It was a big fat mature cow. Definitely on the older side. Got about 275 lbs of meat from her. It sat in the field over night... then was hung for 1 day & 1 night before going off to the butcher. Probably hung at the butcher for a day or 2.

Haven't eaten a round steak yet, but I expect that to be chewy as well. Because Elk round steaks are always tough.

Anyway to make these steaks more tender? I figured a cow would be tender. But now this one.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

If you can, make cube steaks out of them, I like making cube steak, seasoning it for ~ 30 mins at room temperature usually with something simple like montreal steak seasoning. Cover them in flour then fry them. That usually makes for a good chicken fried moose steak with potatoes and gravy.

We also do a lot of stew with our moose I bet almost half our moose each year goes into good stews in the pressure cooker.

I know a guy who shot a december bull and the meat was so tough he basically made burger out of all of it and gave 3/4 of it away to friends and family.

 

[30338]

I drew a cow tag here in CO and had very high expectations. Turned out a lot like the OP's moose. I ended up canning a bunch of it and that took care of the lack of tenderness lol. Would like to try a pre rut or early rut bull sometime to compare.

 

[AKDoc]

We are fortunate to eat a lot of moose every year. However, we really haven't cooked moose steaks much on the grill. We cook some moose burgers now and then. We primarily do a lot of moose stews and steaks/roasts in the crock-pot, and it is excellent. My wife makes an outstanding curry moose in the crock-pot!

 

[Poser]

Olive oil and seasoning is not a marinade.
In order to have a marinade you need a fat, a sugar, and an acid or you are not achieving any actual result. You could have added some lemon juice and honey, for example and you may very well have achieved a more tender steak.

Other options:

cover in plastic wrap, pound with a meat tenderizer and make chicken friend steaks.

Cube and make stew.

 

[Krieg Hetzen]

I tend to pan fry most of my steaks. No marinating is usually done. What time of year did you take your moose? My bull taken on September 3rd tastes better and is more tender than my grandpas cow moose taken October 23rd. But my moose was shot 3 days before my brothers was and had 72 hours to hang in our hunting area and another day in the shed versus his bull that was only hung in the garage for a day and half. My bull and my friends (shot day before mine) both tasted better than his bull. All the bulls were decent sized and the cow appeared middle age.
Another way to try the steaks is slice them 1/4” thick, throw in a pan with yoshida sauce for 30 seconds on each side and you get a kick ass snack.

 

[Kenn]

I found that one of these can work wonders without giving a steak that cube steak look and feel.

https://www.amazon.com/Jaccard-200348-Supertendermatic-48-Blade-Tenderizer/dp/B001347JK6/ref=sr_1_7?crid=1BVB1CLJJOGHI&keywords=meat+tenderizer+tool&qid=1576561438&sprefix=meat+tenderi%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-7

 

[Short Track]

I used that device on Elk. Didn't seem to help much. Haven't tried it yet on Moose. My Cow was mid November. Ricks butcher in NL.

Considering hunting season was near over, it's my Moose for sure. My meat was tagged properly.

I hang my deer for 1 week. Too bad it's impossible to let Moose hang for a week on a guided hunt.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Suos vide them first...For tougher cuts I like 4-6hrs to 125 then finish on the grill to desired temp.

 

[Kevin Dill]

The only moose steaks we grill to eat are cut from the backstraps and inner tenderloin. I've never found another steak which is tender enough to grill medium rare and enjoy eating. All the rest of our steaks get extended cooking in order to tenderize them....which of course means they don't eat like classic 'steak'.

Aging is really the only proper way to produce more tender meat, but most of us don't have the time or means to age a moose 2-3 weeks at 34 degrees.

 

[FLAK]

Pressure Cooker and Crock Pot will help.

 

[Tod osier]

Suos vide them first...For tougher cuts I like 4-6hrs to 125 then finish on the grill to desired temp.

I cant just like this, I have to second and add a little Bit... If you want medium rare or medium meat and you want it less tough try sous vide. It will absolutely make it more tender. Try the cooler method once (look it up) with a roast or steaks to see how it is before you jump in with both feet and buy an immersion cooker (Anova, joule, etc...). Life changing....

 

[danarnold]

with elk and deer I make rare steaks outta backstrap& inners only like stated above, I grind, fry and make jerky with all the rest with great results

 

[MallardMaster]

I cant just like this, I have to second and add a little Bit... If you want medium rare or medium meat and you want it less tough try sous vide. It will absolutely make it more tender. Try the cooler method once (look it up) with a roast or steaks to see how it is before you jump in with both feet and buy an immersion cooker (Anova, joule, etc...). Life changing....

Sous Vide is the answer! I posed this same question in the cooking forum and that was the answer they gave me. Changed the way I cook for sure. I still finish it off on the grill at the end for the obligatory grill marks.
I have also made a lot of jerky out of my moose and then vaccum seal it after completion. It seems to also work out just fine.

 

[wytx]

My 2 cents is just you should have aged it for at least a week or 10 days.
Maybe do some wet aging on some steaks an see if it helps, vacuum seal some and put it in the frig for about a week or 10 days. Check it out after and see if it helps, usually after freezing not much difference but it may help.

 

[SLDMTN]

We leave ours as a 5-6 lb roast and cook in the instant pot for 15 minutes with high pressure. Fast release the pressure and let rest while your cast iron skillet heats up, slice to desired thickness and flash sear.

For the backstrap and tenderloin, I prefer to cook those with a traditional steak prep.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I have heard that soaking meat in milk in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours helps to tenderize it. The enzymes in the milk are what does it. Just a suggestion, I have never done it myself.

 

[Mike Islander]

I had a similar issue with a tough old buck. Aged in the shrink wrap in the fridge for 5-8 days did the trick; no marinade necessary. Also, cooked very slowly to 135 F. Fast cook and high internal temps turned it back into a chunk of jerky.

 

[Poser]

I have heard that soaking meat in milk in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours helps to tenderize it. The enzymes in the milk are what does it. Just a suggestion, I have never done it myself.

I believe that you get into the same science as a marinade with milk: fat, sugar, and acid. Since milk contains all 3, it achieves the tenderizing effect. This is also why Italian dressing is a popular off the shelf marinade, though a little low brow. In both cases, however, I believe that the process is misunderstood. For example, I’ve heard people say that soaking in milk “makes the meat taste less gamey” and/or “it absorbs the blood” etc. if by “less gamey” you mean more tender, then that’s probably true, but I also think that “gamey” is largely misunderstood and a bit of a cop out, with the exception of liver. A lot of people don’t like the iron taste of liver and milk actually neutralizes the iron, though the health benefits of consuming liver are also neutralized.

 

[Kenn]

I had a similar issue with a tough old buck. Aged in the shrink wrap in the fridge for 5-8 days did the trick; no marinade necessary. Also, cooked very slowly to 135 F. Fast cook and high internal temps turned it back into a chunk of jerky.

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I had no luck with aging in vacuum bags. I put several packages of elk in a cooler in ice and kept them that way for 28 days, trying a package each week. In the end there wasn't enough difference for me to notice. On the other hand, there was no spoilage either.