Elk knuckle corned in bowl for dinner.
Elk knuckle removed and ready cooking.
Elk knuckle gets injected prior to cooking
Elk knuckle cooked in broth is a great way to serve your wild game.
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The sirloin tip is basically the thigh of the animal’s hind leg. It is one of those muscles that literally falls in between tender and tough. It is very lean and has one circular strip of silver skin in the center. The cut has been dubbed the “football” by Outdoor Solutions Founder Greg Ray’s son, Eddie, due to the similar shapes of each. It has much fascia on the outer surface of the muscle. Most of the time when processed it has the small portion of the tri tip still attached which should be removed before freezing. There usually is a gland located at the outer tip of the muscle located in a ball of fascia and fat. It is always removed before cooking along with the fascia. The fascia has to be removed before cooking because this is what makes the meat contort out of shape, making it tough and chewy as well as making the meat taste gamey. It doesn’t matter when the fascia comes off as long as it comes off before cooking.
All animals have this muscle and, of course, it is much smaller on an antelope versus a moose or elk. I recommend that this muscle be cleaned and trimmed on the bone side but leave the fascia on the outer surface. Square off ends and freeze whole. For larger animals such as an elk or moose, this muscle can be broken down into smaller pieces by cutting laterally or along the length of the muscle.
Before removing from freezer, determine what you want to eat for dinner. Making that decision will be determined by the amount of time you want to spend preparing your meal. If you want fast and quick, you can fabricate the muscle into smaller pieces and prepare cube steak, cutlets for parmesan, chicken fried, sliced thin for chipped steak, into strips for stir fry, or stroganoff. If you want to spend some time and slow cook, pot roast, Swiss steak, braise or stew. This particular cut is especially good for canning. It is lean has very little connective tissue and silver skin and tastes wonderful canned. It also works great for cutting into thin rounds for jerky, a bit different than the normal strips.
When thawing, while there is still frost in the meat, trim off fascia. Prepare your meat according to the recipe and you’re off and running. Here are two recipes for the “football” Knuckle. I chose one moist cooking method, “boiling” which is actually simmering for both recipes. This method is not commonly used for game meat but is used for beef, pork, and poultry. Examples of dishes prepared by boiling are boiled beef short ribs, corned beef, boiled beef brisket, and boiled chicken. It is one of the three moist cooking methods; boiling, steaming, and poaching. The recipes utilize the same muscle, same cooking method, basically the same ingredients, with the same outcome. Resulting in a very delicious and tender meal yet with very different flavors. There are many other less tender muscles from a wide range of game animals that can be substituted for “football” in these recipes. Remember, recipes are guidelines and can be adjusted to your particular food preferences and flavor profiles. As you adjust recipes, always write and record so you can achieve consistent results as you prepare. These dishes are considered comfort foods; they are meat cooked in fortified broths. Once the meat is cooked, try to keep the meat in the broth as much as possible so that the meat does not dry out by evaporative cooling. These recipes are one-pot cooking methods, and work very well with crock pots, pressure cookers, and insta-pots.
Wild Sirloin Tip Recipes
Corned New England Elk Sirloin Tip
Good Cooking, Chef Wutsch
Cache Creek Enterprises
Chef Albert Wutsch
38 Canyon View Drive
Missoula, MT 59802
(724) 549-4192
theartofcookingvenison.com
chef@theartofcookingvenison.com