Keep Elk Roast Moist?

[Preacher Man]

I'm wanting to smoke an elk roast I have for Potluck at church this Sunday. I'm concerned that my lack of attention to it because I'm preaching will keep me from producing what I want.

I've never smoked an elk roast, but I'm guessing it'll be pretty easy to dry out. What IT would y'all suggest?

I know that if a brisket/pork butt finishes early you can just throw it in a cooler til eating time. Can you do this with a roast that you don't take as high?

I considered taking my MES 30 to the church building and cooking it outside while I preach, but I hate to try to finagle the times/temp while I need to be focusing on my lessons that morning.

Any suggestions to make this a success would be helpful.

 

[JC in GB]

The only things I can think of is to wrap the roast (barding) in bacon after the meat picks up your smoke flavor. If you want to get even more adventurous, you can try larding the roast. The added fat should keep your meat nice and juicy. I have cooked Elk steaks before, they had incredible flavor but had to be done just right to keep them moist and juicy.

 

[smokerjim]

you could inject or brine with a liquid of your choice.

 

[Preacher Man]

What about finishing it to desired temp, then wrapping and keeping it in an oven at the same internal temp for a couple hours?

 

[JC in GB]

What about finishing it to desired temp, then wrapping and keeping it in an oven at the same internal temp for a couple hours?

That might work but most ovens have a pretty large hysteresis swing on the temp controls. You may end up with juicy, well done meat. :(

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

I would be tempted to inject with broth then wrap the roast in bacon shooting for an IT of 130* to 140*. This also might be the one time to use water or your preferred liquid in the water pan. Generally, it is about an hour per pound at 225*.

 

[foamheart]

Just a thought! Why not brine? If you have a jaccard all the much better. A jaccard just tenderizes the meat by cutting small holes in it. It would allow a faster more complete infiltration of the brine. But you can brine without it. Not knowing about elk roasts, I would probably approach it like buffalo a very red meat, I generally brined buffalo in milk and then leave out on the kitchen counter for a day or two. The souring of the milk causes the connective tissue to break down. It also removes some of the gaminess, which may or may not be a plus in your eyes. After a couple a days, just rinse it well, dry it overnight uncovered in the reefer before smoking (possibly even set a fan on it for 45 mins just before smoking), Then season and smoke. Again I have to qualify, I have never smoked elk. This was buffalo.

I would most definitely smoke it at home. Then you have time for stalls and other unforeseen setbacks. Its hard enough to smoke on the clock when you are familiar with it, smoking on the clock the first time might be a bit much. Just my thoughts.

 

[indaswamp]

Biggest problem with elk and venison is lack of fat, and very well used working muscles so they are tough. If you cook to fall apart tender, it will be dry. You need a way to baste the meat to keep it moist. For this reason, I do not recommend cooking past medium (132*F) or medium rare (128*F).
Gonna be a difficult cook to pull off while being sidetracked preaching.

What you might could do is sous-vide for a long time, say 12~18 hours at your desired INT then when you are finished preaching and ready to eat, you can sear on a blazing hot grill or pan. It should be perfect....

*edit to add- you could warm smoke first 100~130* just to get some smoke flavor on it, then sous vide.

 

[smokerjim]

you could smoke the day or two ahead of time, slice it and put in pan with beef broth then just heat it on sunday.

 

[Preacher Man]

you could smoke the day or two ahead of time, slice it and put in pan with beef broth then just heat it on sunday.

With a crock pot?

 

[Bearcarver]

you could smoke the day or two ahead of time, slice it and put in pan with beef broth then just heat it on sunday.

This is my favorite.

Bear

 

[smokerjim]

With a crock pot?

crock pot would work or aluminum pans would do.

 

[Preacher Man]

Thanks for the input everyone!

If I do retherm it, how do you suggest doing so without taking it over a med-rare IT?

 

[LanceR]

you could smoke the day or two ahead of time, slice it and put in pan with beef broth then just heat it on sunday.

I suspect that you might want to take this with a grain of salt as my experience has mostly been with big round body mature does that were eating pretty good around our Central New York (Finger Lakes region) farm. With that said, I've helped teach seminars on caring for and cooking game and the biggest issues folks seem to have is caring for their kill in the first few hours after harvest and trying to cook venison like domestic beef.

As you know, most game roasts (with the possible exception of bear) are too lean for high heat methods and need low heat and benefit from careful watching. All of which argues for cooking ahead when you can pay attention and relax some.

For bigger groups I usually save a few roughly 6 pound round roasts from big does and roast or smoke them at around 200* or less until they hit about 120 internal. Kind of like sneaking up on a prime rib ahead of browning it. The slower temperature rise with the low oven/smoker gives them around a 3-5* carry over temperature rise and guarantees a tender roast.....or at least as tender as the critters lifestyle can grant you.

I cool the roast and slice it thin. At serving time I pour a warm au jus or broth over it and gently bring it all back to around 125* with whatever is available; stove top, microwave, crock-pot etc. The liquid helps warm it evenly while keeping it rare and keeps it moist enough to give you more forgiveness in timing and serving temps.

I find that a dose of low salt beef broth base in chicken or vegetable broth make an a good broth that lets the venison flavor shine through. For some reason using all beef broth makes for a flatter flavor profile.

On the other hand, and purely in the interest of accuracy, if you send me a couple of elk roasts I'll carefully test them and report my finding back to you ASAP.

 

[Preacher Man]

On the other hand, and purely in the interest of accuracy, if you send me a couple of elk roasts I'll carefully test them and report my finding back to you ASAP.

What a guy!

 

[LanceR]

What a guy!

Always willing to help a guy out!