Round Steaks

When I was younger I wanted everything fried. The older I get the more I realize I love roasts and stews.
My favorite way now of eating deer and elk,(even the back straps), is in the crock pot.
Try the MISSISSIPPI ROAST recipe. Add a stick of butter due to the leanness of the deer/elk.
 
As always, I hate eating round steaks. They are suited for dog food. I tried everything to tender them up. Sitting in milk for a week. Sitting in olive oil for a week. Pounding them with a hammer.

I think next elk, I will just grind them into burger. Not much else you can do with them...

Anyone have any luck with round steaks ?
Yes. I have a jacard tenderizer which consists of a handle afixed with three rows of needles. The needles look like exacto knife blades which are protected by a spring loaded blade guard. It works well on round steak. Start with a thicker than normal steak. The process will reduce the thickness. Tenderize ahead of cooking, and do not marinate for less time than normal as the marinade will seep into the meat faster after the jacard process. This will work on most tough cuts.
 
I cut the rounds into small roasts. My favorite recipe is Mississippi pot roast from a crockpot. The recipe uses pepperoncinis and some of their juice to create incredible flavor. If you haven't tried it, there lots of recipes for it on the net and Youtube. Here's a link to one below, to give you an idea.
 
As always, I hate eating round steaks. They are suited for dog food. I tried everything to tender them up. Sitting in milk for a week. Sitting in olive oil for a week. Pounding them with a hammer.

I think next elk, I will just grind them into burger. Not much else you can do with them...

Anyone have any luck with round steaks ?
If you want meat tender everytime, you have to age it 2 weeks or more. That goes for all meat. Nobody does that any more. Some of the most tender meat that I have eaten outside of more expensive steakhouses (that by the way age their steaks a long time if they are good) has been aged longer. My PH in Africa had his own coolers and aged wild game 30 days, had some of the most tender meat I have ever had. And by the way it was cooked to med-well. The preparation is what gets the results. And by the way, I butchered a young cow that should have been great with a friend and never aged the meat at all, just shot it and cut it into steaks, and it was the toughest meat that I have ever ate.
 
Another great option for round steak or any other less desirable cut of meat is to can it. I took this up a couple years ago with an old family recipe of meat, salt, pepper and garlic. Pressure canned meats will last and turn most tough cuts into a pot roast like tender jar of yum. I also tried some canned quart jars with meat, carrots, potatoes, celery, salt, pepper, garlic and a cube of beef bouillon to make a stew in a jar and it turned out to be the yum. Jars of meat can go with you on hunting or fishing trips to make quick easy meals or snacks and have become a standard in my house. Also, I have canned 2 year old meat in my freezer to free up space for new meat and that has turned out to be wonderful as well. hope this helps, Jason
Jason, you stole my post. JK, I was wondering when canning would come up. Its easy and a great way to fill the pantry with some meals that are ready to eat in just a few minutes.
 
Echoing the first response, I use the big muscle groups in the hind quarter for venison jerky. The lower leg meat is for grinding.

The initial butchering is done by separating everthing into muscle groups (precisely the opposite of cutting steaks orthogonal to femur, etc. bones - these cuts are roughly parallel to the bone): https://www.tasteofthewoods.com/blog/diy-easy-butchering-deer-hind-quarter/2018

This allows me to remove as close to all of the silver skin, connective tissues and fat as possible. Just leave the red meat. This is the most important part. Remove 80% of this stuff and you'll get about 50% of the potential quality.

Next, I cut the muscle groups into 1/2" thick strips, add the curing salts and seasoning and refrigerate in tupperware 24-48 hours.

Finally, they go on to my Kamado smoker for about 90min with an applewood smoke at 180-190F.

It is a lot of work but it is the most ***-kicking best jerky you'll ever eat. Even good enough to gift to your l.s.u. friends for Christmas.
 

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My wife found a great Elk stew recipe on the internet. It is cooked in an Instapot and is the best stew I have eaten. The best meat we have used is top round. It is tender and tasty when pressure cooked. We tried Elk backstrap and it literally falls apart. All cuts of round seem to work well.
 
As always, I hate eating round steaks. They are suited for dog food. I tried everything to tender them up. Sitting in milk for a week. Sitting in olive oil for a week. Pounding them with a hammer.

I think next elk, I will just grind them into burger. Not much else you can do with them...

Anyone have any luck with round steaks ?
We had them cut about 1" thick then spiced and treated with a mix of Morton Tender quick and Adlolf's.

Let them chill for several days covered, then run them through a meat tenderizer and use for Chicken fried steaks and stake fingers or just rerun them through the tenderizer and make jerky out of them.

If you are going to grind them have the butcher mix in 10-15% "beef suit" (fat) and just a little salt to bind and you'll have great hamburger.

Without the salt and a little fat patties are really hard to keep together.
 
We always do a few test steaks at camp,or home on grill.If tough, more burger.I really like salami for snacks and lunch fixing.Do some breakfast sausage,jerky,roast,crook pot,stir fry.
 
My wife refuses to eat tough meat, and I'm a cheap bastige so rarely buy the expensive cuts. So I figure out ways to cheat....
For the really tough cuts I will do any of the following - depending on what I'm preparing:
  • Salt - salt is my friend. All kinds of spices mixed in. I can tell how tough a cut might be based on how much resistance it gives my knife. Add sugar to enhance the osmotic / breakdown effect.
  • Soak it in a sealed container in Worcestershire sauce for a few days, flipping the cut(s) over in the sauce. In my experience, people don't notice the taste of the Worcestershire.
  • Do a wet brine using kiwi, mango or pineapple juice and salt, and an overnight soak in it.
  • Did a mango/onion/italian plum reduction chutney once, and put it in a gallon baggie with the meat. People were foaming at the mouth how good it was.
  • Stew, chili or borscht. I start after breakfast - cube it, fry it good and browned, then do all the veggies, let the meal simmer for a whole day.
  • Braise it. The trick here is max 180° for 5 or 6 hours, tightly wrapped so it's cooking in it's own juices. You might put onion powder, garlic salt, etc on top of it, but the trick I found is to rub it with spices when you open it up at the end of the braising time, then give it another 1/2 hour. It'll be like a sponge and suck in all the flavor.
Things I have tried but were total failures, at least the way I did them:
  • Soaking in teriyaki sauce and tamari soy sauce.
  • Letting beef brine in a good salsa overnight.
  • Sprinkling thin slices with arm and hammer sodium bicarb. Someone told me it would tenderize the meat. It just made a mess, was a pain to rinse off, and did not affect the meat at all.
 
Have you tried a slow cooker? Season them and put them in slow cooker and pour a can of undiluted cream of mushroom soup on top. Cook on low for about 4 hours depending on how thick they are cut. It comes out fork tender and covers a pile of mashed potatoes nicely :)


Bingo...............
 
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