Bourbon Elk Steak on the Grate
Backstrap marinated in a bag on the drive out, then cooked over coals with a water pan under the grate.
- calories
- 340
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 49
- protein
- 48 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- 500 ml cold
- cost
- $$$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Elk steaks, backstrap or sirloin | 2-3 lb | cut about an inch thick; venison or beef sirloin works the same way |
|---|---|---|
| Bourbon | 1/3 cup | |
| Soy sauce | 1/3 cup | |
| Brown sugar | 1/4 cup | |
| Lime juice | juice of 1 lime | bottled juice travels better than the fruit |
| Chopped garlic | 1 tsp | jarred is fine |
| Hickory chips | 1 handful | soaked in water for an hour |
Method
- At home, trim the silverskin off the steaks. Shake the bourbon, soy sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, and garlic together in a zip bag, add the meat, and press the air out.
- Marinate four to eight hours in the cooler. Longer than that and the salt starts curing the surface.
- Build a charcoal fire on one half of the grate only. Set a foil pan of water under the empty half.
- Drop the soaked chips on the coals. Lay the steaks over the water pan, cover, and let them take smoke for about 25 minutes.
- Move them directly over the coals and sear two to three minutes a side. Pull at 130F in the center.
- Rest ten minutes on a board before slicing across the grain.
Elk is lean enough that the usual steak advice works against it. There is almost no intramuscular fat to buffer the heat, so a straight sear over coals dries the middle out before the crust forms. The two-zone fire fixes that: the steaks spend most of their time on the cool side over a pan of water, taking smoke while the interior comes up slowly, and only touch the fire at the end.
The marinade is doing two jobs. Soy sauce and lime bring salt and acid, which help a lean cut hold water. The brown sugar and bourbon are there for the sear — sugar and residual alcohol brown fast, so the crust develops in the two or three minutes the meat can afford over direct heat. This is a cooler recipe, not a pack recipe; the marinating happens before you leave and the meat needs to stay cold until it hits the grate.
Packing
Marinate at home and carry the bag flat in the cooler with the meat already in it. Chips soak in a second bag. Bring a disposable foil pan for the water and you have no pot to wash.
Variations
- No grill grate: sear the steaks in a cast iron skillet over the coals and skip the smoke.
- The leftovers slice cold into tortillas for the next day's lunch.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/bourbon-marinated-elk-steak