Pan Fried Moose Steak

One of our friends is an avid hunter who eats very little domestic raised meat.  He hunts large game (moose, deer) as well as a multitude of smaller game.  He brings us moose meat and wild goose sausage from time to time.  He also goes to hunt camp with my husband which works out nicely.  I turn to him for advice for preparing wild game and soon will be enlisting his help using my new smoker (more on that to come).  A few days ago, I cooked two moose steaks he had gifted us with.

Moose meat has a mild, less gamey flavour than venison.  Unlike venison, it doesn't require the addition of pork fat even though it is a very lean meat.  Both venison and moose are best cooked using a moist heat  (eg. braising, stewing).

The moose steaks were large but  not overly thick so I pan fried them in a little olive oil and butter until just lightly browned and cooked through.  While the steaks were frying, I sprinkled lightly with garlic pepper.  Oh my!  The moose steaks were fork tender and juicy.  I served the steaks with baked potatoes, old fashioned chili sauce, and home canned green beans.  It was a simple yet delicious dinner!

Moose Burgers

Friends of ours do not eat any domestic meat.  He is a avid hunter of both small and large game so that is what they eat with respect to meat.  Neither of us hunt although my husband goes to hunt camp each year basically as the comic relief, chief cook and bottle washer.  So our friend brings us in very generous offerings of his catch. 

Moose meat can be used in many dishes that you would use beef in.  My husband made moose burgers with ground moose meat.  As with most meat based burger patties the focus is on enhancing the flavour of the meat.  The reason being is there is no point eating a burger with no flavour.   My husband is the master of tasty burger patties, know for his homemade 100% all beef for his famous burger with attitude. 

Moose meat is considerably leaner than beef.  It needs needs a bit of a binder to make burger patties.  My husband uses egg, a very light sprinkling of bread crumbs and seasoning.  The burgers were topped with lettuce, tomato and caramelized onions.  I served them with a very simple salad with a homemade vinaigrette dressing.  They were scrumptious!  We are officially out of moose meat but our friend goes moose hunting shortly so here's hoping they have a successful hunt!

Moose Shoulder Steaks

While I am an advid fisherman neither of us hunt even though my husband goes to hunt camp each year.  If the guys are lucky we get a bit of venison for the freezer.  A friend of ours does not eat domestic meat at all.  He brings me a lovely assortment of both large and small game.  He hunts both the large and small game but I don't think he fishes much so I give him fish in return.

Our friend brought us moose shoulder steaks, enough for a lovely dinner for two.  Moose meat is quite lean so it does need to be cooked on lower heat or braised.  The flavour is fairly close to beef without the game flavour of venison.  Unlike venison, moose meat does not require an additional fat like bacon for the mouth feel.  It can be used very much like you would beef.

My husband grilled the moose shoulder steaks to medium rare.  The steaks were served with honey glazed herbed baby carrots and camp-style potatoes.  Both carrots and potatoes were cooked on the grill.  It was a lovely and quite tasty, low fat dinner!

Moose Eye of Round Steak

As foodies I feel very lucky that most of our family and many of our friends are also foodies. A lot of good times, laughter and sometimes tears are shared whenever we get together but one thing that remains constant is an abundance of good food!

Garden Vegetables

There are a lot of great foods coming out of the garden right now. We are really enjoying vegetable trays as something a bit different from salads. My absolute favourite dip of the day is made using a garlic, onion mix from Windermere Farms. It has a nice, clean and refreshing taste. I make the dip with mayonnaise, sour cream and the dried seasonings using the mason jar method. The flavour is perfect with fresh vegetables. It's light yet tasty and flavourful. Pictured is the vegetable tray I made for the two of us. It isn't very big but it is all garden fresh.

Moose Eye of Round Steak

One of our friends does not eat any domestic meats. He brought us some moose meat in the form of steaks and sausage. Pictured is an eye of round moose steak. Don't let the size fool you as that is all very lean meat! Unlike venison which tends to have a gamey flavour, moose meat tastes almost identical to beef except a little goes a long way. Honestly you really can't tell the difference other than the moose meat is leaner. The moose eye of round was grilled then served with niblet corn, steamed potatoes and a side of cucumbers with garden fresh tomatoes topped with a little of the Windermer dip.