Fresh

As I've moved on in my cooking career one thing has always been emphasized over and over again. Try to use the freshest possible ingredients. In the markets where I have worked this usually means vegetables and herbs. It is very hard to control the freshness of proteins in the desert southwest. Even on the coast, although the seafood and produce is ultra fresh there is not usually much difference regarding the other proteins like beef, game and poultry. Working at the lodge has given me opportunities to cook with fresh game.

A couple of weeks ago we had some hunters express interest in having me cook the elk they had just shot that morning. I indicated that it would be no problem and minutes later their guide deposited 2 bags on the kitchen table.
The bags contained the backstrap that would be prepared for their main dish and the neck that would be turned into a Texas style Elk Chili.
I removed the meat from the bags and set about fabricating the cuts for that evening.









Since the meat was still a little warm I fabricated the usable cuts as quickly as possible and then put everything in the cooler while I worked out the rest of the menu.
The chili came together pretty easily utilizing the neck meat, except for the fact that I don't often make Texas chili. So the result was a hybrid of Texas chili and New Mexican Red chili. While the chili was fairly spicy the overall flavor was quite nice.
I find that coffee and chocolate pair well with game meat and so I crusted the backstrap with an espresso and chocolate rub. This was seared in a smoking hot pan and then placed in the oven untill it was a nice medium rare. Wanting to keep a bit of the southwestern flair I chose to place it on some green chili polenta and some haricot verts. The meat was drizzled with black currant demi glace and topped with a jalapeno and corn relish.

During my conversation with the client that afternoon they happened to mention that they often prepared their elk with bell peppers and cream cheese and then wrapped in bacon.
Sadly I did not have any bell peppers on hand and was not able to make 52 mile round trip to the nearest grocery store. So the next day, wanting to give the client a similar flavor profile, I took some scrap meat that I had saved from the prior fabrication and used them in a rumaki style stuffed jalapeno. The Jalapenos were de-seeded stuffed with cream cheese and elk meat; wrapped with brown sugar and cumin seasoned bacon and finally roasted in the oven. I have to say while the end result was fairly spicy I really liked the result. Sadly I think the entire dish was a little too spicy for the clients but they did put a sizeable dent in the platter.

While this is not an everyday occurance for me I have had the opportunity to work not only with elk but also fresh, trout, grouse and buffalo. Turkey hunts are coming up and we're in deer season so I am anxiously awaiting my next challenge.