Suggestions for Antelope?

[whitetailfan]

Back in my early hunting life, you could get drawn for pronghorn lopes about every 3 years or so.  I started University in 1990 and that was +/- my last antelope trip.  No time, no interest from the group etc.

My best fried moved to Manitoba and we forgot about antelope.  Anyway he moved back 5 or 6 years ago, and we started to draw again.  Well we finally hit it this year after 5 years priority.

Got 2 out of 3 antelope.  I chopped them up in the garage and froze the pieces.  Took out the backstraps/loins, as well as the sirloin tips off the hinds, and some of the "ham" meat.

I planned to jerky it all, but I would love to hear about any recipes from the community.

Thanks[:)]


<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[SoupGuy]

How about something a little different?

Try making some Teriyaki jerky out of some of your kill. There is no smoke involved (fancy that on a site like this- but I'll assume you already know how to smoke meat and likely will).

Teriyaki jerky is almost like candy if done well... and it can overcome even the most gamey of wild meats.

The key here is to have lean meat- no silver (grissle, whatever you want to call it) and little or no fat. Perfect for venison and a hunter with a sharp knife and a little patience.

Cut/slice meat WITH the grain rather thinly... not more than 1/4 inch thick. (semi-frozen meat slices rather easy).

Mix dry-brine: (increase measures for larger portions)

** NO need to add Sodium Nitrite (Instacure, Prague powder #1- whatever you call it).

DRY BRINE: (this is for roughly 5 LBS meat)

3 Tbl granulated sugar
3 Tbl Salt (non iodized please) Pickling/Kosher
1.5 tsp powdered celery seed, or Old Bay seasoning mix
1.5 tsp Black pepper

Layer meat slices in a casserole dish and spray a mist (or shake from bottle) a generous amount of Teriyaki sauce (I highly recommend Kikomon brand) followed by a shaking of the dry brine mixture between each layer of meat.

Cover and refrigerate at least 24 hrs or more for thicker cuts.

Dehydrate the meat strips in a dehydrator at 145F for about 3 hours. Just before they are 'done', spray the meat once again with Teriyaki and finish to desired dryness.

** If you do not have a dehydrator you can hang the meat strips from toothpicks in your oven to dry. Use the lowest setting, not less than 140F and not more than 170F and keep a close eye on them througout.

A BS is not a good dehydrator... it is a smoker. A good dehydrator never requires rotating racks. If you don't have a dehydrator (I recommend the Exhalibur unit) use the oven instead.

Happy eating!






Best known not for soup, but rather smoked meats... and stuff

[jaeger]

SoupNazi,
The teriyaki recipe looks Great!!!
No offense, but I will take smoked jerky over dehydrator jerky any kind, any day.
It takes less than a minute to rotate racks and the temp is ideal.
IMHO using a dehydrator for jerky is only for people that don't have a smoker![;)]






<font size="4"><b>Doug</b></font id="size4">

[SoupGuy]

No offense, but I will take smoked jerky over dehydrator jerky any kind, any day.
It takes less than a minute to rotate racks and the temp is ideal.
IMHO using a dehydrator for jerky is only for people that don't have a smoker!

jaeger


None taken! I agree and so do many people that smoked (beef) jerky rules! I have the missing teeth to prove it :(

I sell a lot of jerky to bars. One day a waitress at one of these bars asks me if I make 'Teriyaki' jerk. I didn't. I love a challenge, so I tried making some.

Believe it or not, the Teriyaki now outsells the smoked variety (unless we include the Chipotle and Habanero jerks which are also Smoked. Combined, they are the most popular).

To be honest, I never even tried to smoke Teriyaki jerky. Initially, all I did different was to marinade the (cured) jerk in teriyaki; then dehydrate. I've since learned that adding the teri at the same time as the cure works out very well.

Now it is my turn to ask 'no offense'; but a BS is not a good dehydrator. At least not compared to something like an Exhalibur unit. Neither is my custom smoker a good dehydrator- although it does do the job, just not as well.

Drying meat requires both heat and air-flow. Our smokers can certainly deliver the heat, but not evenly (hence rack rotation) and not nearly enough air to carry it away. I even added a 6 inch blower to the exhaust of my smoker and tried to use it in place of the dehydrator. (heating duct booster fan from Menards). All it did was make the heating element stay on continuously and the racks still required rotation to get even drying.

The best jerky (IMHO) is cured and seasoned, then definately smoked (I use hickory) then dehydrated in a real dehydrator (I use the exhalibur). Over-dried jerk like one can get in a bag at Walmart is terrible! A little moisture left in the meat makes it FAR more tender and tasty.

I don't mean to be critical, but a dehydrator properly implemeted can produce some really fantastic stuff. So can a smoker or even an oven if used/monitored correctly; but the time and effort savings of using a dehydrator can easily equal the other methods and make your life a lot easier!

Just my experience...











Best known not for soup, but rather smoked meats... and stuff

[Phone Guy]

I shot 3 antelope last year and 3 more this year. I took about 25 pounds of stew meat and had salami made. It came out great. I didn't make it myself because I just didn't have the time. I also didn't have the materials. I make italian sausage and polish but not salami.
I did make some jerky with some antelope and it came out pretty good but not great. I tried High Mountain and I also made my own marinade but wasn't overly thrilled with either.

I do have a good recipe for the back straps though.[:p]

basicly its..

Egg and cream beaten with some nutmeg

Bread crumbs and parmesan

Dip in egg/cream then bread crumbs/ and back into the egg dip. then fry and squeeze a lemmon on them when their done.[:p]

I can get the exact recipe if you want to try it.
I also have one that is Almond crusted Antelope cutlets in a porccini mushroom cream sauce. [:p]

[Bassman]

Hi Whitetail,
I'll bet Antelope would good in the recipe I use for smoked venison sausage. here is the link, the recipe is about half way down the page.

oops forgot the link
http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=98&whichpage=1&SearchTerms=smoked,venison,sausage

<i><font color="blue"><b>Jack</i></font id="blue"></b>