Elk Steak Marinated in Bourbon

My buddy Chris hooked me up again.  He hooked me up with an entire bison tenderloin that I cooked as two separate roasts.  One I marinated in coffee stout and garlic and the other I slathered with a paste of roasted garlic, cracked pepper corns and Worcestershire sauce.  This time Chris gave me an enormous NY strip elk steak, otherwise called the strip loin.  That bison was out of this world.  The elk steak marinated in bourbon was even better…

Elk Steak Marinated in Bourbon Ingredients

• 1 big ass NY strip elk steak (substitute bison or beefl)
• 3 ounces bourbon
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1.5 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp soy (not pictured)
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 pats of butter
• black pepper

Why Elk Steak Marinated in Bourbon?

Steak doesn’t need a marinade. Well this steak does. As you can see in the pic above and below, this piece of meat is REALLY lean. There is practically no fat in it. So we need to add a little flavor. And since I get to pick what to use to add flavor.

I also used butter at the end to add some flavor. In the future, I would use a compound butter. 

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen redder meat than this. There is no fat in this elk steak at all which can be a but problematic. 

More on this later.

While it has no fat, it does have some silver skin to trim off:

Under that little flap of meat is a bunch of tough silver skin. 

Trimmed:

With this elk steak I wanted to get a feel for the flavor without the marinade, so I trimmed off about an inch from the end that would not be marinated. 

All it got was a little salt and black pepper:

The nibbler piece will also help me gauge how long it will take to cook the rest of the elk steak.

I combined all the ingredients except for the butter and steak in a small bowl:

I whisked the marinade together:

Then I put the elk steak in a plastic bag with the marinade and into the fridge overnight:

The following day, Dad came by to enjoy this glorious piece of meat along with some white wine before dinner (it was the first time the temp had been above 50 in 4 months, it felt like a heat wave) in the form of a Gott Chard, some red (Trilogy Flora Springs) with the meal, and a side dish of grilled romaine lettuce. 

I took the elk out to come up to room temp:

Notice how much redder the sampler piece is compared to the marinated steak?

The Worcestershire and the soy darken the elk.

How to Grill Elk Steak Marinated in Bourbon

I set up the Grill Manufacturer That Shall Not Be Named for two zone grilling with coals on one side and nothing on the other. 

I used the bricks to section off the two sides:

After cleaning my grill grate with a brush, I put the sampler piece directly over those coals:

I flipped the pieces after only a couple of minutes.  What struck me was that there was no grease on the surface of the meat.

I wasn’t kidding when I said there was no fat:

I was worried that there was no way to get a juicy steak of out of the rest of the cut the way this looks. The sample pieces had no fat but were full of flavor and were indeed juicy.  It’s different than beef.  It’s more robust and had a nice sweetness to it. 

Dad actually asked if I had dusted it with garlic because there was so much flavor. 

I told him it was just salt and pepper.

After we sampled it was time to get the elk steak on the grill.

I put the cut directly over the hot coals:

After two minutes grilling over the hot coals I rotated the elk:

After another two minutes, I flipped it over:

Again, no fat is glistening on the surface of the meat which tells me that I have a very, very small window for getting this right. 

Go beyond medium rare and say good by to a juicy steak and say hello to shoe leather.

After two minutes I rotated the steak:

After two more minutes (a total of eight over the hot coals), I moved it to the side with no coals to bake:

We decided to add some fat to this since there seemed to be none.

The fat we added came in the form of butter.

In the future I would use this compound butter:

I baked the steak for three minutes:

I didn’t want to risk over cooking it so it was time to take the grilled elk steak off and let it rest under some loose foil.

You could go longer if you wish and it all depends on the heat of the grill. 

Let the steak tell you when it’s done. Simply use the thumb test.

Here’s the steak with the glistening melted butter on top:

Rest the Elk Steak

Dad foiling the now grilled elk steak marinated in bourbon while I work on the side dish:

Resting is of critical importance for a juicy steak.  When that meat comes off the grill, the juices inside are in an excited state.  They’re moving a million miles an hour.  Slicing into the meat when they’re in that state will cause them to run out of the meat.  Give it a few minutes to calm down and when you cut into it, the juice stays in the meat. 

We rested this about eight minutes while I grilled the lettuce. 

You can find a more detailed write up on how to grill lettuce here.

Basically, I tore away the really leafy outer leaves from the head of romaine and sliced it in half lengthwise.

Grilled Romaine for the Side

I drizzled it with olive oil, coarse salt, black pepper, granulated garlic and put it right over the hot part of the grill:

Once there’s a nice char, flip the head halves over:

Once there’s a char on both sides, plate and cover with hard grated cheese (in this case asiago).

Here’s the elk sliced along with the the lettuce and glass of wine on a tray.

Dad and I went downstairs and ate on the couch while watching a guy flick:

And a closer shot of the juicy steak:

Elk Steak Marinated in Bourbon Summary

The marinade added a great complementary flavor to the elk.  It wasn’t too strong to overpower the meat, but also stood up to the hearty red meat quite well.  It was a juicy steak as well as incredibly tender.  The skinnier end of the meat was rare to medium rare and the fatter end was rare, which was perfect for dad and I, he got the skinner end, and I got the bloody fat end.  This was the skinnier end.

I can sum up with this simple sentence. Elk may have ruined beef for me, it was that good.

Looking back, if I ever get elk again, I’m adding some oil to the marinade.  Maybe two tablespoons.  It needed some added fat.  It would be a healthier alternative to the butter at the end, but I’d probably do both the butter and the oil.

If you have any questions or comments about elk steak marinated in bourbon, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

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Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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This article was initially published on: February 15, 2011