Elk USAReviews of elkusa.com

Response from Elk USAOct 25, 2015

Patricia: We are sorry you had a poor experience with the Elk Short ribs you had purchased from us. On Elk, some of the lesser cost, peripheral meats such as skirts, ribs, and shanks are hi-cartilage items, sometimes quite difficult to gauge the proper cooking time. Further, unlike beef, elk have very little interstitial fat, making the meat very low in fat, but elk can get unforgivably tough, when over cooked. Elk ribs are best when cooked very slowly for a long time at low heat. Your explanation in terms of aging the meat is predominately correct. However, we do not age elk for the classical 10 days like many wild elk are done. Most wild shot elk are older, tougher males, while most of our harvested elk are younger females. Our aging process is governed by the higher-end meat cuts, so as not to over-age and diminish the quality and quantity of the loins, rump and shoulders. In our aging system, developed over the last 18 years, animals are hung (cooler-aged) for about 4 days, cut and packaged for another one day of aging in the package before freezing. Once frozen, the meat can be stored for months. For the lesser grade cuts, we generally recommend the frozen meat not go directly to the cooking stage, but are best to be allowed to slowly thaw in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days providing additional aging. Further, the time and temperature of boiling, or in your case, pressure cooking must be done lower and slower than beef. Patricia, Thank you again for your order, and I do hope you will try some of our premium game meats or even burgers as they are truly “Better than Beef”. rich General Manager