DanWalker
08-30-2008, 02:17 PM
Contrary to what a lot of people will tell you, antelope is actually some of the finest game meat you can eat. The trick is to take care of it QUICKLY as soon as it's down.
When field dressing, keep as much hair out of the meat as possible. We skin the bellies before we gut them, just for this purpose. Wash body cavity out with plenty of fresh water, and get animal skinned and in the freezer ASAP. Every minute counts when it comes to the flavor of this meat. For bloody meat or if you can't get to it for a couple days, I.E. You are butchering it yourself, or travelling back home with it, just skin, and quarter it and put it in an ice chest. I've done tough old bucks this way. Just change ice as it melts, and drain off the bloody water. The water actually carries away any gamey flavor that may be present.
COOKING
I like to marinate my steaks overnight in the fridge in the following mixture:
Use enough worchestershire sauce to cover the meat. Add a couple teaspoons of montreal steak seasoning, some salt and pepper(go easy on both), and that's it.
For inside cooking, I preheat oven to 425 degrees.
I heat up a skillet with some olive oil in it smoky hot.
I sear the steaks for 60 seconds on each side, then place them into a cookie sheet and stick them in the oven.
For steaks up to 3/4" thick, 3 1/2 minutes on each side in the oven is enough to render them medium rare.
Thicker steaks, up to 2" are usually done in 8-9 minutes.
I do basically the same thing on the grill, only I use the frying pan on the sideburner of my grill to sear the steaks.
When field dressing, keep as much hair out of the meat as possible. We skin the bellies before we gut them, just for this purpose. Wash body cavity out with plenty of fresh water, and get animal skinned and in the freezer ASAP. Every minute counts when it comes to the flavor of this meat. For bloody meat or if you can't get to it for a couple days, I.E. You are butchering it yourself, or travelling back home with it, just skin, and quarter it and put it in an ice chest. I've done tough old bucks this way. Just change ice as it melts, and drain off the bloody water. The water actually carries away any gamey flavor that may be present.
COOKING
I like to marinate my steaks overnight in the fridge in the following mixture:
Use enough worchestershire sauce to cover the meat. Add a couple teaspoons of montreal steak seasoning, some salt and pepper(go easy on both), and that's it.
For inside cooking, I preheat oven to 425 degrees.
I heat up a skillet with some olive oil in it smoky hot.
I sear the steaks for 60 seconds on each side, then place them into a cookie sheet and stick them in the oven.
For steaks up to 3/4" thick, 3 1/2 minutes on each side in the oven is enough to render them medium rare.
Thicker steaks, up to 2" are usually done in 8-9 minutes.
I do basically the same thing on the grill, only I use the frying pan on the sideburner of my grill to sear the steaks.