But how does it taste?

[Scott4030]

I’ve spent my life eating moose, elk, bison, mule deer, blacktail, various sheep, antelope… pretty much all North American game and love it all. As far as African game goes, I’ve never eaten anything that I did not enjoy and I’ve eaten most species noted in other’s comments. Maybe it’s me, but I enjoy pretty much anything considered “food” anywhere in the world. I have eaten some very strange meats while living in South East Asia in the 80s for work, and liked them all. Most every animal has an “good” cut and with proper prep can be excellent although culturally there are meats that are hard for me to eat on an emotional level. Dog, horse, rats, monkeys… that sort of thing. Have tried them all but would not eat them regularly.

 

[Osama Mahdi]

I did not read any thing about red duiker here so this is my input. I say the red duiker meat was below average. The image for kudu meat with avocado and tomato very good, Nyala similar to kudu. Buffalo and impala are even better.
Keep in mind it all depends on the way of cooking

 

[Green Chile]

That's a good question. I've had oxtail from buff, eland, and some others but oddly not ele. Trunk is a delicacy but usually reserved for the headman of the nearest village. Somewhere I have a photo of ele backstraps that are 7 or 8 feet long. Ele meat is quite coarse due to the large muscle fibers. I always wanted to try it braised slowly. It's nobody's fav but there is so much of it for the village to eat.

 

[Green Chile]

I did not read any thing about red duiker here so this is my input. I say the red duiker meat was below average. The image for kudu meat with avocado and tomato very good, Nyala similar to kudu. Buffalo and impala are even better.
Keep in mind it all depends on the way of cooking

My red duiker was surprisingly just so so. I was expecting a lot more from it.

 

[thriller]

Our grysbok was surprisingly firm meat but not tough it was interesting. Funny how some of the little ones aren’t that impressive but some of the big ones are

 

[Betterinthebush]

Yes, split seasoned and roasted over sicklethorn coals.

Also gemsbok marrow bones make a wonderful stew!

Ok, now new related question; has anyone ever had elephant marrow (butter boats)?

 

[Green Chile]

Our grysbok was surprisingly firm meat but not tough it was interesting. Funny how some of the little ones aren’t that impressive but some of the big ones are

My Sharpe's grysbok was better than the red duiker. Neither was as good as I expected. How can a zebra steak be better than a little duiker? Surprising.

On ele specialty like bone marrow, most of that is going to go to the village. They take everything including the intestines and all bones. We take the skin panels and ivory and just a bit of meat. They get everything else traditionally.

 

[Happy Myles]

Elephant cheeks seem to me the best of elephant I have tried. I have not tried much

 

[Happy Myles]

I assure you I am not an elephant gourmet

 

[Betterinthebush]

My Sharpe's grysbok was better than the red duiker. Neither was as good as I expected. How can a zebra steak be better than a little duiker? Surprising.

On ele specialty like bone marrow, most of that is going to go to the village. They take everything including the intestines and all bones. We take the skin panels and ivory and just a bit of meat. They get everything else traditionally.

I’m all about tradition, but how about a little sumthin-sumthin for the b’wanna!

 

[Green Chile]

Oh I hear ya...when there's over 100 people swinging axes and crawling inside out from the ele, who's going to jump in and say that big piece is mine? It's a wonder there aren't limbs being hacked off and stabbings.

 

[Betterinthebush]

I’ve searched the forums. If I missed this subject, I do apologize.

Hunters I’ve spent a lot time of time with that have hunted Africa are unanimous. Waterbuck is not tasty meat, gorgeous trophy, but unpleasant fare at the table. Unanimous to a man. I could never get an accurate description of the flavor. Just revulsion.

Ok, I’m not soon hunting waterbuck. As an owner of an abattoir and custom processing plant (VERY SMALL) I’m thinking “ok, how is that possible?” I have some experience in both controlled confined kill and game killed meat. Mule deer tastes nothing like whitetail deer. Elk always seems somewhat uniform. Moose seems to differ in tase by shot placement (high shoulder vs. boiler room) to me but always still good. Bear.. I won’t eat a bear killed in Pa, but one of the best roasts I’ve ever had was a black bear from the Brooks Range.

I’m new here. Is this true, or just common lore? What, as a new African hunter, if successful should I prepare my tastebuds for? I hope to enjoy Kudu, Gemsbok, Springbok, whatever the bush provides. I’m not picky (I have dreams, but I’m a realistic hunter, not a shopper) but do Impala taste so wildly different from a Duiker that I should prepare my palate for disappointment? A master guide I worked for told me one that “Cape Buffalo ain’t beef. It ain’t even buffalo. The only way to eat it is well-done. Tried to eat it medium-rare. Huge mistake”

What did you all enjoy? What would you sooner run from than put one piece in your mouth again?

like so much campfire/internet/bs artist lore I’ve listened to, waterbuck is not horrid. It is, in fact, exquisite. I relished every morsel and it was far and away my and my wife’s favorite game meat of all the fare we got to enjoy.

First night in camp we enjoyed the previous hunter’s success. My hat is off to both him and the fine steaks carved from his animals loin.

 

[Green Chile]

Waterbuck is very good if it's handled correctly. You have to avoid the oily hair and glands and of course, clean and cool it correctly.

 

[BGGMKLR]

Waterbuck is very good if it's handled correctly. You have to avoid the oily hair and glands and of course, clean and cool it correctly.

Zactly
Spike

 

[Ridge Runner]

RULE #1: NEVER Criticise the Cook(s).
RULES #2 THRU 1000+: SEE RULE #1

Not everyone has the same taste for the same foods.

Any and all foods/meals are either good or bad. The only way to determine whether a food/meal is not to one's liking is by trying it.

Even the best chefs have screwed up a few meals. Likewise even the worst non cooks have made some outstanding meals {...or maybe I was too tired and hungry to care.}

It's all in the prep/care.

For meats; it startis with the foods the animal has been eating, time and area the animal was killed, and the processing from skinning and cleaning, to cooling/cure/hanging/relax, to butchering, to seasoning...or not, ending with the way and how it is cooked.

 

[Field28]

The beef silverside dijonaise sandwich on Airlink is way better than anything you'll get on any American airline!

 

[DonPablo]

Their answer was the oily musk on the waterproof fur and the glands are quite putrid. It must be skinned very carefully but if done properly the meat is wonderful.

This is what I'm always telling people about javelina.

My older brother always makes a stuffed loin for Christmas. When we hunted Mozambique for buffalo, he packed crushed walnuts, raspberry chipotle sauce, and a jar of jalapeños. We bought cream cheese in Pretoria the night before we flew into camp.

We shot Buffalo on our 2nd and 3rd day and brought the backstraps back into the main camp of Coutada 10. That night he worked his magic in the camp kitchen. Cut the loin in about 10” sections. Bore a hole down the center and stuffed it with the cream cheese, jalapeños and walnuts. Cooked it on a medium hot fire and glazed it with the raspberry chipotle and crushed walnuts.

He and the camp cook bring it all out to the dining area and we tell all the PHs and guides that they got to eat first, before us traveling hunters. I think I was last in line and my buddy John was already back in line for seconds behind me.

The guides who had been in camp for weeks were so happy “we’ve had nothing but ox tail soup for weeks!”

That buffalo loin was pretty freaking awesome…

Ed Z

Ed Z, any chance you'd be willing to share your brother's recipe? I do like a good stuffed back strap. My current favorite is boudin stuffed back strap.

 

[Zinz]

any chance you'd be willing to share your brother's recipe? I do like a good stuffed back strap. My current favorite is boudin stuffed back strap

It's like I described above. I don't remember the measurements, but it would be something like this:

8 ounces cream cheese
8 ounces chopped walnuts or pecans
8 ounces pickled jalapenos, chopped
1 bottle Raspberry Chipotle sauce

Mix together the cream cheese with the jalapenos and 1/2 the walnuts (jalapenos to taste, some don't like it too hot and remember the glaze is a raspberry chipotle that also has heat).

Cut the loin in about 10” sections. Bore a hole down the center with a filet knife (preferably not all the way through, or the cream cheese mixture will ooze out) and stuff it with the cream cheese, jalapeños and walnuts. Cook it on a medium hot fire, turning it every few minutes while glazing it with the raspberry chipotle and crushed walnuts.

Cook the loin medium rare.

Heat remaining raspberry chipotle in a sauce pan.

Slice the loin and drizzle the heated raspberry chipotle sauce over the meat.

Remember, we were cooking a buffalo backstrap, so the loin was big. Whitetail will work, but watch the grill temperature.

I think this would work very well with elk or a Red Hartebeest backstrap.

I couldn't find an exact picture but imagine this with cream cheese/jalapeno/walnut stuffing and the whole thing glazed with raspberry chipotle and walnuts.

...now I'm hungry

Ed Z

 

[rookhawk]

Just warming up the grill as we speak. We made piri piri sauce earlier this week and have been marinating chicken in it for 24 hours. Pretty simple, 45 mins to make the sauce, 24 hours in a zip lock to marinate the meal.

Most people are terrible cooks, few things are terrible foods. You get into trouble when you try to defy the nature of the cuisine. You’ll never make pork belly, bear meat, or beef short ribs substitute for a game back strap or vice versa.

As long as you lean into what the meat is excellent for, you’ll have an excellent meal. We were recalling this week how lean, odorless, and mild our oryx was. Naturally, we made most of it raw as the best carpaccio and tartare on the planet, rather than using it as replacement for goat in a slow cook Middle East recipe.

It’s way easier to make excellent foods if you’ve tasted every cultures foods first and you’ve enjoyed them. It makes for sound judgment of substitutions.

 

[Zinz]

We made piri piri sauce earlier this week

Ha!! I had Piri Piri chicken kebabs last weekend! Bret's Biltong shop in Llano, Texas makes them... so freaking good.

Ed Z