Pronghorn meat

Alsatian · 02-06-2005, 10:52 AM

My son and I each took a pronghorn last October. My son took a buck, I took a doe. The doe has a milder flavor than the buck. The buck has a strong flavor which is unfamiliar to me. Right off, let me say "strong" doesn't mean unpleasant or spoiled or wrong. To those unfamiliar with the flavor, commercial lamb has a strong flavor. Also let me note that the meat of both animals was properly cared for by me and that the weather was cool when we hunted in mid-October, highs in the mid-50s.

The meat smells like and tastes like the animal smelled when I cut it up. I have a hard time describing the flavor of the meat. It seems sweet. It also has an herbal flavor, a zingeyness. I have heard people talk about pronghorn tasting of sage as a result of eating lots of sagebrush, and I'm tempted to call this distinctive flavor a sage flavor, but it is kind of an indefinite term. I raise sage in my own backyard, and the flavor is not exactly like that flavor of sage, which is not a big surprise.

My wife likes this pronghorn meat A LOT and thinks it tastes substantially better than venison. I cook it in exactly the same way I cook venison. I coat in seasonings including 4 crushed juniper berries, 1/2 teaspoon marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/2 bay leaf crumbled, salt, fresh ground pepper. I sear it on all sides in a heavy casserole. I pour about a cup of water into the casserole and bring to the boil. I then cover the casserole and put in the oven for 3 hours at 330 degrees, turning the meat in the liquid every half hour. If needed, I add extra water. At the end, I thicken the liquid with a cooked mixture of butter and flour.

Can anyone comment on this distinctive, very different flavor? Is this the reputed sage flavor I have read about?

It seems that this special flavor cries out for some distinctive cooking preparation, something particularly suited to pronghorn meat. Any ideas? I have thought maybe grilling a pronghorn roast over a hickory fire, maybe with the coals excluded from the middle of the grill where the meat will sit to avoid excessive direct heat, basting frequently with olive oil, maybe with minced garlic in the olive oil.

kevin1 · 02-07-2005, 07:20 AM

Was there a lot of sagebrush where you shot it ?
Sagebrush , no relation to garden sage , will give meat a different flavor . I've had cottontails taken from a sgebrush area and they tasted substantially different than the ones I've eaten here . There did seem to be a sagelike taste to them .

nulle · 02-21-2005, 03:53 PM

Welcome to the world of antelope meat lol. Sometimes if they are run they have a strong taste but right off hand I think it may have just been an older buck and they are strong. I marinate the meat overnight and that will take some of it out. I got four of them critters this year and only one was strong so I lucked out .

Judyboi · 03-01-2005, 05:51 PM

I like you enjoy this "strong" taste! I love it not to mention the meat is more tender than any wildgame I have ever had. I guess the flavor is like sage, but it reminds me of what the low-grass praries of Wyoming smell like just after a rainstorm(you know what I mean if you have ever been there for a storm).

Alsatian · 03-10-2005, 10:58 AM

When my wife first ate lamb -- leg of lamb roast -- it tasted so distinctly different from her other meat eating experiences that she felt the meat must be bad. It wasn't, it just had distinctive lamb flavor, maybe slightly more than usual. I happen to prize this flavor, and the more intense the better. She has come around to enjoying lamb, but still is a little put off by intense lamb flavor. This is why I avoid characterizing my pronghorn buck's flavor as bad. It is just different. I focus on it and pay attention to it while I eat it, and I can't say the flavor is unpleasant -- just to me strikingly distinct and different. I'm thinking I will just come to accept and perhaps even like it.

I'm planning on trying a different roasting preparation next time. I think I will stab the roast in several places and insert thin slivers of garlic. I'll coat the outside of the roast with rosemary and then roast it. This is sort of how I might treat leg of lamb. It is just an experiment: you never know if a preparation will work until you try it. Unfortunately, Julia Child doesn't offer many gourmet recipies for Pronghorn Antelope!

Rebel Hog · 04-08-2005, 07:52 PM

I've had plenty of goat, but never had any antelope!

Knightia · 04-08-2005, 11:31 PM

Quote:

but it reminds me of what the low-grass praries of Wyoming smell like just after a rainstorm(you know what I mean if you have ever been there for a storm).

I know what you mean Judy boy.
(also i can smell when the snow is commin into the mtns)- but without the goat

Like yall say deffently different taste - but i like eatin them wild goats.

I ussaly make them into something/ use them in something other the plain roasted meat etc

Knightia · 04-08-2005, 11:35 PM

One thing tho- Wyomings -LOW? grass praries the lowest spot in the state is about 3,500 ft& the valley i live in is above a mile in elevation

Now if wy was really just a hole we would be very LOW

Judyboi · 04-09-2005, 07:20 AM

low grass prairies are one of the two types, low or high grass. It only is in reference to the length of grasses there, not elevation. Just FYI...

Knightia · 04-09-2005, 12:27 PM

Ahh like short grass & long/ tall grass praries- got ya Jud