Regular readers will know we got skunked on a recent elk hunting trip to Colorado. Rather than come back without an elk story for you, dear reader, I visited an old fashioned butcher that processes all sorts of meat, from wild beasties to hogs and beef cattle raised by the local 4H.

The distinction between wild game taken by hunters and ranched game sold to restaurants is important because hunted meats can not be sold for public consumption. In order to be legally sold in this country, domesticated game animals (like all other livestock) must be slaughtered and immediately processed in a USDA inspected abattoir. While these barriers exist to protect public health, they also make delicous game meats less accessible and more expensive to the average food lover.

Hunters bring their game to “no kill” facilities like Old World Meat, which fabricates elk carcasses into steaks, roasts and delicious sausages. At the height of the hunting season, over two tons of elk are processed here each day, but Old World still returns orders with next day service.

The sheer size of an elk requires hunters to halve or quarter it to haul it out of the woods. At left, shop co-owner Matt Anderegg poses with two hindquarters as delivered by a customer. An elk carcass resembles a scaled-down side of beef, and is cut in much the same manner. Major differences: elk are not as thickly muscled as cattle, and run far leaner due to their active outdoor lifestyle.

Prior to fabriation, any stray hairs and debris are singed off the exterior with a propane flame thrower. The outermost layer of meat and silverskin is sliced off and disposed. The clean, interior muscle is cut to each customer’s specifications, immediately packaged in butcher paper and flash frozen. A 400 pound elk ultimately yields about 100 pounds of delicious venison, according to Anderegg’s estimates.

Notice the leanness of elk meat in both these photos. Elk tastes like expensive, dry aged beef in that its minerally, meaty flavors are concentrated compared to ordinary, unaged beef. Unlike other kinds of wild meats, elk has little of the gaminess you might expect. I asked the Andereggs what contributes to off flavors of game meats, and an interesting debate ensued. Matt’s brother in law Rick Nehm suggested that diet plays a major role, and cited how antelope tastes like the highland sage on which they feed. Dumpster diving bears reportedly taste like garbage, while those living far from human contact don’t. I’m told that mountain lion tastes horrible no matter what.

The way that game is handled after the kill also plays a role in its flavor. For hunters, the Andereggs offer these basic tips for optimal quality:

• Cool the meat as quickly as possible in the field by skinning, gutting, and bleeding immediately.
• Expose more surface area to the cold winter air by cutting the carcass into quarters.
• Do not rinse the meat, nor allow ice to contact it directly.

How many butcher shops these days sell entire sides of beef, or whole hogs custom cut and wrapped for your freezer? The Anderegg family has since 1967. They make over thirty kinds of fresh, smoked and fully cooked sausages, and house-smoke hams, bacon and turkey. Stout 1/4 inch slices of their bacon at bottom right are the thickest you’re likely to find unless you slice your own slab bacon.

On the day I visited, chicken and apple sausage was being made. Shot with high velocity from the muzzle of a full auto sausage cannon, the machine simultaneously twists the filled collagen casings into links of consistent size and density. Whoever said you don’t want to see sausage or politics being made was only half right.

Beef jerky and elk snack sticks (at top right and left) had just finished curing in the smoker. The skinny snack sticks resemble the Polish sausages called kabanosy, except these are made of ranched elk and pork. Offered in their most popular teriyaki flavor or a not so spicy “hot” stick, they made for the perfect car snack on our drive home to California. Well, almost perfect: an Octoberfest lager would have paired great with these delicious sausages. Thanks, Matt, for your road trip gifts!

Expert meat purveyors are a dying breed even in places with a strong ranching and hunting tradition like Colorado’s Western slope. Where I live, it’s incredibly rare to find a butcher shop with extensive expertise in wild and domesticated meats, let alone in-house smoking and curing capabilities. I was thrilled to stumble across Old World on my short visit to Grand Junction, and look forward to visiting again (with my own elk, hopefully) next year.

Old World Meat
1765 Main Street
Grand Junction, CO 91501
970-245-2261

Like a dog named Tripod, the Four Q BBQ team’s hobbling to San Diego one man short for the last barbecue contest of our rookie season. We’ll miss the BBQ Junkie and Mrs. Junkie, who’re expecting their first baby. Mazel tov!

The remaining teammates will compete at the California State Championships (no pressure). Come on down and root for us! Saturday morning is the best time for spectators to see the outcome, but please respect the time crunch just before entries are are submitted for judging. Teams begin cooking on Friday evening (usually about 6pm). If you care to see how meats are prepared, that’s a more relaxed time to chat with competitors.

As with any contest, competitors can’t give samples to the general public. I know of at least two solid barbecue restaurant / caterers in San Diego County, so let’s hope the event organizers have secured their services to feed the crowd.

If you’d like to compete, visit the California Barbecue Association.

When: November 10-11, 2006
Contact: Gene Goycochea 619-429-1234, by e-mail: gene@cbbqa.com
Event Information: Imperial Beach Chamber of Commerce 619-424-3151
Where: 800 block of Seacoast Drive at the beach

Ever take a trip somewhere and get bummed out to come home to your usual humdrum routine? If there’s a word for that in some other language, it’s probably a German, twenty syllable, consonant-rich monstrosity. In my younger, wanderlustful days, I travelled constantly for work and usually missed that interesting some-other-place to return home to New York, as if the New York City suburbs were a sucky place to live. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

Now that I’m older and shittier, I’m rather comfortable with my suburban Orange County life and better appreciate the joys of living here. In the first days after our vacation, I ate tacos at my favorite hole in the wall taqueria, Costa Mesa’s El Toro Bravo, and hit the weekend dim sum at Irvine’s China Garden. I felt like a junkie fresh out of rehab.

Our hunting expeditition to the Western slope of Colorado was terrific except no elks graced us with a viable target. I enjoyed the lakeside view from our rustic cabin on a snowy mountain at 10,000 feet of elevation. The little sprites went fishing, and we pan fried just-caught cold water rainbow trout with a parmesan and instant potato flakes crust, sauced with a lemon beurre noisette. The 4 wheel drive went out on the truck as the sun was setting, stranding us in the mud during a snow squall, when the windshield wipers decided to quit too (thanks alot, GMC).

Despite all that fun, there’s no place like home, and sleeping in my own bed with a warm cat dozing at my feet.

A week outside the usual routine gave me perspective on the foodways both at home and in Colorado. Stay tuned for a story on butchers that process wild game, and a small town where artisans turn renowned local fruit and corn into wines, vodkas, and brandies.

This blog will vacation for a week in the wilds of Western Colorado. If fortune smiles, I’ll bring back some elk meat and prepare some tasty wild game for your vicarous enjoyment.