Preparing Your Elk

1. Have your elk butchered properly to avoid the notorious gamy flavor of elk. You can take the meat to be professionally butchered, or if you're more of a DIY type, butcher it yourself, with added attention to how you trim it. Remove as much fat and "silver skin" white membrane as possible, as these can strongly add to the wild flavor you are trying to avoid.

2. Tenderize the meat to negate the elk's gamy flavor. Two methods for tenderizing are aging the meat or soaking it in buttermilk. To age the meat, keep it at or near freezing for three to five days, making sure that it remains in the temperature range (the longer it's at higher temperatures, the more moisture it will lose). A convenient way to finish the aging process is to allow the frozen meat to thaw completely in your refrigerator and then leave it there for 24 hours. The other way of tenderizing your elk is to soak it in buttermilk for one or more days in the refrigerator.

3. Remove the steaks from refrigeration an hour prior to grilling time and pat them dry.

4. Season the steaks by massaging both sides with minced garlic. Leave the garlic on to counter any remaining gaminess without overwhelming the meat's basic taste.

5. Just before grilling, pat the steaks with dry mustard, then lightly oil both sides of the steaks with olive oil and sprinkle them with sea salt.

Cooking Your Elk

1. Heat your grill so that one side is at high heat and the other is at medium heat. Lightly oil the grill with vegetable oil.

2. Cook each side of the elk steaks over the high heat for one minute.

3. Transfer the steaks to the side of the grill with medium heat and allow them to cook to your desired level. Ideally, you should cook them to no more than rare or medium rare, depending on your preference. Because elk is lean, the longer you cook it, the more likely it will dry out and become tough.

4. Allow your cooked steaks to sit between five and eight minutes. This allows the juices to accumulate, giving you the most tender, tasty results.