moose t-bone au poivre

while reading a book called 'cleaving', my interest in butchering has increased. i was wondering just the other day about how difficult it would be to break down a carcass into quarters, and then break it down from there. i've done basic butchering in culinary school and in restaurants, but i want to experience the whole deal from start to finish, which i'm sure i'll have the opportunity to partake in during the future hunting of deer season.

on a smaller scale, i had a fantastic moose t-bone steak last night. the t-bone and porterhouse are steaks of beef (or moose in my case), cut from the short loin and including a t-shaped bone with meat on each side; the larger is a strip steak and the smaller a tenderloin steak. porterhouse steaks are cut from the rear end of the short loin and include more tenderloin, while t-bone steaks are cut from farther forward and contain less. if you think about it on the human body, which may sound grim, but let's face it- a carcass is a carcass right?..anyway, it would be the lower back area surrounding the vertebrae. obviously it's a bit different on a large beast, but just to give you an idea....so, this was one great steak! it was almost fork tender and the flavors were more like an 'earthy'- meaty flavor rather than a 'gamey' flavor associated with game meat. i was immediately thankful, for these steaks were a gift, and a gift of meat is just really fun!

my only task in the preparation of these steaks was to make an accommodating sauce or compound butter. we decided that mushrooms should play a role too, so i made a twist on a traditional french preparation called steak au poivre. traditionally this preparation would have you loosely coating your steak with cracked peppercorns, and searing it in a hot pan at a high temperature to create a sort of peppercorn crust. a pan sauce made with cognac, heavy cream, and pan-scrapings would be served with the steak. dijon mustard and butter are common ingredients in the sauce as well. here's how my version went down. since we were grilling the steaks, i'd have no pan-scrapings to help flavor the sauce, so i used the mushrooms. i halved the mushrooms, left them whole if they were on the small side, so they'd be substantial. i gave them a saute in a little butter and olive oil. i then added a few glugs of brandy, 1 hefty tablespoon of stone ground mustard and allowed the brandy and mushroom liquids to cook down and to also burn off the alcohol. i then added a few dollops of butter and several grinds of cracked pepper, and allowed it to melt and meld with the pan reduction. what i was left with was a tangy, earthy, creamy sauce which pooled around the mushrooms and was heavenly with the grilled steaks!

happy hunting and a toast to the animals in which we eat! belly up!