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Elk Recipe – Smoked Elk Shotgun Shells

This recipe is a fun way to get your kids involved helping you cook wild game plus its usually a big hit at the dinner table. I typically make them as an appetizer but you can serve them over jasmine rice or coconut rice as a meal.
Elk recipe – Smoking Shotgun shells or Smoked Manicotti
1bs of ground elk with 15% or higher beef fat (if yours is leaner see bellow for addition instructions)
1.5-2 cups shredded Colby jack
1 tbs pink Himalayan salt
1 tbs smoked paprika
1/4-1/2 tbs of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1/2 tbs of course black pepper
14 manicotti ( I prefer barilla)
14 slices of bacon
Your favorite BBQ sauce ( I like Carolina Sweet vinegar )
Elk recipe Instructions
With meat cold, in glass or stainless bowl, mix until even the ground meat, cheese, and all the spices (except the ground pepper). Stuff the uncooked manicotti shells with the meat cheese mix. Then wrap each shell with one slice of bacon sprinkle black pepper on the outside of the shells and set in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Heat up your smoker to 225 degs. Then place your shotgun shells over the heat source and let smoke for about 2hours. Next, apply the bbq sauce and let cook another 15min before turning the smoker up to 275 deg to crisp up the bacon for an additional 10-15 mins. Remove from smoker and serve with bbq dipping sauce. Check to see the done-ness of the shell before you remove from heat some may require a bit more cooking
If you are using lean meat which in this video below I used 93/7 ground grass fed beef ( the freezer was empty) you will need to put a coat of the bbq sauce on the shells before you wrap them with the bacon. You need the extra moistier to cook the shells otherwise the will be a bit undercooked