I've been held captive by the deer meat. We process our own meat and we were blessed with 5 deer this year - the most we've ever gotten. My brother was here from Alaska, Beau was fierce on the hunt and the bucks were on our land again. Max, Cord, Beau, me and Michael all filled our tags - all off of our land. I couldn't believe our good fortune.
But then the fun begins. Everybody is willing to hunt, shoot, dress out, skin, even part out - but the butchering - the real, all the way down to perfect meat butchering - nobody wants to do - especially me.
But we do - I do, they do, my friend does, the boys' friends do - until I am begging for relief. I am only writing now because Cord and Beau are going to finish the very last bits tonight. They are preparing as we speak. The picture above is how a pile of meat arrives in the kitchen. This happens to be neck meat - what I call 'less desirable' - or "grinder" - that's what would be on the package. This buck was big and in the rut so his neck was enlarged. It's riddled with tendon and sinew which does not make for yummy steaks.
But then the fun begins. Everybody is willing to hunt, shoot, dress out, skin, even part out - but the butchering - the real, all the way down to perfect meat butchering - nobody wants to do - especially me.
But we do - I do, they do, my friend does, the boys' friends do - until I am begging for relief. I am only writing now because Cord and Beau are going to finish the very last bits tonight. They are preparing as we speak. The picture above is how a pile of meat arrives in the kitchen. This happens to be neck meat - what I call 'less desirable' - or "grinder" - that's what would be on the package. This buck was big and in the rut so his neck was enlarged. It's riddled with tendon and sinew which does not make for yummy steaks.
Here's what it looks like taken off the carcass - covered in fasciae - another undesirable part of the meat. So I clean it off - it's very handy to have a blacksmith for a husband - he forged these knives for us, they are the sharpest you've ever seen and they fit our hands just so. It makes for swift work - when you can get us to our stations!
Although this is grinder (hamburger) meat - I have still cleaned as much 'white' off as possible. Cord and I believe trimming as much away as possible makes for milder, sweeter meat. The 'gamey' taste people talk about with venison comes from leaving bone on or sinew, tendon and fasciae - which taints the meat. This is why we do this chore ourselves and don't send it to a processor.
To prep for packaging, I cut this huge neck piece into pieces. This will be frozen as is, then brought out for hamburger or sausage and ground on the spot.
Packaging begins with freezer paper, tape and a Sharpie. We always use great descriptions on our packages because sometimes when a piece of meat is perfectly lean, red and, well, just perfect, I describe it on the package - I want to know what's in there.
We label the packages with "V" for venison, the year, 2011 and a brief description - like - 1 Large Hunk - Beautiful!, or, 3 Sm. Perfect Hunks - Lovely, or even, 1 perfect hunk, one not - stuff like that.
This happens to be my brother Michael's buck so I labeled that too.
We label the packages with "V" for venison, the year, 2011 and a brief description - like - 1 Large Hunk - Beautiful!, or, 3 Sm. Perfect Hunks - Lovely, or even, 1 perfect hunk, one not - stuff like that.
This happens to be my brother Michael's buck so I labeled that too.
Ready for the freezer! Three large neck pieces - I see sausage in it's future - yum! All that's left is taking it outside to the bear-proofed deep freeze.
We await the test results for CWD - Chronic Wasting Disease - something we do every year. If it comes back positive, it's doubtful we'll eat the meat but if not - we will feast - recipes to follow. Right now - I need a break - we had pork chops tonight.
I just made plans to eat venison with my mother for Thanksgiving - a perfect menu. I will prepare my mother's famous Venison Stroganoff with all the trimmings.
We await the test results for CWD - Chronic Wasting Disease - something we do every year. If it comes back positive, it's doubtful we'll eat the meat but if not - we will feast - recipes to follow. Right now - I need a break - we had pork chops tonight.
I just made plans to eat venison with my mother for Thanksgiving - a perfect menu. I will prepare my mother's famous Venison Stroganoff with all the trimmings.
Full freezer - not organized - just dumped in - but ready to feed the masses.
Great news! While I was writing the guys finished the VERY LAST OF THE MEAT!!!! We are done! Yippee - "We made meat Ma!" Thank you Mother Earth for the glorious bounty from our land.
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