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Butchering
Hello everyone
Just wondering if I am lucky enough to get a deer or an elk this year if anyone can point me in the direction of a good butcher we as a young family don't have a lot of money hence the reason of shooting and filling the freezer Unless there is someone on here that can do a good job and show me how to do it |
Their are a lot of video on cutting game i use a saw horse and 3/4 plywood as a table watch the video and give it a try you will save money doing it yourself
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I was in the same boat as you last year. I ended up watching YouTube videos and doing a moose and a deer myself. It's not hard but takes a little time. I had more time than money. Your basically taking out muscle groups. Cleaning off the silver skin. Watch a few different videos as different videos show diffetent cuts.
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Get yourself a vacuum packing machine and a grinder. Grind everything that doesn't cut up big enough to make a steak or a roast. With deer the more time you spend getting the fat and the membrane off the meat the better it will taste. Instead of grinding you can make it into stew meat.
Have fun. |
YouTube is your friend!
What area you located in? Sure someone here can help. |
Without question, butcher it yourself.
You can't go wrong. The worst case is that the cuts are not what they could be, but the meat will still be good. With practice you will learn from your "mistakes". If needed, take in your "burger" cuts for grinding. Other than that, all can be done in your kitchen with just a knife and a countertop.... Cut out the fat on ungulates, and the glands on all animals. DON'T worry about the Silverskin. This DOES NOT !!!! effect the taste. Silverskin in composed of collagen, which is a major component of ALL muscle tissue. It is basically flavourless. If Sliverskin tasted bad, then meat would taste bad. The only reason to remove Silverskin is for the purpose of having a piece of meat that is easier to cut on the plate. In dishes such as burger and stews, the silverskin is a Critical component to achieving the desired texture most of us like. Pay yourself the $50 bucks an hour plus that a butcher will charge. You will be glad you did. |
Where are you located? I grew up with butchers in family I charge 50$ for deer 100 for moose usually cut wrapped less then 2 hours
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If close to Lacombe I can show you how to do the cut / wrap part. Havent made sausage before so not much help there. We can hang in my garage if you needf
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If you're in calgary area i can help you out, we can have it done in few hours. Let me know.
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DYI is the way to go, the one exception for me is making sausage as it takes dozens of batches to perfect and is the most time consuming in my opinion. Lots of great videos out there, if you have Netflix there is a Meat Eater episode that does a great job of laying out how to efficiently cut apart a deer. A cheap grinder will pay for its own purchase the first time you use it and since you aren't using it commercially it should last for several animals over the years.
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Just did our first deer of the season yesterday. If you have a couple countertops and a knife it's simple. Don't ever let a butcher tell you it's some sort of technical art. Your not rebuilding transmissions here. Your cutting meat off bone and packaging it. And no I don't know any good butchers. Last one I used I had to because the moose we killed was the same week as my move out as we sold our house. Never again...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps3vrk3hai.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psbl3vtjou.jpg |
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Without silver skin and tendon, stew meat wouldn't be nearly as good. I grind without it for the most part but stewing meat for slow cooked meals is the best with all that fat, gristle, silver skin and tendon in there. When slow cooked (or pressure cooked) it melts down and contributes greatly to the flavour. Don't be afraid of stew meat: it can be used for many slow cooked dishes and is sometimes even better then prime steak cuts. It's also good to learn what all the steak cuts are so you can separate the most tender steaks and roasts from the not so tender to ensure best cooking methods are used. There is a lot of bad information online from inexperienced, do it at home butchers that you will need to filter through (not saying anything specific about this thread- some great info here). There's definitely no right or wrong way as long as you're not wasting anything. However there is a way to get the optimal end product. P.m. me if you are around Edmonton area when you tag out. If life's not too crazy I'll give you a hand. |
Well, sounds like you should have plenty of help! I grew up cutting meat on the countertops and table, and then about 10 years ago I built a butcher shop with tables, grinder, bandsaw, sausage stuffer, and a cooler in the back big enough to hang 4 beef in, sure beats the countertop method! But it's a pretty good drive from Edmonton. Otherwise I'd throw my offer in as well, come on over and we'll get'r'done!
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Did my moose hind quarter last night as well. Only fancy equipment we bought a few years ago was a manual hand grinder. Everything else done with kitchen knives and a vacuum sealer. The vacuum dealer was a gift, but wax paper and ziplocs also work. Taught myself 5 years ago and now it's now our yearly tradition.
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Great job guys. This is not rocket science at all.
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CTR refridgeration in calgary and edmonton usually has great deals on equipment this time of year. They have all the sausage making stuff too. Their sausage mixes are fantastic right out of the bag too.
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Silverskin is elastin. Treat accordingly
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Butchering Party
Every year, our hunting party throws all the quarters in freezers till the end of the season. Then we pull all the meat out and butcher it together all in one night. Saves tons of money and we have fun sharing stories from the hunt.
First time butchering was eye opening though. A little ignorant how long it could take.... a Moose and 3 white tails. I thought 5-6 hours? Took over 12-hrs. Had two small grinders going, but cubing the meat took forever!!! (We grind virtually everything). Do yourself a favor and butcher yourself. As guys have said, youtube is your friend. The Show Meateater on Netflix has a good episode on butchering as well. |
Self Butcher
I would definitely encourage you to butcher it yourself. You only need knives, butcher paper, freezer, grinder.
IMO wild game does better with boned out butchering rather than a classic butchering like you would see with beef. For instance a T-bone on a deer leaves a tiny piece of tenderloin next to a modest backstrap. Better to just take those muscles out individually and cut them into boned out steaks. Know the tender cuts and make steaks (younger animals can use even more cuts as steaks). Divide muscles by group and use big uniform chunks of meat as roasts. Lots of grind and stew meat for the rest. Forget about using ribs as ribs...just grind them. Check out this video of how to do it all with a knife. https://youtu.be/V-q4IVBrL0M If you want some meat for your family and don't get enough, fire me a PM and I can give you some for sure. Cheers |
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Doing it this way, you are freezing and thawing out your meat twice. Isn't this bad for the quality of meat? |
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The only loss in quality of multiple freezing and thawing is that every time the water freezes, it expands and makes little cuts in the muscle tissue of the meat, which when you thaw it, the water inside the cells will now drip out and your meat will have that much less moisture. but it will still be safe to eat. |
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You tube is your friend.
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Some great advice on this thread.
Once we started butchering ourselves we've been progressively getting better and faster at it. And, by the way, you guys with the pics are making me hungry. Thanks a LOT. :mad0030: |
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