Post by jstalljon on Dec 21, 2005 7:57:48 GMT -5
Well, got home from my office Christmas party last night and decided it was time to process the doe hanging in my garage. This was my first shot at "home butchering"
Thought I'd share my experience with those of you who are thinking about doing it yourself.
In a nutshell....do it! The local processor near me is up to $75 for boning/packaging a deer. I had everything boned, cut and packaged in about 3 hours last night, and spent $9 on freezer paper and ziploc freezer bags.
For Christmas last year I received a process kit from Cabelas...it is actually the cheap one in their catalog. $20. All I actually used was the small boning knife, hacksaw, and larger knife to cut steaks. I also have the $14 dollar gambrel from Cabelas, and it is wonderful! I'd recommend one of these. So my total out of pocket was $43, and the gambrel and knives will obviously be used on several deer to come. Of course there's beer and venison jerky in there too throughout the process, that is mandatory! ;D
But not only is it cost effective, it really put me in tune with the deers anatomy. I was intrigued to see the path of the sabot and how/where it caused damage. The striations of muscle fibers and tissue was pretty amazing too.
Skinning was a breeze. I used the knife sparingly and did most the work with my hands. I found that if I wedged my fingers in between the hide and the meat as I worked my way down it seperated very easily. A pair of cheap cotton gloves is nice here, as the hide can be pretty slippery. The toughest part was skinning around the legs, but after hacking up the first one pretty bad, I had an idea on how deep to go on the next one. Again, mainly get it started and you can do most with your hands.
Once skinned I used quite a bit of the advice and suggestions from guys on this site. I removed the tenderloins first, then the backstraps, both front shoulders. At that point I trimmed as much meat as possible off the back, ribs, neck, and shoulders from the carcass. Then lowered the deer so it was easier to work on the back legs.
After boning the back legs, I set everything on the table. I started with the sholders and "scrap" meat that I would be grinding. This took the most time removing the fat, silver skin, and sinew fibers. I'd recommend doing this first, and getting it out of the way. This was the most time consuming part.
After that is done...the large hunks are the fun part! I butterflied one backstrap for larger steaks. And the other side I cut actually thicker, but smaller diameter sized steaks. These I plan on cooking like your typical beef fillet. Seared very hot, then slow cooked to a nice medium rare. These will make wonderful "medalions"! The top, bottom, and eye rounds are also nice steak meats. I always tried to think of how I was going to prepare the meat before cutting. If I'm going to be serving these to guests, I want them not only to taste good, but to look good too.
Here's my set up:
Notice a few things:
1.)Cheap tarp to catch blood and hair...easily washed off when done...or thrown away. Half the time you can get these things free from Menards w/ a rebate.
2.) Trash can w/heavy duty bag for hide, bones, scrap, etc.
3.) Formica work top. I bought this at Menards for $5. It was a piece of kitchen countertop they screwed up and was just trying to unload it. They had SEVERAL of them. Definitely worth looking into.
4.) Knives, sharpener, gloves, bags, paper, sharpie, etc.
5.) Beer and deer jerky - AGAIN.....MANDATORY.
Here is the pic after skinning...not the biggest gal...but doesn't she look tasty?
Here is a pice with just about everything removed but some more "scrap" meat and the lower parts of the back legs. (Had to remove from the gambrel first)
Finally, all the meat on the table....ready to be cut for packaging. I would say it took me a little over an hour to get to this point. The other 2 were spent on cutting, trimming, packaging.
So there you have it. I was very pleased with the results. To be honest.....I thought there would have been more "yield"...but again, this was a fairly small doe. She will be delicious eating....
I have to admit I was very "intimidated" by this process initially. I was SO afraid I was going to screw things up, or have meat covered in hair...but it wasn't that difficult.
A few tips this novice would recommend:
1.) I think a smaller blade knife is better than larger. Especially in areas like the backstraps and around the legs where you actually have to "carve/scoop" the meat out of the bone in tight areas. It just offers more mobility.
2.) After skinning...try to remove the larger "fatty" areas. This will reveal the silver skin and identify several cutting lines to follow.
3.) Keep some paper towel and pre-moistened bacterial wipes on hand. They come in handy for cleaning your work area, wiping hair off your hands, wiping hair off meat.
4.) Have fun...and don't sweat it...if you hack something up...it just becomes more "scrap" meat for jerky!
Well, sorry for the long post....just wanted to share my experience. Thanks to all of you for posting the links, pictures, and tips. They were EXTREMELY helpful.
I think I have a new hobby!
Jon
Thought I'd share my experience with those of you who are thinking about doing it yourself.
In a nutshell....do it! The local processor near me is up to $75 for boning/packaging a deer. I had everything boned, cut and packaged in about 3 hours last night, and spent $9 on freezer paper and ziploc freezer bags.
For Christmas last year I received a process kit from Cabelas...it is actually the cheap one in their catalog. $20. All I actually used was the small boning knife, hacksaw, and larger knife to cut steaks. I also have the $14 dollar gambrel from Cabelas, and it is wonderful! I'd recommend one of these. So my total out of pocket was $43, and the gambrel and knives will obviously be used on several deer to come. Of course there's beer and venison jerky in there too throughout the process, that is mandatory! ;D
But not only is it cost effective, it really put me in tune with the deers anatomy. I was intrigued to see the path of the sabot and how/where it caused damage. The striations of muscle fibers and tissue was pretty amazing too.
Skinning was a breeze. I used the knife sparingly and did most the work with my hands. I found that if I wedged my fingers in between the hide and the meat as I worked my way down it seperated very easily. A pair of cheap cotton gloves is nice here, as the hide can be pretty slippery. The toughest part was skinning around the legs, but after hacking up the first one pretty bad, I had an idea on how deep to go on the next one. Again, mainly get it started and you can do most with your hands.
Once skinned I used quite a bit of the advice and suggestions from guys on this site. I removed the tenderloins first, then the backstraps, both front shoulders. At that point I trimmed as much meat as possible off the back, ribs, neck, and shoulders from the carcass. Then lowered the deer so it was easier to work on the back legs.
After boning the back legs, I set everything on the table. I started with the sholders and "scrap" meat that I would be grinding. This took the most time removing the fat, silver skin, and sinew fibers. I'd recommend doing this first, and getting it out of the way. This was the most time consuming part.
After that is done...the large hunks are the fun part! I butterflied one backstrap for larger steaks. And the other side I cut actually thicker, but smaller diameter sized steaks. These I plan on cooking like your typical beef fillet. Seared very hot, then slow cooked to a nice medium rare. These will make wonderful "medalions"! The top, bottom, and eye rounds are also nice steak meats. I always tried to think of how I was going to prepare the meat before cutting. If I'm going to be serving these to guests, I want them not only to taste good, but to look good too.
Here's my set up:
Notice a few things:
1.)Cheap tarp to catch blood and hair...easily washed off when done...or thrown away. Half the time you can get these things free from Menards w/ a rebate.
2.) Trash can w/heavy duty bag for hide, bones, scrap, etc.
3.) Formica work top. I bought this at Menards for $5. It was a piece of kitchen countertop they screwed up and was just trying to unload it. They had SEVERAL of them. Definitely worth looking into.
4.) Knives, sharpener, gloves, bags, paper, sharpie, etc.
5.) Beer and deer jerky - AGAIN.....MANDATORY.
Here is the pic after skinning...not the biggest gal...but doesn't she look tasty?
Here is a pice with just about everything removed but some more "scrap" meat and the lower parts of the back legs. (Had to remove from the gambrel first)
Finally, all the meat on the table....ready to be cut for packaging. I would say it took me a little over an hour to get to this point. The other 2 were spent on cutting, trimming, packaging.
So there you have it. I was very pleased with the results. To be honest.....I thought there would have been more "yield"...but again, this was a fairly small doe. She will be delicious eating....
I have to admit I was very "intimidated" by this process initially. I was SO afraid I was going to screw things up, or have meat covered in hair...but it wasn't that difficult.
A few tips this novice would recommend:
1.) I think a smaller blade knife is better than larger. Especially in areas like the backstraps and around the legs where you actually have to "carve/scoop" the meat out of the bone in tight areas. It just offers more mobility.
2.) After skinning...try to remove the larger "fatty" areas. This will reveal the silver skin and identify several cutting lines to follow.
3.) Keep some paper towel and pre-moistened bacterial wipes on hand. They come in handy for cleaning your work area, wiping hair off your hands, wiping hair off meat.
4.) Have fun...and don't sweat it...if you hack something up...it just becomes more "scrap" meat for jerky!
Well, sorry for the long post....just wanted to share my experience. Thanks to all of you for posting the links, pictures, and tips. They were EXTREMELY helpful.
I think I have a new hobby!
Jon
