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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 07:28
by lowpull
Well I got an 8point and a doe, and was given a nine point and another doe, so I am halfway there for the deer meat I need for the year, will be going after hog and more deer around christmas time.

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 13:01
by Dave Zac
Nice goin lowpull. Sure is nice filling the freezer like that eh?

What are you going to do with all that venison?

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 15:51
by ssorllih
Ilike a lot of variety in my diet. I accept deer meat when it is offered but I also like all of the other options.

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 05:10
by lowpull
Lets see, I grind quite a bit of it for deer burger, breakfast sausage, italian or other types of sausage, I make roasts, chicken fried steak, sauteed steaks. What I brought back this time is about half of what I need. I plan on making some summer sausage, meat sticks, jerky etc etc, most of the red meat that my family ate last year was deer. It is the prefered meat in my family. ( 4 kids my wife and me) If I get a couple more deer and some hogs around christmas time , I will be set.
I get beef trimmings to mix into the deer burger, and all the other sausages get hog mixed into it in the appropiate amounts. The shanks get saved for deer chili and ossobucco. Im also planning on starting to can a bunch of the meat.

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 07:16
by Chuckwagon
Lowpull, you'll be as busy as Dave was last weekend. That's a lot of meat to deal with. Have you got some good help and a few sharp knives? Let us know how you do.
P.S. Today I saw a huge rack on antlers wearin' an elk... up in the high country. The thing was as big as a house! He's out of season or he would have been sausage by Saturday. :lol:

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 14:49
by lowpull
Ive got some sharp knives and one of those huge cutting boards. So within the hour of shooting it was already hung, skinned and gutted. I then quarter it. I start trimming and cutting into grinding size and then its into the freezer for chilling waiting for vacume sealing. On the younger deer I seperate into trimmed muscle groups after quartering and those go straight to vacume bags into the freezer, when frozen I take back out and vacume seal. One set of backstraps were kept out for cooking. So now its real easy to grind. I just weigh packages of grind meat and set out what I want to work with. While still half frozen , they go straight to grinder because I cut and trimmed initially. This way I am not bringing back a lots of bone and scrap. I also use a round that doesnt do a lot of damage to the meat, that way I maximize the meat value of the deer I shoot. Ive tried to make it as efficient as I can with one person doing it all. ( I am also cooking during the time I do all of this also.)

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 18:13
by ssorllih
Lowpull, some sources recommend hanging a carcase for several days to allow rigor to come and go. You seem to start cutting before rigor has set in. Have you found that it makes no difference?
I know that with poultry we never waited to start cutting and cooking after we had killed and dressed the bird.
Domestic hogs were killed, cleaned, gutted and split and then hung to make room for the next one. Generally you won't have deer waiting in line for butchering so it will be one at a time and you can just keep cutting.

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 18:44
by Dave Zac
Stan and Adam Mariamski's Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages states that venison rigor time to onset is 24-36 hours. Time to resolution is 6-14 days!

I have read other sources (forums) where guys claim 24 hours to resolution. I say for certain that is is longer than 24 hours.

I prefer to allow my deer to hang 5-7 days and don't believe I have ever encountered 'shortening' by butchering during rigor. I do know guys that butcher right away (within 24 hrs) and don't encounter rigor issues either.

If grinding the meat, shortening is of course not an issue.

Chicken on the other hand is 1/2 - 1 to onset of rigor and 4-6 hours to resolution. That is true too I believe.

Dave Zac

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 19:04
by lowpull
I know the muscle groups come apart very easy if butchering before rigor sets in. But during the two weeks I was there there were two days that didnt get above 50 and about 10 days that didnt get below 50. So I dont have the opportunity to hang deer. The bucks and older deer I will plan on going to grind. The young does and bucks I separate into grind and steaks. But I also plan on they way of cooking that maximizes the tenderness. I want to get a large fridge so I can hang the quartered pieces to age. I want to slice up the sirloin tip on one quarter and freeze while the other hangs and after 2 weeks cook both side by side and do some blind tests.

But here is my summation. If you can age, age. If you cant then minimize the toughness by selection by age, type of cooking and meat prep. I will shoot a young doe over an old buck any day. But I will take the older bucks and know they will all be burger except the loin, tenderloin and shanks.

Venison prosciutto ham

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 15:32
by nuynai
Any body try to take a deer hindquarter and turn it into a prosciutto style ham. If so, please post the recipe and process. Thanks in advance.

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 16:38
by Big Guy
I shoot and then cut into major pieces within hours of the kill, it then goes into my spare fridge for a week. then I do the final butchering. It works for me.

Re: Venison prosciutto ham

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 17:18
by OleBull
nuynai wrote:Any body try to take a deer hindquarter and turn it into a prosciutto style ham. If so, please post the recipe and process. Thanks in advance.
Send me an email.
I'll reply with recipe and process.





Sven

Re: Venison prosciutto ham

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 18:25
by Dave Zac
OleBull wrote:
nuynai wrote:Any body try to take a deer hindquarter and turn it into a prosciutto style ham. If so, please post the recipe and process. Thanks in advance.
Send me an email.
I'll reply with recipe and process.

Sven
Sven,

Can't you post it so others can can from the experience as well?

Dave

Re: Venison prosciutto ham

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 13:53
by OleBull
Dave Zac wrote:
OleBull wrote:
nuynai wrote:Any body try to take a deer hindquarter and turn it into a prosciutto style ham. If so, please post the recipe and process. Thanks in advance.
Send me an email.
I'll reply with recipe and process.

Sven
Sven,

Can't you post it so others can can from the experience as well?

Dave
The last time I posted information on prosciutto technique in the open forum, it was deleted.
I won't do it again.


Sven

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 14:22
by ssorllih
Did anyone explian why it was deleted?