First time butchering a deer - Recipes, Grinders and Smoking questions

Lee_Enfield_Lover

Lee_Enfield_Lover

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Hey guys,

We tend to talk a whole lot about what loads, bullets and firearms we're going to use but I hear very little about what is best to do to enjoy our harvest for the rest of the year. I'd like to figure out the easiest and tastiest way of processing two deer this year (my father in law's and mine). Last year we took them to professional butchers who did an awesome job, but this time it'd be nice to do it ourselves.

What do you use for smoking, sausage grinding / mixes / recipes for sausages, etc. We'll likely have a Mule and White tail to do. And, at a cool temp, how long do you usually age them before cutting?

I need to know LOTS on all of them above - resources welcome!

- T
 
You can hang deer up to a week if you can keep the temp. below 5 deg. but hanging deer really isn't necessary. I usually run 20% pork in with my burger and sausages to get a bit of moisture in it as deer can be dry. As far as what to use for making sausages, burger, smoking etc. the sky is the limit...depends on your budget.
If you get a full on in rut buck you may want to debone your steaks...butterfly chops instead of T-bones type of thing as the bone is where you are going to get a lot of the gamey taste.
The cleaner you can get it before hanging the better. Some like to wash them down but I would suggest that you wash the inside well with water but don't wash the outside (unless you got stuff on there you don't want on there). It's best to just let it tack up on it's own. If there is a lot of fat on it, don't trim the fat off (seen many do this), it will harden and protect the meat underneath. Remember the outside surface is going to get trimmed off anyway.
Tonnes of recipes on the internet for stuff to make. Most mixes you can make from scratch. We started out with a hand grinder and put a variable speed motor on years ago and just a set of sausage cones. We slowly worked up with better equipment to the point where my buddy retired and opened a butcher shop, coolers, freezers, smokers, bandsaw, stuffers etc.
 
I butchered my first deer last year. Go slow. Larger cuts will last longer in the freezer.
Get a good boning knife.

You will need a roll of butcher wrap paper. You can get "camo" print paper at TSC store.

I found this DVD very helpful by Milo Cihelka. He is a master chef and a hunter. He walks you through the whole butchering process and some recipes.
ht tp://www.amazon.ca/Wild-Game-Field-Care-Cooking/dp/B000CEX31C

I am a beginner in the sausage making area for the past few years, but I am having good results.
I have a grinder, meat mixer and dedicated sausage stuffer all from Princess Auto. Works great!
ht tp://www.princessauto.com/pal/en/Food-Processing/1200-350-120-000-000.c
If you are only doing 5lbs of sausage at a time then I would say you can, mix by hand and stuff sausage with the attachments that come with the grinder.

The other good sight is call The Sausage Maker.
ht tp://www.sausagemaker.com
Great for pre-mixed spices, casings etc.

For a smokehouse, I built my own.
But they do make a few good electric or propane powered ones like the Bradley Smoker, Masterbuilt etc

For sausage making books I would suggest "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas
Many consider this "the bible" for sausage making. Read it. Besides recipes they explain food safety and all about "cure".
ht tp://www.amazon.ca/Great-Sausage-Recipes-Meat-Curing/dp/0025668609/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376263298&sr=8-1&keywords=rytek+Kutas

I have just started another book called, "Charcuterie" by Ruhlman & Polcyn

I quite enjoy the hobby. I find a certain amount of pride in being completely responsible for the food I make from the field to the dinner plate.
Good Luck!
 
4ptbuck said:
Where are you from, I've got a bandsaw/grinder that'll help you get started.
Click to expand...

X2 on Location.

I skip the band saw. Don't see much point in freezing a bunch of bones in my venison. I did a couple with a saw, now I won't. Way nicer to get exactly the weight onto the table that you pulled from the freezer. Every time.

A couple decent knives, a roll of wide butcher paper, both for the table and to wrap with, and a couple rolls of freezer tape or masking tape, will get you started. Some big steel salad bowls, too, to put the meat into when stripping the carcass, and to use for sorting (big pieces, stew, burger or sausage stock). Some Ziploc freezer bags too.

Checked out the Recipes and Cooking link above on this Forum? Lots of great info there too. Hi YouTube. Lots of info there.

I cut a couple deer a year. I'm not fast at all, usually do the front of the deer in one evening, the back end the next, but that is stripping the meat sorting it, and trimming, before I grind or pack anything.

Cheers
Trev
 
I've butchered quite a few deer since the first one I shot at 19. The last two years I've started de boning them, it saves a ton of room in the freezer and the meat seems to keep a bit longer. Get yourself a decent little grinder if you want to do burger/sausages, if you're planning on doing this for a while a decent entry level electric would be a good investment. There are a number of sausage making kits available, I tried a High Mountain pepperoni stick kit that turned out pretty good. Something like that will help you figure out the basics, then you can branch out experimentally from there. Most cities will have a wholesale butcher supply too, hunt it down they will have high quality bulk paper (get the waxed) and usually sell sausage seasonings as well.
 
OK, here's the skinny on butchering.

First, get the guts out ASAP and the hide off right quick after that. The faster they're empty and skinned the faster they cool. Cool is what you're after.

Second, if possible, you should hang the meat for a few days. This will get some of the blood and liquid to drain out and dry the meat some. I have ground muskox that leaks out 1/4 cup of liquid per pound once I thaw it out. In fact, I thaw the meat and leave it in the fridge for a couple of days and drain off the liquid to dry it out. Makes it a lot better to cook with if it is dried out a bit.

Once you set to butchering this is the way to go. Separate the muscle groups from each other. This is pretty easy. Work on the hind quarters first and separate the big muscles in the upper legs and rump from the smaller, tougher lower legs. The lower legs get ground. That's all they're good for. Once you have the big muscles off and separated you need to remove the silver skin, the tendons and any fat and gristle. Fat in beef makes it taste good, fat in game makes it taste like crap. Any meat trimmings you have should be set aside for grinding and any bigger pieces should be set aside for stew as it is very tender and will make a nice stew that doesn't have to be cooked for hours to be tender. Big pieces should be saved as roasts (a roast can be made into steaks later on) and longer more narrow pieces can be cut into steaks. Don't cut steaks too thin. Game wants to me cooked medium at the most (this is for typical deer/moose/elk etc, not bear which must be fully cooked). and thin cuts can be tricky to cook right and keep tender.

Upper front quarters and neck can be cubed up for stew. It's a good idea to do this anyway as you can always turn stew meat into hamburger but not the other way around. Again, skin off all the silver skin and gristle. Lower legs are for grinding, same as ever. Rib meat ditto.

Never, ever, EVER, EVER cut through bone. Bone in cuts of wild game taste like crap.

Now I'm still using the grinder on my wife's KitchenAid. I really need to buy a better grinder. I've spent a ton of time staring at those big ###y grinders at Cabela's. I just need to climb off my wallet before I finally kill the machine that makes me cookies.

Things you'll need to get started.

- Good quality butcher knives. They have to be sharp and they have to hold an edge. Henckel makes great knives and they will work well in your kitchen. Complimentary to that is a good sharpening stone. I like the medium and large sized DMT bench stones available at Lee Valley. Get the set with the 600/1200 mesh and you'll be set.
- Cutting boards. I like the large sized UHMW boards from Canadian Tire. At least 2.
- Large stainless mixing bowls. You'll need several of these. Really big ones to hold your stew and grinding meat and medium-large ones for the other stuff
- Somewhere to work. When I shot my bison I bought two folding plastic tables from Canadian Tire. They pack down compactly and can be used double-duty if you have to host Christmas dinner.
- 10 mil poly. This will cover your table, garage floor etc. Think of that scene in Lethal Weapon 2. Consider it "mafia-proofing" for your house. Showing concern for cleanliness keeps wives supportive.
- Heavy plastic garbage bags and large cardboard boxes. Bags go in the boxes and the boxes sit next to you as you work. Inedibles and bones go into the box and straight out to the curb (or dump) in easy to manage and unlikely to leak modules.
- Vacuum sealer. I have meat that has been in the freezer for quite a while with no damage or freezer burn. It's a great investment. You can use butcher paper but I prefer the flexibility of being able to thaw meat in the vacuum bag without worrying about it leaking in the fridge.

The time you put in doing prep and taking care of the meat will pay you back double in quality of the meat in the end.
 
I'm being posted back to Calgary for hunting season until Christmas, then I have no idea where they'll send me from there. I might be a big far away for the western BC guys but thanks for the thought. I'll try to link up with some Calgary people for that and get some beer for whoever ends up teaching me.

These are a lot of great resources. Thanks guys.

- T
 
BigUglyMan has good advice.

My advice is that no matter how it goes this time, the next time will go better.
 
Halford's Mail Order. Download their catalog as reference material. Edmonton based. Pretty good folks.

I have two electric grinders, a PA one (that has sounded like it was about to fall apart, pretty much since I got it) and one of the kitchen ones from CTire, which has been a PITA, and I do not use much.
You can do worse things than just buying a hand crank grinder, if all you want is burger.

I can recommend the small PA sausage stuffer. The larger one would be better if you are convinced that it will get used regularly for largish batches. I bought the small one and am happy with it. Mostly, I make sausage sticks. I made a smaller stuffing tube, to fit the smaller collagen casings.

Cheers
Trev
 
You have covered it all BUM!! Well done.
To the OP, LE Lover- Print off BUM's post and stick it on the wall where you do your butchering.

BUM is spot on about getting the meat cooled quicly. The only thing I would add is this. Take as much care to keep the game CLEAN during the field dressing and transport as you possibly can. Then you will have a good product to work with when you butcher and your taste buds and those of your friends and family will appreciate it.
 
BigUglyMan,

Like another couple of posters have said, I'll be printing that out for this season. Much appreciated for all the typing - awesome straight to the point information. I've seen the kitchen-aid attachments but in varying quality and price so I'll see what's out there that's somewhere in the middle. Going shopping for meat accessories. Thanks!

- T
 
BUM gave a bunch of good advice. About all I will argue with in there is his comment about cutting bone. My experience has been that it makes not one whit of difference to the flavor.
It's all about the cooling, care, and cleanliness.
I skip cutting bone because it takes up too much space in the freezer, and I like to be able to heft the package and know that it is all edible weight I am getting, rather than being a bunch of bone with a bit of meat.

I have put meat from some pretty badly gutshot animals, in front of folks that insisted they could taste it when they spoke of bad flavors in the meat, and they complimented me upon it.

There is a lot to be said for a roll of paper towels, and a couple 2 liter bottles of clean water. Stuff happens, deal with it as quickly as you can, and as thoroughly. Garden hose, if you must.

Care, cleanliness, and cooling!

If you drag it through the swamp, leave it on the hood of the car, and generally treat it like garbage, that's what it'll be when you are done. Treat it like food that you want to be proud to serve on your table!

Cheers
Trev
 
I have been processing my own stuff for years now. I quite enjoy it. Having eaten venison my whole life, I much prepfer boning the meat out and not cutting it. Growing up, butchers simply processed the deer like they did beef. There was always a grainy aftertaste left behind that was, not unpleasant since I grew up with it, but once I came to AB, the vension was MUCH tastier. When I began to learn butchering, I was told that was because you should not cut the bone, the marrow imparts a wild/gamey taste, along with depositing fat on the meat. I now believe that is true.

Trev, I have put similarly damaged vension on tables as well that tasted quite fine. Cleanliness is PARAMOUNT when we are dealing with your own processing.

That being said, I have a 80yr old grinder (A giant Cleaveland Cutter) that would, I am sure, chip tree branches. I also have a $99 grinder from CTC I used solely for sausage stuffing.
Each year I add a little more to the gear. Since we make all of our sausage at the end of the season (once ALL the animals have been processed), we usually wind up with Lots of meat from 6 deer.
Our usual fare is 32lbs of each sausage type. I have a hand cranked meat mixer from PA. It holds a Max 17lbs of meat. I use 12lbs wild meat, 4 lbs ground pork trimmings, enough spice mix and water for that 16lbs meat. I have a 20 lb Vertical sausage stuffr from Cabela's. We usually make 32 lbs of Summer Sausage each year, 32 lbs of pepperoni, and 16 lbs of Kubasa. Just about always gets us through to the next season (we are out now, though). We are going to try Bologna this year, see how that turns out.
Kitchen set-up includes great knives (Victorinox 6" boning), a med meat hook, 16" Victorinox Steel, 2 pieces of 1/2" poly cutting board 30"x4', Lots of rags, bleach, vinegar, and water. Old paper cutting rack I made 10yrs ago, permament marker, vacuum sealer, tape. Bradley Smoker (also able to about 25 lbs of meat each time). Oh, yeah, Friends for helping.
 
trevj said:
BUM gave a bunch of good advice. About all I will argue with in there is his comment about cutting bone. My experience has been that it makes not one whit of difference to the flavor.
Click to expand...

My first mulie, a tender little October forkie from the Princeton country in BC went to a very well regarded butcher in Williams Lake. It had been gutted immediately and skinned within the hour. The carcass went to the butcher the next morning. When I cooked the bone in steaks on the BBQ I found the game taste intense. I started cutting that small piece of bone out and it the taste of the meat improved so much that you'd never have guessed it was the same deer. I didn't need to learn that lesson again. Everything gets deboned.

I ground a ton of meat from my bison with the kitchenaid. Well, maybe half a ton. A sh#tload anyway. But like I said, no kitchenaid means no cookies, and that's just not acceptable.
 
The only point missing is to get comfortable - wherever you're going to work. Get your work surface set at an appropriate height so you're not bent over and if you have something soft to stand on, use it, your back will thank you later.

As has been pointed out, it only gets easier. Good luck.
 
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