Mine went to my regular processor. Too warm to keep here, and honestly they do a great job, plus vacuum bags cost about $30 for DIY.
Made a big pot of veggie soup yesterday with a roast. Wifey put the roast in the InstaPot, then I put the result in my soup pot with beef broth, onion, carrot, celery, taters, green beans, corn, barley, cabbage, & tomatoes. Meat just falls apart. Hoping the second deer will be as good as this one has been so far.
i always butcher my own wild game ,so we do steaks ,roast then i take some later to make polish ,baloney and some other sausages, but i do make my own jerky too. i might shoot a fawn yet and season a hide quarter wrap it up in aluminum foil then bag a freeze in spring grill the whole hind quarter and have a party.
Backstrap - sliced to 1 inch medallions tenderloins and eye of round - same. Top round and sirloin - steaks. Bottom round thin sliced on the bias for jerky. Cap depends on condition and age of deer - usually some steaks and some to grind meat. Shoulders on young tender deer go to steaks and some grind meat. shanks - grind meat. Neck - grind meat Shoulders on older deer and most buck 100% grind meat
Grind meat gets to be venison burger, brats. various sausages, and snack sticks. Grind meat gets mixed 2:1 or 3:1 with pork shoulder.
I buy a bunch of pork shoulders when I find them on sale, I make a fair amount of Italian sausage and breakfast sausage 100% pork because that's why pigs were invented.
50-50 venison burger and Italian sausage for meatloaf. Italian sausage, peppers, onions and apples with a nice wine is why cast iron skillets were invented.
Didn't get to kill one this year with the shoulder surgery but the neighbor down the road a piece I let hunt on my property and he gave me 20lb ground not mixed with beef or pork just deer meat.
I made a big pot of chili yesterday👍 wee doggie, damn good boys I'm here to tell ya!
Our dogs are on a raw meat diet. I slice the straps and loins for me. All else goes into the grinder as base for the dog food. Mix it with other ingredients and freeze it.
The Health Dept has cracked down on all the places that would skin, butcher then process into burger and sausage without a license. Obtaining that license requires more than they could afford.
Now if you wish to have someone else process you deer you have to bring it to two separate places.
One that will skin, butcher, wrap/package and grind the scraps ( nothing added) and another that will take your cleaned meat and make it into sausage, jerky, or whatever you like.
The meat markets and sausage makers do not take whole animals, or even meat on the bone and those that take whole animals, cannot mix and make finished products .
Last edited by steve4102; 11/28/22.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Give a man a welfare check, a forty ounce malt liquor, a crack pipe, an Obama phone, free health insurance. and some Air Jordan's and he votes Democrat for a lifetime.
I do a basic process of roasts, steaks and ground and throw it in the freezer. My youngest son will haul it away and make some sausage, jerky and the like.
You're not much of a deer hunter if you haven't learned how to process your own deer, that includes cutting, preparing deerburger, smoking and sausage & jerky making. The 'net is full of info on how to do all of this.
I never mix venison with any other meat.....just grind and package in 1 lb. tubes....cut butterfly steaks with the backstraps....a couple large roast from each hind quarters one from each front shoulder.....
Just never mix any pork or beef in any venison....its very rare I eat any beef or pork....
That is what I do. Can't see any reason to mix any lard into it. It's hard enough trimming all the fat off of these corn fed deer around here.
I use the neck as a roast. Backstraps go into steaks along with tenderloin. Most of the hindquarters get ground with beef fat added. Sometimes I’ll take that big square muscle in the hindquarter and dress it up and make it into a boneless rump roast. I sear it in a hot cast iron skillet on all sides and then lid it and let it cook for about 3 hours in the oven on 250 or thereabouts with some taters and carrots. The inner loins, or “whisker loins” as I call them get cleaned up, wrapped in bacon, and thrown on the grill for about 20 minutes just as they are. I will sometimes cut a few steaks out of the backstraps about 3 inches thick. I will then butterfly them and then wrap a piece of bacon around them with a toothpick through it and grill them. They are really good like that. Especially after marinating for 24 hours. We eat the heart and liver too. Would like to get into making some brats and summer sausage but after cutting up six to eight deer I’m pretty well done with it, lol.
Just finished a deer and 1/2 elk. Lots of steaks and roasts. I bag the scraps into 1 gal freezer bags to grind later. I'll be starting a big batch of jerky tomorrow. I haven't made salami before but I'm going to give it a try soon.
Question: salami - I see some stuff it in skins while others just make rolls. Which is better and why?
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
I'll be the first to say that while I've always butchered my own deer, I SUCK at getting all of the silverskin off. As of right now, I also don't own a grinder, so everything that isn't steak, loin, or a decent cut ends up being stew meat.
I need to remember next year to keep a rack or two of ribs, and some neck bones. I think I'd like to try making a venison stock for canning.
I tell my butcher to cut me as many steaks as possible and the rest in burger. I give all the burger away and probably half the steaks. I'll usually kill 4 whitetails and an elk. 90% I give to kids and grandkids. I've got 14 grans and they all eat it.
I generally put about 3 deer a year in the freezer, have done the processing myself since the late 80s. Last few years I've gotten into the habit of cutting the loins into two pieces and then wife can decide on roast or chops when she thaws them. Same with the major muscles of the hind quarters. Everything else goes into burger, usually wait till all 3 deer are done and grind at one time. I've got a 1 hp grinder that takes less time to grind all 3 than to setup, tear down and clean. I used to grind a couple pork roasts with the burger meat, but haven't done that in several years.
Just finished a deer and 1/2 elk. Lots of steaks and roasts. I bag the scraps into 1 gal freezer bags to grind later. I'll be starting a big batch of jerky tomorrow. I haven't made salami before but I'm going to give it a try soon.
Question: salami - I see some stuff it in skins while others just make rolls. Which is better and why?
If you have a dedicated stuffer, stuff your summer sausage into fibrous casings 2 1/2-3 inch. If you don't have a stuffer you can use the grinder, but that is slow and is very difficult to get the casing filled tight and firm.
Rolling your summer out into logs will end up like soft pink meatloaf. It will work, but it ain't right.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Give a man a welfare check, a forty ounce malt liquor, a crack pipe, an Obama phone, free health insurance. and some Air Jordan's and he votes Democrat for a lifetime.
You're not much of a deer hunter if you haven't learned how to process your own deer, that includes cutting, preparing deerburger, smoking and sausage & jerky making. The 'net is full of info on how to do all of this.
You talking to me?
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Give a man a welfare check, a forty ounce malt liquor, a crack pipe, an Obama phone, free health insurance. and some Air Jordan's and he votes Democrat for a lifetime.
You're not much of a deer hunter if you haven't learned how to process your own deer, that includes cutting, preparing deerburger, smoking and sausage & jerky making. The 'net is full of info on how to do all of this.
You talking to me?
Prolly talking about me….
Guess I’m no deer hunter….
I sure love some pineapple jalapeño smoke sausage the processor makes.
And jal / cheese summer sausage…..
Me trying to process my own is about like Gunswizzard doing gunsmith work.
There’s info on how the do both on the web,
But neither of us any good at it.
Dave
�The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.� Lou Holtz
Still have all of my processing equip, commercial fridge, racks of meat lugs, grinder, stainless table and triple sink, smokers, smokehouse, Cool Bot walk in cooler, overhead winch system, dehydrators.
Would never lets some copehangen spittin, band aid on every knuckle, 4th grade moron process a deer for me