Shelby

They do! The filet is the tenderloin and a KC strip has the backstrap in it.

I say this every time I see your dining room. I adore it. Food looks great too.

The tenderloin is inside the body cavity near the pelvic region---it is a lot smaller than the backstrap. It's exposed to the air after you gut the deer so that's why one should take them out so they don't get dry. The backstrap is outside of the body cavity on both sides of the spine and is much longer and wider than the tenderloin. Both cuts are the most coveted part of the deer. The tenderloin is just as it says, very tender. Well, this year we cut them up into chunks and our wonderful outdoor cats are enjoying them immensely . I have a few ziplock full in the fridge and have been doling out snacks. I sous vide the heart either last year or the year before....didn't care for it very much. I think I posted about it in this thread somewhere???

These days have flown by. No deer yesterday. The guys got home pretty early to watch football and bone out the deer that was hanging. As usual, I putzed around in the kitchen. Had enough breakfast burritos left that I didn't have to make any breakfast for this morning. The guys wanted venison steaks for dinner so I decided to get the backstraps and tenderloins out of the fridge and get them cut up. Backstraps After getting the silver skin off and cleaning them up The cats LOVE venison. I can hardly keep them out of it. I cut off little bits for them and they purr very loudly. Cut into nice thick steaks Tenderloins Tenderloin steaks Snacky stuff to munch on I had a package of doves in the freezer from September, so they grilled some of those up too. Scalloped potatoes Stewed tomatoes Brussels sprouts My plate--my steak was perfectly done and so tender Sooooooo, Christmas is coming early for Shelby. My existing dishwasher is disgusting. It's too embarrassing to even post a picture. I've tried cleaning it with citric acid....etc. it's just simply time for a new one. I asked for one for Christmas, not really expecting it to happen. But, the guys pulled in with one yesterday! They are now trying to install it. Of course, we are missing a key part so they are off to the big city. Nothing is ever easy around here . I will be majorly cleaning my kitchen after this ordeal is done lol. I so appreciate it. It's so shiny and pretty I don't even want to use it. Our friend also raised a cabinet in my laundry room so I can actually open the washer and put clothes in without having to hold the lid with one hand. I won't know what to do with myself after all of this Anyway, hopefully they will be done with this chore in a couple of hours and then they are going out to deer hunt late afternoon and evening. I'm pondering dinner. Mexican sounds good. I'll think on it longer..... I gotta do some cleaning real quick while the coast is clear

Jaymes!!! So great to see you!!! I love love love that squash. We probably eat that squash at least once a week and I always think of you while making it No. You don't want to do that. It would be very strong in a bad gamey way. It's too bad because there are a lot of bones, but it wouldn't taste good. Yes! Thank you BD, that is the recipe

The guts and tenderloins take about 10 minutes--but we've done zillions. Had a lot of practice. After that we bone the deer out meaning that we get all the meat off. That probably takes 45 mins to an hour. We usually put all that in huge, clean trash bags and put them in the outside fridge (that's what happened this time too). Tomorrow I'll bring it all inside and soak the meat in a sinks full of cold water. That makes sure to get any hair etc. off. Then I clean the meat up for packaging meaning getting tendons, silver skin off. Then wrap in cling wrap and then butcher paper. That probably all takes an hour or so. Depends on if I stop for sips of wine 😁

Yeah these are super cool!

It's Saturday No deer gotten yesterday. They all came out just as the light was fading and too dark to shoot. Chum and the cats spent yesterday afternoon napping in the sun in the front room while I puttered around the kitchen. Dr. Lecter especially likes this and snuggles up to Chum--which she politely tolerates for a bit and then moves. The alarm went off this morning at the usual middle of the night time lol. Ronnie got up and got downstairs before Chum roused herself...you could tell she was struggling between going back to sleep and getting up to go. Getting up prevailed and she bounded after him. Back to yesterday: Trying to change things up, I decided to make breakfast burritos for this morning. Just the usual sausage, egg, cheese and a few pickled jalapeños. Then I moved on to the pork belly. I like pork belly done about any way you can think of. I usually do it in the IP--easy and melty delicious, but I wanted that crispy crust of skin on top and the IP isn't good for that. So, I looked around the internet and found a recipe. Yes, you shouldn't try a new recipe when you have company, but I did it anyway. The recipe said to poke holes in the skin with an ice pick--don't go through the layer of fat, just the skin. Out of all the utensils I have, I do not own an ice pick. So, I used a knife which wasn't the best, but I made do. Then you turn it over and rub Chinese cooking wine, 5 spice powder, salt and pepper into the meat. Turn it back over onto a tray, pat the skin dry and let it marinate in the fridge. It said 12 hours, but I did it for about 5. I'll get back to the belly later. Appetizers were definitely un-Asian. When I try to find appetizers to go with that type of meal, it always sends me to egg rolls which we eat with the main meal... Anyway, the ever solid Knorr veggie dip in a sourdough bread bowl and @Kim Shook's sausage pimento balls. I over heard our friend saying how much he loves these Next I prepped all the tofu and veggies and sauce for the drunken noodles. I need the veggies to be softer for me to eat, so I did the broccoli in the IP on 0 minutes quick release. Not falling apart, but not crunchy. Success. And, I like to crisp up the tofu in a skillet a bit. On to the baby bok choy. A glug of oil in the IP and sauté a couple chunks of garlic. Wash the bok choy, cut off the hard ends and place in the IP with about 1/2 cup of water or so. Again I needed the bok choy to be soft so I did 10 mins, quick release. Back to the pork belly: When ready to cook, you pat the skin dry again, brush with vinegar and cover the skin with rock salt. Bake at 350F for an hour. I did it in the CSO on steam bake. When the hour was up, I took the meat out until it was about 30 minutes before we were to eat. Then --still following the recipe--I brushed the salt off, put it back in the CSO and broiled at 500F for about 20 mins. I was terrified and I was starting to do that nervous sweaty thing. It didn't puff up like I thought it would...a few places were burned...a few weren't done enough, but I forged ahead. I picked off the really burned parts and cut the belly into strips and placed it on the platter like I was confident. Ha. By then the oil was hot enough to fry the egg rolls ( I made those last week and froze them) And yay, dinner was ready. Drunken Noodles Bok Choy drizzled with a bit of rice vinegar and soy sauce Egg Rolls And pork belly The belly was actually good despite my best efforts to screw it up lol. I need practice. Again, the skin wasn't exactly like I imagined it, but it was ok. I think our friend ate half of this platter lol. The meat and fat were meltingly tender and when you happened to get a bite that had the perfect skin ( I ate a tiny bite with the skin even though I wasn't supposed to ), it was like the angels were singing. The guys really liked the contrast between the skin and the rest. So, the plan is that they hunt for a while and then our friend wants to come back here and watch the LSU-Georgia game while they bone out the deer. I'm having them put all the parts in the fridge and I'll work on that either tomorrow or Monday. I have an assortment of cheeses laid out to "warm" up. Cheese always is better like that I think. I'm going to do a platter of nibble-y stuff for the appetizers and that's as far as I've gotten. Need to figure out dinner tomorrow. But first, I need to go start some laundry and I need to vacuum but I have two sleeping cats in here and I can't bear to wake them up

That's why I was only slightly worried. I have nothing against a good dose of NyQuil or a shot of whiskey to get a kid to pipe down. 🤣

I was slightly worried about a bus full of tipsy nursery school kids until I got to this part.

🤣 I swear on my life, I'm the opposite of energetic. Box 'O Drunk=Shelby's Red Bull Maybe I should start drinking when I get up in the morning.....might get more done. Or at least I'd think I got more done. 😳 I can't tell Ronnie this. He would be in his truck in a hot minute driving out there. It's around 15.99 to 18.99 here. Some places give 20% off when you buy a case.

😂 I was hoping no one would see that. When we go to town we stock up--it's like 2-3 dollars more a box at the closest liquor store to me. It does seem to be a very popular wine--at times we go to buy some and it's sold out. However, it is very sweet. If you like dry wine, this is not the one for you. What can I say? I'm a cheap date Happy Friday everyone! The guys rolled out of bed at 4:45 again this morning. Chum lifted her head up, groaned and went back to sleep. 🤣 I asked her if she wanted to go and all I got was another groan. She does this occasionally when Ronnie hunts a million days in a row. My girl needs her beauty sleep. So, she's now peacefully snoozing on the couch. I'm sure the guys would be very happy with me if I'd bring her out to be with them now, but I think we need a girls day in . A look at the early morning sky Breakfast for this morning. Smoked venison sausage that our hunter friend brought. Appetizers--with special thanks to @gfweb for the sun-dried tomato dip recipe. REALLY good. I used some of the cherry tomatoes that I semi dried and put in olive oil in the fridge. Worked like a charm. I might need some for breakfast. Also put out some zucchini butter. Our friend brought some pheasant breasts out with him too. He doesn't really care for them too much. Always dry he says. I hoped to change his mind with pheasant piccata. And I did All pounded, dredged in flour and fried. Plated with a white wine lemon caper sauce, my canned green beans and a mushroom alfredo pasta. I think I'm going to do something Asian-ish tonight so that means I need to start right now. I am so slow at that cuisine. I'm not sure why lol. I think the guys are doing some duck/goose hunting (don't tell Chum, she'll be sad she slept in) so maybe we can have those for dinner tomorrow. I best get going. Need some coffee first.........it's a cold morning and coffee sounds good.

I'm sorry! I thought I had complained all over this place so I didn't want to complain any more 😂. I had a tooth pulled, a bone graft etc. etc. on Nov. 4. The list is LONG of stuff I'm not supposed to eat. I still have stitches that are making me crazy. I've cheated. I take baby size bites of forbidden foods and chew on the non-bad areas, but that takes a really long time. Anyway, lettuce is one of the things that gets major stuck in places that you don't want lettuce stuck. Sigh. I have 2-3 more super icky surgeries to go, but I'm not thinking about it. I wasn't supposed to drink wine, either, but I rebelled against that the very first day

I couldn't hit the like button, but I'm glad the food was at least good. Don't they understand that contributing is important??? Sigh.

It was a big day yesterday. I got to bed a little after 10--which is late by my normal standards, but early when our hunter friend is here lol. Without further ado I'll catch up from yesterday. An afternoon view of the shooting house Around dusk I received a text--success already ! I can't remember the last time they shot a deer on the first day. A nice buck. Here he is hanging in the garage. The guys shot a little pictorial of the gutting process and of removing the prized tenderloins--you want to do that first thing because if you don't, they dry out. I completely understand if some don't want to see this so scroll by these next few. All of that gets dumped in that tub and then they took it down to the river. I'm sure the coyotes had a feast last night. Next they cut the tenderloins out They are in the fridge --probably will be eaten either Saturday or Sunday night. Meanwhile, while all of that was taking place, I was making pizzas for dinner. Oh but first I made the usual breakfast sandwiches for this morning--ham, jalapeño cheese and eggs. Simple appetizers last night (I really did do some searching for some new ideas and just didn't hit upon anything that tripped my trigger) Pimento cheese and deviled eggs Pizza dough rising Salad--there is pasta underneath there. I ate a bit of that since I still can't eat lettuce🙄 Sigh. My plan was also to make that momofuku dressing, but I pooped out. I'm sure we will have salad again sometime this week and I'll do it then. I realllllly want to taste that. Even if it's just plain off of a spoon lol. Venison cheeseburger pizza And pepperoni and mushroom pizza And this is what's happening as we speak. They are all tucked into their house--heater is going--binoculars out They told me Chum got so dang excited every time she spotted a deer--she had to be told to settle down lol. When the buck was shot she tracked it like a champ. I'm going to try to come up with something exciting for dinner. Maybe pheasant piccata? Oh, and sigh, an appetizer. Oh and breakfast lol. Be back later!

The guys have eaten and are on their way to the shootin' house. With Chum, of course. Lunch was: Pickled stuff Ham and beans and cheesy cornbread

Happy Deer Day Been up since before dawn. Need to jump in the shower. But first a few pictures. Major tragedy a couple days ago. My Thermapen died! I thought it was just the batteries, but Ronnie replaced them and still no good . When I open it up it says "lo" and immediately says "err". Anyone have any ideas on if it can be fixed? I haven't googled yet. Thankfully, good 'ole Thermaworks pulled through and I got a new one delivered yesterday. Red for @rotuts You'll have to enlarge these pictures--I took them with my iPhone and I didn't want to go outside because it would scare them, but 8-9 does came right up to the house yesterday evening. They know they are safe here I've had these two mallards brining in a salt/water mix for a couple of days. Made for a nice, quick meal last night. I'm addicted to rubbing them and stuffing them with lemons. Very non-fancy sides to go with. My canned green beans and bakers. Ronnie will be picking up our friend from the airport in a couple hours and then coming back here for lunch. I better get a move on. Be back soon

Will do! There is for sure room in the "deer shootin house" for a tripod....but....getting them to do that --plus my camera isn't super great--would be asking a lot lol. They promise to take pictures though, so we will see what transpires.

I love your post and me too!

No. Years ago he and his brother would go and get back just in time to eat Thanksgiving dinner. My sister-in-law and I kinda decided that wasn't fair and now they stay home and help out 😁. But believe me, they were out bright and early the next day.

It really is a lot of work. From mowing paths, to building blinds etc. A lot of guys just show up the morning of the hunt without helping to do any of the prep. The ones that help prep get special treatment

Hello! I didn't get a chance to welcome you on your thread so I'll welcome you here Glad you joined and I can't wait to see your dinner posts and glad you're along for the week! Well, he hunts all the time and is very good at it, but it's just because he loves doing it so much. So, yes he's full-time, but doesn't get paid lol. (((hugs)))) Thanks Anna. I was just wishing that I was at the meeting with Rotuts so I could have a brownie. Or six.

Good morning and Happy Day Before Deer Season 2019! It's been a busy busy fall. I think Ronnie has hunted more than ever before. Many early mornings waking up at 4:15 🙃. Ronnie loves it. Me? I like my sleep lol. Lots of waterfowl. Not so much on the pheasants and quail. Maybe due to all of the flooding? I don't know. Pheasant season has been on the decline around here for quite some time, though. I went out a couple times to help Ronnie like I did last year. Strangely, even with all of the rain earlier this summer, the prime duck hole needed to be filled up again. I snapped a few pictures. The windmill and water that we use to prime the pump We run plastic tubing that draws water from the tub using this pump This tubing runs over a small hill (truck doors left open--Chum likes to supervise from there) and allows us to prime this pump That we hook more tubing to it that runs water out to the place we want to fill. It takes a couple days. Kind of a pain because it was freezing every night and a trip had to be made out each evening to shut it all off so it didn't hurt the pump. This year we used clear tubing which was strangely mesmerizing. I stared at the running bubbles for longer than I care to admit.🤣 Anyway, all that is set up and good to go. As usual, there will be major deer hunting and bird hunting this week. Chum is beside herself with anticipation. Our hunter is staying an extra day longer than normal. We went to the big city and got groceries yesterday. Nothing super exciting except stuff from the Asian Market. I love that place. I could spend hours in there. I made egg rolls and froze them a couple days ago. Needless to say, some kind of Asian dishes will be made between tomorrow and Monday I put the big head of cabbage in the freezer. Maybe some cabbage rolls one night? Freezing the head and then thawing it out makes the leaves super easy to remove and stuff. I'm off to wash the ceiling fans and lights, clean the extra bedroom, put the flannel sheets on the bed (a special request from our friend lol) and hopefully do some more food prep this afternoon. If you recall I made a lot of extra beirock filling in September so I need to whip some of those up for lunches. And, as per usual, the guys have strict instructions to take pictures of anything remotely interesting. So, here we go! Deer season 2019!

Sunday night I made us a little mini Thanksgiving. Turkey quarters, mushroom, onion, blue cheese and green bean tart, stuffing, taters and bruss. sprouts Last night a seafood bisque-y thing of sorts. Oysters, scallops and crab meat

Kerry Beal and Anna. Good cooks and fun people