Shelby

Ronnie came home with some ducks yesterday. I already had chicken thawed out, so no duck was eaten except for the livers and hearts Oh and I also did some chicken gizzards. All were fried and then pressure cooked.

Exactly right. They are a cool weather veg. We tried to grow them this spring, but it got hot too soon......this plant weathered the heat. I was shocked when I saw that he had started growing sprouts a few weeks ago.

Couple of meals. Pizza night on Sunday. Really hit the spot and it was fast and easy. The cold weather has hit (YAY!!!). We decided the brussels sprout plant wouldn't survive and so we picked it. Don't get me started on our trials and tribulations trying to grow these suckers lol. One year I had them coming out of my ears and now I can't grow them to save my life. They aren't fully mature yet, but certainly edible. They were very sweet and tender. Aren't they cute??? KC strip and leftover baked 'taters with broccoli cheese sauce to go with

Damn it, why why why did I go look???????? I bought the Food52 cookbook and the Southern Slow Cooker book. I should be wrapping Christmas presents and cleaning out my closets....instead I'll be snuggled on the couch with a blanket and my Kindle.

Oh this sounds great. I will post if we make it. We will at some point I promise!

Thank you!!!! Sounds really good. When we drag up the grinder for the deer, might have to do some of this too!

Some people do that around here too. We just never have 'cause we know how to do it and we like being in control of the process. I've heard many complaints that people who take their deer to the locker don't come home with the deer they actually shot. But to each their own Nice! I'd be very interested in the pheasant sausage recipe if you have time.........

Thank you so much! Hey, not everyone has venison burger in their freezer I've alway wanted chickens but my doggies...and the coyotes won't allow that to happen. I'm jealous that you get eggs!!!!

I'm late, but cooked is what I do, too.

I want to thank everyone who read this. I really appreciate you guys! It's been fun.

Thank you!! You have a beautiful place. I've seen a moose once in person. So majestic. I've never eaten the meat. The older we get, the more tender hearted we are, too. I don't think that's a bad thing. We shoot what we eat and we eat what we shoot.

That's what makes eG so great IMO. Learning about other ways of life. I'm like you, only vice-versa. I can't imagine living in a city where you step out of your door and have a grocery right there. Or you could order in and have delivered a million different kinds of food (I wish for that on some nights).

Well, yeah. But..... a lot of people do it. I just asked Ronnie how much it would be on average --a premium hunt would be a place to stay, all meals included, the guide takes you to the hunting spot, picks you back up, entertains you, cleans, packages etc. (you are never guaranteed a deer) would cost around $5,000 to $6,000 for a three day hunt. I couldn't live in a big city....just as a lot of big city folks wouldn't want to live here in the sticks lol .

@Ann_T You're killing me. I want.

Thank you so much! We got about 60 lbs of meat total. They weighed the deer after they field dressed her (took the insides out) and she weighed 188 lbs. We lost about 50 lbs of meat due to the front end being shot up. No, our hunter hunts in his home state, too, so he gets any meat that he wants there. He comes here to hunt with Ronnie because it's a whole different experience than it is where he lives......plus, we are a lot of fun lol He lives in a more populated area. Also, I don't think his family is in to eating it much...... He started out as a person we would wine and dine for business reasons and quickly grew in to a really great friend . My husband could be a hired hunter--he's hunted his whole life and knows the ins and outs of all of it. Around here you could hire a guide that would put you in a field that deer are known to be in and let you try to shoot it yourself. Then the guide would gut it, hang it and cut it up and package it for you. It's expensive. The guide would either have to own his own place to hunt on or lease it from someone else. Also very expensive. As a rule we do not let anyone hunt on our land that our house is located on. We have other land that we own or that family owns that we hunt on. It is work, but it's fun work. Very rewarding. I really glad you enjoyed reading about it and thank you for asking questions .

I hope you feel better soon!!! Yum on the potato skins. I haven't made those for a long time. This is calling my name. Lovely venison. I love seeing the difference in meals around the world. It's clearly summertime for you Nice looking chicken.

Well, our hunter is at the airport. No deer this morning. But that's ok . When they got home a nice little buck was roaming around in my field (we don't shoot anything here 'cause we enjoy watching our wildlife). Our hunter always asks if he's allowed to shoot...and he's always denied ......lol he just asks to get a rise out of me, I'm sure. Anyway, I realized this morning that I forgot to sear and serve the venison heart that I sous vide. Sigh. I swear I thought about it a million times yesterday and then dinner got hectic and I plain forgot. So, I'll do that either tonight or tomorrow and post about it on the dinner thread. I'm not sure our hunter was thrilled about having to try it anyway lol. I just got done cutting and wrapping up the deer. In years past I would have like 5 deer to do at once, so I kind of enjoy doing just one at a time. Like I said earlier, the front end of the deer was quite shot up, so it reduced the roasts and meat, but that's ok. We will get more. So, here's some pictures. I didn't get in to too much detail....you can see more in-depth on my first winter blog. A link is in my signature. Like I always do, I have two canning pots set up. One for meat that we will make burger out of and one for scraps. Sink 'O Meat #1 Sink 'O Meat #2 Roasts Backstrap before trimming and a couple more roasts. And a Newman that is completely enamored with the meat. Steaks made out of the backstrap Burger meat All wrapped up in cling wrap. I was cat-free on the first sink of meat, but then I think Dr. Lecter sent Newman down to do recon to see if it was safe to come out. Newman never went back to report...he got a few tiny snacks of venison. He's still purring from happiness lol. Finished in freezer paper The burger meat is in the fridge. Ronnie will go hunting probably Tuesday and Wednesday. They are calling for a major winter storm with significant snow (we'll see....the weather people here have trouble predicting snow) so the deer should be moving around a lot before the storm hits. So, we will drag the grinder up after another deer is here and do it all at once. Again, you can see the grinding process in my first winter blog. I have pizza dough made and resting on the counter. And, it's time for a glass or twenty of wine . Again, thanks for keeping me company!!!! I, and my hunters, have a lot of fun documenting all of this. Oh and thank you to my hunters for taking pictures for us!

This deer had no ticks. I honestly don't ever remember a deer that we've gotten that had them. Once it freezes they vacate the premises I guess lol.

Count me as one that LOVED your cabin reports. I'm so happy to see back here .

Smithy, this is so awesome. I took a break yesterday afternoon to peruse EG and got enthralled with your tabasco plant tour. I loved every second of it. Thank you for taking time. I feel like I was there with you! Also, you have more will-power than I do. I don't think I could have passed up some goodies from that Cajun store.

It is big....I'm not sure why....but it's handy when there are hunters that want chili reheated and things like that. Yes, Ronnie's garage, while not fancy, is a full-on man-cave complete with cookware he's pilfered from me inside lol. When he's dirty from working or hunting or he's watching a game , instead of coming in, he'll cook something out there once in a while. I've never kept the fat....it smells...very deerish to me .... but, if need-be I would. Like an apocalypse or something....lol.

I started cooking at like 1 p.m. yesterday. I can take my time that way and clean up (mostly) as I go. I made some brownies.....that might be what's for breakfast...... Then I trimmed up the tenderloins and butterflied them (not sure what the hell happened to this picture lol) I seared them in a screaming hot pan with butter...simply salted and peppered. For appetizers I did some shrimp and made some cocktail sauce The tenderloins are small so I felt like we needed something to go with them--hunters are hungry by the end of the day . So, I thawed out some doves and some chicken gizzards and fried them up. After that, I put them in the Instant Pot and pressure cooked them for 45 mins. SO tender and good. To go with I made huge fluffy baked potatoes in the CSO and some broccoli cheese sauce to go on top. I'm going to clean up a few dishes, hit the exercise machine, make some pizza dough and then start cutting up the deer........I showed pictures of that in my first winter blog, but I'll include some here just to make the flow of the whole deer process make sense.

I didn't know you hunted! Very cool. I've never done it by myself (I admire you!!!) ...I've seen it a million times but yet if I had to do it, I'm not sure I could The weather changed a lot and yesterday was very cold and drizzly/rainy so the deer hunkered down and were no where to be seen. It's still kinda foggy and rainy and cold, so I don't know whether they will move around this morning or not. If nothing is gotten, there are still many days that Ronnie will go on his own. Or, there is a doe only season in January. So, the hunters came home yesterday afternoon, watched football and trimmed the meat off of the hanging deer that I showed earlier. I was busy cooking dinner already so they placed the meat in clean trash bags for me to do this morning. I like to bring them in the kitchen and rinse them off.....and, I guess I'm just a control freak because I like the way I cut up deer and I wanna do it myself . Here is another pictorial of yesterday: So, first you peel the hide off Then get the front quarters off. These were kinda shot up so not a ton of meat was savable but normally I would make roasts and trim some off of the legs for burger. Next is the backstraps --these I will butterfly and make steaks Then the hind quarters. I'll make roasts out of these...also some burger meat....also some will be cooked up for the dogs. They guys wanted me to be sure and show you their can cooker. They take this with them and heat soup up etc. Yesterday they put venison scraps in for the doggies.

I think it's on the preserving thread but here it is again I recommend reducing the sugar by at least a cup --maybe even more--and I don't recommend taking the seeds out because you want the spicy to balance out the sweet.

thanks, but I'm not talented. I'm sitting here thinking about the squash you made on the dinner thread. I'll trade you salad for squash The machine does all of the work. I've never used a manual one but I would think it would be hard to do with just one person.