Shelby

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.

Yes. I bought it about 6 years ago. I love it. It's an Imperia . It's pricey but I wanted one that would withstand the test of time and this one got rave reviews.

It's funny, by about 3 p.m. yesterday I had talked myself out of making the pasta. I have some store bought linguini that would have been perfectly adequate. Right after I made that decision I got a text from Ronnie that said something like "can't wait for homemade pasta tonight" and he added a little drooling smiley. Welp. There went taking the easy way out lol. I hadn't made pasta for quite a while. The dough came together nicely and I found making it very relaxing. I need to remember that.

Good morning! Hunters came back without game again yesterday......but they had fun which is all that matters. Deer could have been gotten, but they chose not to. Still a day and half left for our guest so there is plenty of time. They took a picture from the shootin' house. I'd be happy just sitting in there and watching the deer run around. Their breakfast for this morning. The eggs look dark because I fried them in the sausage grease. Extra tasty that way lol. Appetizers The jalapeño mustard that I canned went really well with the salami I cut up. To my surprise, our guest wanted homemade pasta, sauce and venison meatballs (my favorite meal). Pasta dough resting.

I decide based on what I'm hungry for that day. Then, I look and see if I have the ingredients here....if not.....I quickly change what I am hungry for lol.

One more note on the bread. I buy the stuff that you would put on a bagel to make it an everything bagel and that's what I sprinkle on top after the egg wash. Good stuff.

The dough hook

You should see and hear her when she doesn't get to go. She literally walks around the house groaning and stopping at every window to see if they are home yet. She went because they did some duck/goose hunting that morning. It's the easiest bread to make and I'm asked to bring it to every family dinner. I have to pretend like it's really hard to make so that they don't know how easy it is lol. I do all of this in my Kitchenaid mixer 2 ¼ c. warm water 2 Tbsp sugar 2 Tbsp yeast 1 Tbsp salt 2 Tbsp oil 5 ½ -6 cups flour-stirred before measured First dissolve sugar and yeast in the warm water. Let this proof—or sit for a few minutes until it bubbles. Then add salt, oil and 3 cups of flour and beat well. Add in 2 1/2 -3 more cups of flour. The dough should clean off the sides of the bowl and not be too sticky. Knead for a few minutes. Leave the dough in the mixer to rest for 10 minutes and then stir it down (turn on your mixer for 10 seconds) and then allow to rest another 10 minutes. Repeat for a total of 5 times. Divide into 2 equal parts. Roll each part into a 9×13 rectangle. Roll dough up, starting from long edge of loaf to seal. Arrange seam side down on baking sheet that’s been sprinkled with corn meal or on a piece of parchment paper, allowing room for both loaves. Repeat with second part of dough. With a sharp knife, cut 3 gashes at an angle on the top of each. Cover lightly; allow to rise 30 minutes. Brush entire surface with egg wash (one egg beaten slightly with 1 Tbsp of water). If desired, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes at 375. Cool on racks This bakes up really well in the CSO. I use the pan that came with it and put parchment on it. If you make it in there, proof it for 25 mins. at 100F using the steam function and then bake it at 375F for 20 mins. using the bread function.

Happy Friday, ya'll! The hunters returned empty handed yesterday. They did take a couple of pictures of where they hunt......Ronnie built it and they call it "the shootin' house". It's a nice little place to sit and watch for deer. Chum has her own chair to sit in while she scans the area. Meanwhile, I puttered around the kitchen all afternoon. I got some bread made. I made SV'd pork loin for dinner last night, so since I had it all set up I decided to clean the deer heart and throw it in the water bath, too. I'm going to do it for 30 hours at 135F. We'll see how it turns out. I love both of my SV machines (that what I call 'em) but the Anova is SO quiet compared to the Gourmia. Pork Venison heart Eggs, pickle roll-ups and some pickled okra for snacking on And dinner. The very last of the Silver Queen corn. That pork was sooooo tender. Now, I need to do some studying. I can't get my iPhone 4 to connect to the Anova.....

I'm with you on the bottled dressing. It always has an off taste to me. I use it once in a while when I'm too lazy to make dressing, though. I make ranch a lot. I start out with about a cup of homemade mayo in a mason jar. I then add finely diced chive, dill, garlic powder, onion powder and salt and pepper. To that I add buttermilk, a little at a time, shaking the jar after each add, making sure not to add too much so it doesn't get too runny.

I know, right I might save the next one......it's a LOT of liver. I've never heard of that! It's a great idea, though.

Not ignorant at all!!! A few years ago Ronnie tried to salt it and save it.......that experiment didn't go so well. One of the dogs drug it off and ate on it lol. Ours get tossed out with the guts down by the river. Makes a tasty treat for the coyotes.

The tenderloin is inside the body cavity near the pelvic region---it is a lot smaller than the backstrap. The backstrap is outside of the body cavity on both sides of the spine and is much longer and wider than the tenderloin. Both are excellent, but the tenderloin is...well, more tender lol. I will show pictures later on of the cutting up process or if you peruse my 2011 winter blog you'll see some pictures.

I think I'm going to sous vide the heart........

I don't know exactly....we grind it up in the burger mix. It feels exactly like beef heart though. I'm pretty sure I've seen use of the intestines in one of my cookbooks. It's quite a process to clean them. I think I'll skip lol. Hmmm...maybe I should google and see if I can find something fun to do with the heart.......