sjemac

Sick animals don't last long in the wild so finding them is rather rare when hunting. If the animal looks sick (i.e. emaciated, stumbling, lethargic etc.) don't consume it. The liver is a key indicator of health, it should be of uniform color and free of cysts or spots. Otherwise there is very little other than trichinosis (killed by cooking or prolonged freezing) and Tularemia (found in rabbits and hare and evidenced by white spots on the liver) that is transferable to humans. Some things like "rice breast" in waterfowl and tape worm cysts in other animals are unappetizing but not harmful (I still wouldn't eat an animal exhibiting either).

Good moose is like execeptionally beefy beef. Less care needs to be take with removing the fat as it is less strong than venison and has a very rich beef fat flavor to it. Most people around here prefer elk to all other animals because it tastes the most like beef. I don't really have a preference as the different flavors of the meats lend them well to different cooking style. For instance a moose bourguignon is exceptional when compared to the same dish done with venison -- which is still good just not as good. Venison lends itself better to "sweet" and light dishes with fruit and cookie type spices than moose does which is a good candidate for savoury seasonings and rich sauces. A big bull shot at full rut in early fall and slowly removed from the bush is going to be bad -- but the same can be said for elk or deer. Moose are big and it is important to get them cooled quickly. We tend to shoot dry cows or small bulls. We field dress them and get them out of the woods within a couple of hours and then halve them and hang them for a week or two depending on weather. If it is any warmer than refrigerator temps we skin and cut sooner. I've had bad moose and bad deer but it was always either "gifted" meat (when people want to give you lots of meat it usually isn't because it is prime stuff) or meat that had been butchered and cooked by someone else. With proper care and cooking even the oldest ruttiest animal can be made into something that is a pleasure to eat. A rutting male will be stronger than an early season male. A lactating female will be stronger than a dry female. And all of the above will be stronger than a yearling fawn (which has meat nearer the color of free range pork). I get a thermometer stuck into the hams of all my animals as they hang. I'm looking for it go to a temp below 40 degrees and stay there. If you shot the animal through the guts and got intestinal juices and stomach contents all over everything, all bets are off. Immediate skinning and cutting of the animal is the only hope at this point. Like all food, you should question where game came from. If hit by a car, was death instant? Were the insides ruptured? Bad news if the animal lingered for a couple of hours or has internal organs punctured. If hunted, was it run by dogs first or shot while in a calm state? Was the kill clean or did the animal need to be tracked for hours or even worse, left until the next morning as seems to be so common with bowhunters? I try to make head shots whenever possible to save on meat and ensure clean kills.

Winston Churchills Favorite Breakfast. Being a hunter and a waterfowler allows me to sometimes experiment with the more decadent dishes from history. The makings: A Snipe. A Brace of snipe. A brace of snipe on fried bread with bacon and thyme. A brace of snipe on fried bread with bacon and thyme and a large glass of Champagne. In honor of the old Lion.

When you try to cut deer like you cut beef (going through bone and muscle groups)you get bone dust on the meat for one and it doesn't impart good flavors and it along with excess fat probably accounts for what people describe as "gaminess" in meat. If you cut steaks composed of different muscle groups you get some that cook faster than others or contact more during cooking which causes the steaks to twist and curl in pan and then makes them very difficult to eat. Not to mention the fat and silverskin between muscles can impart stronger flavors than desired. Venison fat is very tallowy and coats the mouth so it is best to get rid of as much of it as possible. Like others have mentioned we never cut into steaks until we are ready to eat the meat. We freeze all the prime cuts in roast form and then cut into steaks if needed or simply sear and roast whole. We've used sous vide quite a bit on it in the past year and it is great for getting the meat to that perfect doneness every time. Snowangel, if you like Indian food, sub in the tougher cuts of venison in recipes that call for goat or lamb. Plan on at least double the simmering time listed in the recipe you use. We just finished up a batch of rogan josh (spelling?) made with moose and it was excellent. We use thin marinated slices of the leg roasts for Korean BBQ wrapped in lettuce leaves. Ground spiced meat for empanadas. Bolognese sauces (really let it simmer). Bigger stewed pieces for meat pies etc. Lots to do with it particularly if you make sure you apply the "5 or 5" pricipal to cooking it. Either cook 5 minutes and serve med-rare or cook 5 hours and serve falling apart. Not much room in between.

Here's a post from last year: Most of the meat we eat in our house is game. I'm blessed to live in an area of the world possessing a variety and abundance of game. Moose, deer, bear, ducks, geese, pheasant, grouse, rabbit and hare can all be found in my freezer and a trip to the coast every summer gets us a few hundred pounds of salmon and halibut. Other than the occasional chicken or pork cuts we buy VERY little meat. Over the last 12 years I have killed and processed 60+ big game animals for our food and literally thousands of waterfowl, gamebirds and small game. I've learned a lot about butchering them and cooking them, including utilizing charcuterie and sous vide in their preparation. I thought it might be interesting for some to follow a single deer from the field through processing to the dishes it ends up in throughout the year. I won't show or talk about every single dish since a lot of it ends up being eaten as hamburgers or pretty pedestrian stews and stirfys but I will try to highlight some of the unique or special recipes I make with it. PS. This is not meant to be a back and forth on the morals, need or ethics of hunting (lots of other places to duke that out) but to merely talk about one animal from a culinary point of view. Some of the initial pictures may be a little graphic for some but I've tried to tone it down as much as possible. Anyway. Here's the product in the raw form. A young buck I shot in the back country west of my home. The land is designated as Forestry zone, so there are no homes or crops allowed and only limited grazing by cattle permitted. Some logging takes place but there are few roads. This deer is about as free range as any meat can get. I was able to get a steady and clear shot and put the bullet between his nostrils into the brain. A knife thrust to the heart sped him along and helped to bleed him out. The boys helped in the cleaning. After hanging by the pelvis with the hide on for 20 days at about 2-4 degrees C this was the state the deer was in. Normally I save the ribs off of younger deer but on the ones I hang, the rib meat is quite thin and dries out quickly. Starting the hide from the rear -- note the fat deposits. The deer completely skinned out. Again, note the fat layer on the outside. With sharp knife, all the outer fat is carefully shaved off of the meat, leaving the wide flat muscles coming off of the shoulder available for stir fry and fajita cuts. Front legs removed, exposing back loins. Spine and rib cage is all that is left. A front quarter, ready for boning out. With wild game we NEVER use cuts like those done for beef, but instead separate out all the individual muscle groups and package according to whether they are grilled, braised or ground. The long bones are cracked, roasted and used for stock making. A sampling of the cuts we get. Clockwise from top right: Neck meat (stews), Top Sirloin (grilling and one of the best cuts from the animal), Tricep (stews and braising), two Under Blade cuts (perfect for fajitas), and two heels SHANK MEAT (calf muscle) with the achilles tendons attached to add body to the liquids they are braised in. Everything cut wrapped, boxed and ready to freeze. Weighed 57 lbs of nearly boneless (fatless and silverskinless)meat (we keep the shanks on the bone). By comparison, the cow moose we got yielded 285 lbs of boneless meat so one moose equals 5 deer in terms of meat yield.

BLASPHEMY!!! The shanks are the BEST part of the deer/moose/elk. You need to sear them off and then braise slowly at 200 or so for at least 8 hours. The "stringiness" resolves into velvety goodness. No need to remove the tendons, they turn into delicious gelatin as they braise and naturally thicken the sauce. The shanks are the one part of the deer besides the tenderloins and loins that we never turn into sausage or burger.

Scottish Grouse are really a subspecies of Willow Ptarmigan that doesn't turn white in winter. They are a dark meated bird as opposed to the Ruffed Grouse that is white meated. Both are quite tasty, though many prefer the Ruffies because they taste more like chicken than Ptarmigan and all the other species of grouse do.

More's the pitty. I like mutton. I've got a friend getting into sheep farming soon though and I should be able to get a supply from him in the future.

All those prices look attractive but I'd stick to the smaller to mid-sized for the best flavor and texture. Tell the clerk to keep it under $10 each and go from there. ← I've noticed no real difference in flavor and texture between small lobsters and large ones even up to 6 pounds provided they have been prepared properly. People tend to overcook larger lobsters and that affects flavor and texture. 2-3 pounders would be my choice for most things but NOT at nearly double the price. I would normally expect to pay only a buck or two more a pound for the bigger lobsters. With the prices quoted, I would go with the 5.99 bugs.

Salmon caviar, pepper and creme fraiche.

Blood and stitches are the best coaches. Many a night has been spent staunching venous flow from a palm or finger while shucking oysters drunk. If you eat a lot of raw oysters that you shuck yourself, wounds are a foregone conclusion -- especially if liquor's involved.

95% of deer flavor is in the care and preparation BEFORE butchering. If you shot a fine steer in the guts and chased it for miles and then dragged it through mud and crap before putting it in the back of a pick up in 75 degree heat for the 3 hr drive home then beef would be pretty rank too. Air dried venison Carpaccio: Venison loin from the neck end sliced thin and on a rack for drying. 24 hrs later. Drying gives some "chew" and concentrates flavor. Marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, capers, shallots, green olives, salt and pepper for 24 hrs. Finished with shaved parm cheese and green onion.

Buy a surplus lab cooker for about $100-$200.00. I have two. As for whether the accuracy is needed, that depends on the recipe. You can get by with a one or even two degree difference for a lot of recipes but certain dishes like 2 hour soft boiled eggs are best done to that +/- .5 degree range.

Your cooking method sounds like the plan -- I would use the pistachio as they are a little more resistant to scorching than are pine nuts. For the sauce, I tend to prefer one with a little acidity and fruit flavors to balance the richness of the venison. I do one with venison "demiglace", port, shallots and dried cherries that goes really well with roasted red meated game.

Oysters will last for a month if kept alive. I buy a whole peck at a time and simply keep them in the fridge crisper covered with a damp cloth for a few weeks, shucking a few every day or steaming a bunch as I need them. These are always Malpeques (Atlantic oysters) BTW. Pacific oysters may need to be treated differently.

So how do you do the 5 hour version? I don't own a gun but I'm very happy to have good friends that do, and like me, they enjoy bartering. ← Various ways but the basics are sear, add the aromatics and liquids and braise. I generally don't slow cook roasting cuts but choose cuts from the shoulder and neck. I do a fantastic braised shank with couscous or orzo. Smoke some of it, depending on what I want. I've done breseola, and smoked sausages and have corned the heart and tongue for sandwiches. Some basic dishes made recently from this deer: A curry with an almond/yogurt paste based on this Recipe Served on rice and garnished with cilantro and ginger. It needed more spice and acidity. I would increase the level of coriander in the spice mixture and add a more flavorable pepper -- likely in the form of a sauce. A traditional tortiere from my Acadian roots (my family has been making this since the 1700's at least -- the crust has evolved over the generations and it was made with wild hare). The filling is simply deer meat, salt and pepper with some deer stock for moisture all cooked in a pot till it is fall apart tender. The flavor in the dish comes from the crust which contains Old Bay, smoked paprika, onion powder, cayenne, pepper and salt. And to answer an earlier question as to how we hang the deer by the pelvis:

I might disagree with you a bit there. We took a fresh wild goose last Thursday that my friend killed that morning, plucked, gutted and cleaned it, sopped it in the accumulated juices on the back well of a pig slowly cooking over applewood overnight for a Christmas party -- and then roasted it with the hog for a few hours. Very low temperatures (below 200 in the beginning while it sat atop the pig in the goodness, then up front by the embers at like 250 for the remainder, to brown and crisp), and it was rare in the middle. Everything on that bird -- including the skin and fat -- was nutty and delicious. Granted, geese here on the Eastern Shore eat a lot of farmers' corn left in the fields and soybeabs, but still it's wild game. I know this gets away from the deer discussion. I don't like the taste of venison fat. I tend to slowly braise and stew my venison (often with Guinness or another dark beer as liquid) in stews. ← Nearly all wild mallards here feed on grain -- those are the birds I'm talking about. Other mallards on the west coast feed extensively on herring eggs and taste like it. Your goose was still likely grain fed or fed on some other crop. I spent 26 years on the east coast hunting on Prince Edward Island. Most geese there eat grain and little to no animal matter. Some will eat eel grass which makes them even tastier. I've eaten black ducks that were feeding in grain fields and black ducks that were feeding on tiny snails. Grain fed was definitely better. Most people don't like the deer fat taste but careful trimming and dissecting out of the muscle groups (as opposed to cutting across them as per beef butchering) removes most of this.

They do that all the time. I would be VERY surprised if it was NOT per pound.

I can't speak about US lamb specifically but I would assume that it is similar to Canadian lamb. I will pay the extra for the local Alberta lamb as I find it is milder and less muttony in flavor than the Aus/NZ lamb which is all we used to be able to get. 2-3 x the price? Probably not worth it if you already like the stuff you're getting.

Ozonation does treat the water and kill off microorganisms in it. It is already used in the food processing industry on meats and poultry. To use ozonated water at home to sterilize something though, it would have to be used within a few minutes of being ozonated since ozone has a very short half life in water. It is used in the medical community also to sterilize items that are difficult to sterilize through normal means.

Most bacteria only lives on the surface of the meat. So heating the outside your cuts before grinding is enough to make it safe. Still, I wouldn't bother. If the meat is fresh to begin with and you cook right after grinding as you said, the bacteria that may be present will not have the time to multiply and colonize the ground meat.

All game stocks are great. I use the same methods one would use for any stock. I keep cubes of frozen venison demiglace in the freezer to use in sauces and/or stews. 5 minutes or 5 hours is the rule with venison and wild duck. Hot and fast, done to medium rare at the most or braised very low and slow (Like 200 degrees or less) for several hours. If we have venison steaks I refuse to cook them past medium. Medium rare is about 135 -140. 150 is garbage already. You also have to trim all the connective tissue or it tightens right up. Fat is good in animals that are fed a pretty constant diet of the same mild tasting food, be it grain, corn, grass etc. Wild game will eat from many different sources during the course of the day including spruce trees, sage brush and other things that you might not want the flavor of. Those flavors concentrate in the fats. Deer fat is also extremely tallowy an taking a drink of cold water after taking a bite of fatty deer leaves your mouth with an unpleasant waxy coating. It is the same with wild waterfowl. A mallard that has been eating grain for a month is beautiful roasted whole with a thick layer of fatty skin. The same bird feeding in a salt marsh on mollusks would have to be skinned out completely and all the fat trimmed to be even palatable. I hang deer that the temps and conditions allow me to. If it is too warm, I have to clean them up quickly and if it is too cold, I've got to clean them up before they freeze solid. Young deer of the year are already quite mild and tender and don't require much, if any hanging. Hanging more mature animals lets the enzymes in the meat break it down and make it more tender -- much like aged beef. I find the flavor "meatier". Again, because we are not dealing with a cookie cutter feeding and slaughter process, two deer of the same size and weight shot on the same day can have very different flavors due to diet and whether they were stressed at death -- among other things. The hides go back out to the forest to feed the coyotes and ravens. They will clean up a pile of deer scraps overnight.

Been playing with purees lately so forgive the repetition. Sunday: Took out the wild duck (wigeon) confit (pictured here with the Canada goose legs that are still mellowing). Made a ravioli of with duxelles on the bottom layer, then a layer of nutmeg, fleu de sel and thyme and topped that with crisped duck confit before covering with the second sheet of ravioli. I made a parsnip puree that I watered/cremed/wined down to a sauce like consistency. I made many little raviolis and one big one per plate. After the blanching, the big ones were added to hot sage butter and crisped slightly. I served it with a layer of puree, then a layer of blanched ravioli, more parsnip puree and then topped it with the fried ravioli, fried sage leaves and parm cheese. Note the apple wine slushee. Inadvertently made by placing the bottle on the deck to chill in -40 degree Fahrenheit for 25 minutes. Tonight: I had braised some slab bacon in beer the other night. This is savoy cabbage rolls stuffed with braised bacon, onion, fennel and apple. It is served on a celery root puree (Wolfgang Puck recipe I think) and topped with a porter ale foam. The foam was a first try for me and I doubt it will be made again. The rest of the dish was really good though. Needed more pork belly per roll though.

Once you learn to do it yourself, you get to cut what you want. Game butchers leave dirt and fat and silver skin on and they cut through bones. Game bone dust and marrow is responsible for a lot of the "off" flavor you get from some game. By butchering it yourself, you will also get back a lot more meat than you will from the butcher. They aren't as concerned about getting all the edible bits off. For them it is a numbers game and a lot of usable trim gets binned.

Have yet to get an elk -- not for lack of trying. The hides go back to nature. There are no collection points near by and I've turned more than enough into leather.