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A Little Venison Tale


Shelby

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Hello  :smile:

 

Deer season is officially over for us here in Kansas.  My husband hunted the season in December in which you can shoot bucks and/or does.  He only shoots bucks if they are bigger (the racks) than he's shot before.  That's a tough thing to do for him because he's shot some big guys.  Thus, he didn't shoot a buck this year.  He decided to wait until the doe only season in January.  We like older, dry does (dry as in they are too old to have babies) because a. they are more tender than bucks b. they don't have little ones that need them.  Anyway, he got a doe a week or so ago.  It's been very very cold here so we let her hang in the garage for quite a few days.  We just cut her up, packaged and made some burger over the last week.

 

 I know some of you saw the process in my food blog.  You can go there for a more detailed look if you wish :)  I snapped a few pictures and decided to post a little mini version here.

 

 

I have a little set-up in my kitchen.  I used to do this all in the garage and then I got smart.  It's cleaner and WARMER in my house.  So, my husband cuts off the parts and brings them in for me :)

 

Backstrap before cleaning off the silver skin and "stuff"

 

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Cleaned and cut up into steaks

 

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I only use the prime of the backstrap for steaks.  The rest goes in the burger bag to be ground up.

 

Here is a hind end.  You can make three roasts out of this cut if you wish.

 

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I saved the "football" shaped roast and used the rest for burger.  We eat a lot of burger.

 

 

Packaged up

 

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Edited by Shelby (log)
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Yesterday we drug out the grinder.  We use this thing a LOT.  I wish I had space to keep it in the kitchen and I bet I'd use it even more.  For now, it lives in the basement.

 

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Bits of meat getting a bath in the sink to remove any pesky deer hair.

 

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Ready for the trip through the blades

 

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We bought some cheap hamburger at the store--the kind that comes in those big tubes--to mix in with the venison to give it some fat content.  Some years we use brisket if it's cheap enough.  We also decided to thaw out a pork butt and use the fat off of it.  So, I got a bonus this year--freshly ground pork!  That is very hard to find around here unless we make the journey to the Asian Market in the big city.  Last time they were sold out!

 

Anyway,

 

Ground pork

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Ground venison

 

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Pork fat/venison mix

 

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Beef/venison mix

 

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All done for another year

 

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We got about 50 pounds of burger.  That should last us until next season.

 

Meanwhile, I'm left with these two big ole pork bones and piece of pork skin.  

 

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Any ideas?  Broth?  Cracklins?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We keep our bread on top of our toaster oven because we use a regular toaster for toast. We just move the bread off of the top when using the toaster oven.

 

Shelby, the beef/venison blend really caught my eye.

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Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

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That's a lot going to burger, but I would probably do the same if I hunted for home. I do love shank more that almost any cut of meat however. As far as cutting in fat, I add straight pork fat trimmings from our hogs. I wonder about the difference in fat from where you are versus us - our animals are so lean because they can't find field corn anywhere around here - just wilderness plants. BTW, I've got my javelina hunt in 2 weeks. Looking forward to that one.

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BTW, I've got my javelina hunt in 2 weeks. Looking forward to that one.

 

What do you do with the javelina meat? We have a couple of friends who hunt them and we've heard different reports on the taste, but we haven't been offered a sample yet.  :smile:

 

One family uses it to make chorizo. 

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Shelby  - that meat looks really good. Growing up, venison was my family's main meat - partly because my father hunted but mainly because the game warden was his best friend. (Did you ever wonder what happens to those illegal kills that are confiscated? This was 60 years ago - it probably wouldn't happen today. Or would it?) I'm just about to start a venison stew courtesy of a friend who hunts. I used his wife's recipe for vinha d'alhos - a dish that is traditionally made with pork but she says it works well with venison. We'll see tonight. 

We were having lunch with said neighbor this summer when he looked out the window and left the room. This was quickly followed by a gunshot. He came back in and said to his wife "Rabbit stew tomorrow, It's in the kitchen." I wish I had gotten to taste the stew.

Elaina

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If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero

But the library must contain cookbooks. Elaina

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That's a lot going to burger, but I would probably do the same if I hunted for home. I do love shank more that almost any cut of meat however. As far as cutting in fat, I add straight pork fat trimmings from our hogs. I wonder about the difference in fat from where you are versus us - our animals are so lean because they can't find field corn anywhere around here - just wilderness plants. BTW, I've got my javelina hunt in 2 weeks. Looking forward to that one.

It is a lot going to burger.  We used to make a ton of steaks--thin ones for frying etc. and I used to save all of the roasts.  We just didn't end up eating all of them and found ourselves grinding them up to make more burger.  We used to eat a lot more steaks, but we just don't any more.  Our tastes may change again and you might see tons of steaks etc. being packaged up next year.

 

Will you be posting about your hunt?  I hope you do :)

 

Shelby  - that meat looks really good. Growing up, venison was my family's main meat - partly because my father hunted but mainly because the game warden was his best friend. (Did you ever wonder what happens to those illegal kills that are confiscated? This was 60 years ago - it probably wouldn't happen today. Or would it?) I'm just about to start a venison stew courtesy of a friend who hunts. I used his wife's recipe for vinha d'alhos - a dish that is traditionally made with pork but she says it works well with venison. We'll see tonight. 

We were having lunch with said neighbor this summer when he looked out the window and left the room. This was quickly followed by a gunshot. He came back in and said to his wife "Rabbit stew tomorrow, It's in the kitchen." I wish I had gotten to taste the stew.

Elaina

Isn't it nice to have friends in high places :)  These days --around here anyway--the illegal kill meat gets donated to local soup kitchens.  A very worthy cause.

 

Would love to see your stew--I bet it will be delicious!

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Here's my venison stew. Not really a true vinha d'alhos - although if you google the term you find multiple, very different recipes so what's true? I used the marinade from the vinha d'alhos recipe my friend gave me - basically wine, vinegar and garlic, and marinated the venison for 24 hours (the traditional recipes say to marinate 3 - 6 days). Then I really just turned it into a stew with carrots, onions,potatoes, braised garlic and sauteed mushrooms. It was delicious and extremely tender - which venison stew meat sometimes is not.  With a salad, bread and wine it was a lovely dinner.

venison stew 2.png

venison stew 2.png

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If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero

But the library must contain cookbooks. Elaina

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Elaina that looks SO good.  I love the big chunks of veg in there.  Would the meat have benefited from the longer marinade  or  was it great just the way you made it?

 

Makes me want to thaw out a roast already :)

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Elaina that looks SO good.  I love the big chunks of veg in there.  Would the meat have benefited from the longer marinade  or  was it great just the way you made it?

 

Makes me want to thaw out a roast already :)

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If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero

But the library must contain cookbooks. Elaina

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