'Tis Hunting Time—A smallish blog

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

LOL!  I didn't even notice I did that.  I've corrected it. I wonder if my spell check changed it.  I don't think I've ever actually typed the word wench on purpose in a sentence.

 

You should see what my spellcheck/autocorrect tried to do with "backstrap" above! I'm sooo glad I caught it before it went out. 

 

 

(It tried to substitute "jo" for "ba")

[Smithy]

By the by, I'd like to know more about that bread you baked, please. It looks delicious.

[Shelby]

Good morning!!!!

 

Sorry about the radio silence.  I got way behind yesterday.  Every time I was going to sit down and write, something popped up that I needed to do.

 

@Smithy How fun that you have some venison with you!  Venison backstrap or tenderloin are both so good just on their own that I don't get fancy with it.  A searing hot skillet, butter, salt and pepper or on the grill.  Venison has so little fat that you want to be careful and not over cook it.  You can always cook it more if it's too rare--rare is what you want.  Overdone, it tastes livery and tough.  We are going to do the tenderloins tonight on the grill, so I'll document it.  Here is more from Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook--it's an excellent site for learning about all different kinds of game cooking.

 

 

The bread is a recipe I ran across years ago.  It's nothing like real French bread-- like the kind @Ann_Tand others make so beautifully,  so maybe the name  "French bread" is a bit misleading lol.  I was intrigued because it looked so easy.  I swear, everyone that eats it raves about it.  I don't tell them how easy it is lol.  I think one of the reasons it's such a hit is because I brush it with egg white and sprinkle Everything Bagel Topping on it--a discovery that happened by accident because I didn't have any sesame seeds and I thought maybe the bagel topping would be good.  I bake it in the CSO on the bread setting at 375F for 25 minutes.

 

 

We ran out of breakfast burritos, so I made ham, egg and cheese sandwiches for this morning.

 

 

But, before that, I had laid out more of the same cheeses and meats, plus some pimento stuffed celery.  I was hurried because I knew the guys would be home soon so I got that out on the table and then went to the outside garage to get some eggs.

 

Here is the spread before I left

 

 

I was literally gone maybe a minute and this is what I came back to

 

 

Miss Scout had helped herself.🙄

 

Sigh.

 

On to making dinner.  I was terrible about pictures --it turned into a seafood soup.  I thawed out chicken broth, the oysters from earlier in the blog, some crappie and some shrimp.  Dumped a half a stick of butter in the pot and softened diced potato, carrots, onions and celery.  Then added the broth, salt, pepper, garlic and let it simmer a bit.  Right before eating I dumped in all the seafood and let it warm a bit.  Super easy and very good.

 

 

Crusty bread toasted with butter to go with.

 

Annnnnnd dessert

 

 

The guys are now out working on the buck.  I'll post pictures in a bit.  They are going to hunt close to home so I think some venison tenderloins are going to hit the grill tonight.  I'm pondering side dishes.

 

The hunting gear really makes my Christmas decor pop don't you think......

 

 

 

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

19 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Miss Scout had helped herself.🙄

 

She was quite tidy about removing her selection and didn't seem to touch anything else!

[heidih]

Well Miss Scout is a working girl and has to keep up her strength   Hank Shaw is great. Though I rarely get wild game, and only occasionally fish from fisher friends, I enjoy reading his site.  We had a family friend who hunted but mom mom refused his offerings as she had no idea what to do with the offerings. It was mostly fowl. Missed opportunities... 

 

[Shelby]

They think I'm drinking coffee

 

 

😁

[heidih]

Just a mimosa to celebrate the hunt. Hey I once breakfasted on those cheese/peanut butter cracker sandwiches and a serious swigf of Crown Royal before I had to face a nasty and erratic judge.  Of course I only bought CR to get the cool blue drawstring bag

[lindag]

7 hours ago, Shelby said:

Good morning!!!!

 

Sorry about the radio silence.  I got way behind yesterday.  Every time I was going to sit down and write, something popped up that I needed to do.

 

@Smithy How fun that you have some venison with you!  Venison backstrap or tenderloin are both so good just on their own that I don't get fancy with it.  A searing hot skillet, butter, salt and pepper or on the grill.  Venison has so little fat that you want to be careful and not over cook it.  You can always cook it more if it's too rare--rare is what you want.  Overdone, it tastes livery and tough.  We are going to do the tenderloins tonight on the grill, so I'll document it.  Here is more from Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook--it's an excellent site for learning about all different kinds of game cooking.

 

 

The bread is a recipe I ran across years ago.  It's nothing like real French bread-- like the kind @Ann_Tand others make so beautifully,  so maybe the name  "French bread" is a bit misleading lol.  I was intrigued because it looked so easy.  I swear, everyone that eats it raves about it.  I don't tell them how easy it is lol.  I think one of the reasons it's such a hit is because I brush it with egg white and sprinkle Everything Bagel Topping on it--a discovery that happened by accident because I didn't have any sesame seeds and I thought maybe the bagel topping would be good.  I bake it in the CSO on the bread setting at 375F for 25 minutes.

 

 

We ran out of breakfast burritos, so I made ham, egg and cheese sandwiches for this morning.

 

 

 

But, before that, I had laid out more of the same cheeses and meats, plus some pimento stuffed celery.  I was hurried because I knew the guys would be home soon so I got that out on the table and then went to the outside garage to get some eggs.

 

Here is the spread before I left

 

 

 

I was literally gone maybe a minute and this is what I came back to

 

 

 

Miss Scout had helped herself.🙄

 

Sigh.

 

On to making dinner.  I was terrible about pictures --it turned into a seafood soup.  I thawed out chicken broth, the oysters from earlier in the blog, some crappie and some shrimp.  Dumped a half a stick of butter in the pot and softened diced potato, carrots, onions and celery.  Then added the broth, salt, pepper, garlic and let it simmer a bit.  Right before eating I dumped in all the seafood and let it warm a bit.  Super easy and very good.

 

 

 

Crusty bread toasted with butter to go with.

 

Annnnnnd dessert

 

 

 

The guys are now out working on the buck.  I'll post pictures in a bit.  They are going to hunt close to home so I think some venison tenderloins are going to hit the grill tonight.  I'm pondering side dishes.

 

The hunting gear really makes my Christmas decor pop don't you think......

 

 

 

 

OMG!!!  I made this bread, thinking it was MY kind of recipe.

‘It just came out of the oven and it’s all I can do but throw myself on it an inhale it.

I did cit the recipe in half and added some grated Parm before baking.

‘I’m absolutely swooning.  Thanks so much for the recipe!

 

 

[Shelby]

14 hours ago, lindag said:

OMG!!!  I made this bread, thinking it was MY kind of recipe.

‘It just came out of the oven and it’s all I can do but throw myself on it an inhale it.

I did cit the recipe in half and added some grated Parm before baking.

‘I’m absolutely swooning.  Thanks so much for the recipe!

 

Oooooh I'm so happy you tried it!  Really good idea about the parmesan --I'll be doing that with my next loaves.  I should also add, I freeze one loaf every time because two is too much for us to eat before it molds.  It freezes really well.

[Shelby]

Last day already.  Time surely flies.

 

Cold front finally came in.  It's 28 degrees right now.  Maybe that will make the deer move around a little more.  They saw a few deer yesterday, but nothing came close enough to get. 

 

After their morning stint of hunting they came home to work on the buck.  He's going to become mostly hamburger--we just throw the chunks of meat in bags and freeze them until we are all done deer hunting so we can clean and grind it all at once.  Anyway, that means that I only had to deal with the tenderloins and the back strap.

 

I know you've seen all of this before in years past.... but here are a few pictures

 

 

tenderloins

 

Cleaned up and butterflied

 

 

Ya'll, this deer is TOUGH.  I made a few steaks out of the backstrap, but most will just be burger.  We will get a doe so we have some more tender steaks.

 

Backstrap

 

Cleaned up

 

 

Steaks

 

 

A mess of deviled eggs to snack on before dinner--they didn't last long

 

 

And, here is where I failed @Smithy.  My game plan was to go out to the grill and document exactly each step and how long the steaks took .  It didn't happen.  I got bogged down in the rest of dinner and by the time I looked up, they were done and in the house!  I'm sorry--I'll do better next time!  I know the grill was searing hot and it didn't take long at all before the steaks were done.  Oh, I should mention, I threw in a couple of beef steaks, too.  Leftovers will become quesadillas I think.

 

 

Mushrooms and Brussels sprouts and baker to go with

 

 

So, that catches us up to right now.  I've fed the kittens in the barn.  Going to make something hot to drink and then hit the shower.  I promised to make pickle roll ups so that's the next thing on the list.  Our hunter doesn't leave until this evening, so I guess I should make lunch........hmmmm.....I'll ponder that in the shower.

[heidih]

Always enjoy seeing the butchering pictures again. I don't recall seeing the line-up of antlers before. Do you save them all or would that be a ginormous collection? Do the dogs and cats/kittens get any of the meat raw or are there issues with that?

[Shelby]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

Always enjoy seeing the butchering pictures again. I don't recall seeing the line-up of antlers before. Do you save them all or would that be a ginormous collection? Do the dogs and cats/kittens get any of the meat raw or are there issues with that?

I'll run out and take a picture of the antlers in the garage plus the mounted ones we have--I think Ronnie saves all antlers no matter how small.

 

The cats and kittens got lots of snacks.  They LOVE venison.  The dogs.....they love it, but I don't love cleaning up the throw-up that happens later so they don't get any lol.

[Kim Shook]

Thank you so much for linking to the bread recipe – looks like something I would like to try.  One question – you bake it in the CSO, but do you also rise it there? 

 

I’m so sorry, but I admit that I laughed in a very unladylike manner when I saw Miss Scout’s nefarious deed.  I even called Mr. Kim and Jessica over to see it.   All three of us have experience with animals doing those things.  Mr. Kim grew up with a Collie/Norwegian Elkhound blend who once ate FIVE filet mignons that his mom had set out for Mr. Kim’s 16th birthday dinner and who also ate Mr. Kim’s and his siblings' Whitman’s samplers from under the Xmas tree early one Xmas morning (with NO negative results). 

[rotuts]

@Shelby  

 

for the dogs :  Raw or Cooked ?

 

I wonder why , if cooked , there are later issues .

[Shelby]

20 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Thank you so much for linking to the bread recipe – looks like something I would like to try.  One question – you bake it in the CSO, but do you also rise it there? 

 

I’m so sorry, but I admit that I laughed in a very unladylike manner when I saw Miss Scout’s nefarious deed.  I even called Mr. Kim and Jessica over to see it.   All three of us have experience with animals doing those things.  Mr. Kim grew up with a Collie/Norwegian Elkhound blend who once ate FIVE filet mignons that his mom had set out for Mr. Kim’s 16th birthday dinner and who also ate Mr. Kim’s and his siblings' Whitman’s samplers from under the Xmas tree early one Xmas morning (with NO negative results). 

LOL!

 

I sometimes do rise it in the CSO 100F on the steam setting for about 15 mins.  But, it rises really fast on it's own....I do it both ways depending on if I'm in a hurry or not.

16 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Shelby  

 

for the dogs :  Raw or Cooked ?

 

I wonder why , if cooked , there are later issues .

Oh, cooked is ok for them.  I was talking raw.

[Shelby]

No deer again today.  Sigh.  It's cold...but I guess it just wasn't in the cards.  I was really hoping to get our two and be done with it....but there is still one more week of deer season, so I'm sure Ronnie will get another one. 

 

Ronnie is on the way to the airport to drop our friend off.  Our friend probably has a very sore arm from playing so much ball with Scout lol.

 

I took pictures of all of the antlers I could find:

 

These are mounts in the man room

 

 

 

And these are all in the garage

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the ones that are hanging were found just walking on our land.

 

So, the last bit of food.  We talked about me making spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, but it was so cold...I thought a nice big pot of chicken noodle soup would be better

 

 

Cheesy bread and the ever famous pickle roll ups to go with.

 

 

And that's it for this time.  There was talk about coming back in the Spring.  Who knows what life will be like then with Covid and all, but hopefully that will happen, and if so, I'll be back here then

 

Thanks ever so much for following.  As I've said before, you guys keep me sane during these weeks  

 

It's too late for a nap, so I'm pouring wine.

 

 

[Anna N]

7 hours ago, Shelby said:

Last day already.

No. No. Say it isn’t so. Thanks so very much again!

[blue_dolphin]

The meals, nibbles and treats, the stories, the animals - wild, domestic and in between. Love it all. Thanks for taking the time to take us along again!

[TicTac]

24 minutes ago, Shelby said:

 

It's too late for a nap, so I'm pouring wine.

 

 

Just poured my wife and I a glass and came to enjoy this thread while the oven heats up.  I will echo the thanks from all for taking the time to share with us.

 

Cheers!

[Smithy]

This has been a wonderful update of your blog. I've said before but will say it again: your food is sooo much better than anything my hunting gang and I enjoyed during our deer camps! I'd really love to come stay with you for that time...and hunt, or not hunt...heck, I'd love to come camp out with you any time!

 

Many thanks for bringing us into your house!

[Anna N]

@Shelby

Long before you cooked any part of this deer you knew the meat would be tough. Can you tell us how you knew that? Is there something we could watch for in the meat we buy to avoid those tough chops and roasts?  Was is it a lack of fat marbling or something else? 

[TicTac]

3 minutes ago, Anna N said:

@Shelby

Long before you cooked any part of this deer you knew the meat would be tough. Can you tell us how you knew that? Is there something we could watch for in the meat we buy to avoid those tough chops and roasts?  Was is it a lack of fat marbling or something else? 

@shelby is the hunting's world's Italian nonna who can simply touch the pasta dough and tell if it has enough water/flour.

 

She just slapped the buck on the ass as it was hanging and said, you are going to be one tough fellow, aren't ya!?

 

😆

[Shelby]

7 minutes ago, Anna N said:

@Shelby

Long before you cooked any part of this deer you knew the meat would be tough. Can you tell us how you knew that? Is there something we could watch for in the meat we buy to avoid those tough chops and roasts?  Was is it a lack of fat marbling or something else? 

 

2 minutes ago, TicTac said:

@shelby is the hunting's world's Italian nonna who can simply touch the pasta dough and tell if it has enough water/flour.

 

She just slapped the buck on the ass as it was hanging and said, you are going to be one tough fellow, aren't ya!?

 

😆

LOL!!!!  I told them that next time they needed to poke the buck on the rear and see how he felt (just kidding).

 

Venison meat doesn't have any marbling (wild venison at least, I don't know about pen raised)....there will be some fat under the hide but that tastes awful and you want to trim that off.  You can just tell by looking at and pressing down on the meat.  Visually the meat is coarse.  Touch-wise, it's hard.  Tender meat just feels tender by touch. And, in general, a buck---especially during rut--is too busy running after the ladies so he gets in really good shape which means his muscles\meat are tougher.

[Anna N]

2 minutes ago, Shelby said:

You can just tell by looking at and pressing down on the meat.  Visually the meat is coarse.  Touch-wise, it's hard.  Tender meat just feels tender by touch. And, in general, a buck---especially during rut--is too busy running after the ladies so he gets in really good shape which means his muscles\meat are tougher.

Thanks. It is probably good that Covid is keeping me out of the supermarket because I wonder just how long I would last poking the meat. 

[rotuts]

@Shelby 

 

are you able to spend a little precious

 

time during the butchering 

 

to take a few tougher

 

but tastier  thick to large cuts

 

and bag and fz to then SV when you have more time ?

 

of course , as a theoretician 

 

dry : tough ==  SV

 

at least for a few cuts ?