Newbie with backstrap

Good job on the venison Candy!

I shot a cow elk and a mule deer buck a year ago with just the BF and I hunting - like the guys have all said "how you handle it after the kill determines for the most part whether it will be gamey tasting" Sorry never heard of the "water aging" as I've always heard to NOT let it soak in water.

The sausage balls sound interesting, can't wait to hear about those! I made smoked meat balls from ground elk and beef fat and oh my were they delicious!

The elk and venison were some of the best that we have had - no gamey taste and 95% of it was fork tender. 

I'll send you a PM in a bit with some other info to help you with the butchering/processing for future use. 

candycoated said:

cubing meat for the grinder is not as easy and fast as I had dreamed.

I am so tired, I'll have to grind it tomorrow.

Question.

One of the bags I defrosted was what I guess you'd call the calf or forearm. Little bitty tiny pieces of muscle (1-2" diameter) encased in sinew. Well, that wasn't the smartest choice, I've read several times that stuff wont grind well, and trying to cut it off would have left me with more waste than cubed meat... so what do you do with it? Stew?

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cut it out and grind it. no waste.

haha pumpkin spice. never tried that, sounds like im not missing anything huh?

Originally Posted by candycoated  

Sorry Smoking B, I'll have sausage balls soon!

Here was our breakfast for dinner. Deer sausage patties and deer sausage drippings made in to gravy- a little lumpy but tasted great!

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• candycoated
• Jan 31, 2013

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Ok I can wait - I've developed a lot more patience as I get old  

The meal looks good.     I would need a bigger helping though 

candycoated said:

I wouldn't be surprised if the fam didn't know what they were talking about. They pay to have their meat processed, they were absolutely no help when I had questions about how to prepare my meats. ;p. And they showed my hubs how to butcher a deer, a quick and easy way where you don't have to skin it, but the down side is you miss the tenderloin... something like that. Anyways, I expressed my dissatisfaction with not getting the tenderloin, so the hubs has watched a bunch of youtube vids, we should have the tenderloins next season. ;p

I'll prolly not soak em next time too, see if there is any difference. Thanks y'all!

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This post may be a bit late in this thread, I just couldn't get to my computer much this week and a post like this is difficult at best from my phone.

Ok here goes, and I am sure even more experienced people will correct my mistakes, however I have never been able to dress a deer without skinning it. That is the first thing you do is take it clothes off to get to the meat.I was told of a method where you did not dump the guts out until you cut the rib cage free, and that only works if you are only wanting the 'prime cuts'. If you save everything but the grunt, you will have to open up the body cavity and remove guts as well. After peeling the hide down and cutting off the head(was how I did it to be able to lower the deer a bit and get to it better) the next step was to take off the front legs. There is no bone connecting the shoulder to the body so it is a matter of swinging the arm out a bit and finding the gap with your knife, just like a chicken wing. I always used a small paring knife to remove the backstraps. With the small fine blade I could feel every bone of the spine or rib cage and pull them out. I never kept the rib cage, here in Alabama deer I killed didn't have enough meat on them to fool with. After making sure you got the tenderloins out, again deer here are smaller than a lot of other places and may not have any or they may be small, cut the spine at the point where it joins the hips and you are left with two hind quarters hanging up and still joined in the middle. The bladder(pee bag or whatever folks there call it) is actually cradled in the pelvic bone and difficult to remove without puncturing it unless you do cut the bone. I keep a folding pack saw made by Gerber that has a fine tooth blade on it for cutting the bones. After splitting the pelvic bone and separating the hind quarters you can cut the legs to length, wrapping everything in plastic bags and placing on ice as you go until you can get it to a fridge. One thing is true though if you have a cold place to hang the meat for a little while and let the blood drain from it that will help to ensure that the "game" taste is not there. The two main places that the bad taste comes from is the blood and the fat. If you don't believe me on the fat just butcher a wild fed cow straight off the grass. It will not taste the same as one that has been grain fed for even six weeks before killing.

Now I will ask this: I was once told that the belly flap off a deer was no good. Is that true or have I been skipping some great meat?? 

BHawkins said:

This post may be a bit late in this thread, I just couldn't get to my computer much this week and a post like this is difficult at best from my phone.

Ok here goes, and I am sure even more experienced people will correct my mistakes, however I have never been able to dress a deer without skinning it. That is the first thing you do is take it clothes off to get to the meat.I was told of a method where you did not dump the guts out until you cut the rib cage free, and that only works if you are only wanting the 'prime cuts'. If you save everything but the grunt, you will have to open up the body cavity and remove guts as well. After peeling the hide down and cutting off the head(was how I did it to be able to lower the deer a bit and get to it better) the next step was to take off the front legs. There is no bone connecting the shoulder to the body so it is a matter of swinging the arm out a bit and finding the gap with your knife, just like a chicken wing. I always used a small paring knife to remove the backstraps. With the small fine blade I could feel every bone of the spine or rib cage and pull them out. I never kept the rib cage, here in Alabama deer I killed didn't have enough meat on them to fool with. After making sure you got the tenderloins out, again deer here are smaller than a lot of other places and may not have any or they may be small, cut the spine at the point where it joins the hips and you are left with two hind quarters hanging up and still joined in the middle. The bladder(pee bag or whatever folks there call it) is actually cradled in the pelvic bone and difficult to remove without puncturing it unless you do cut the bone. I keep a folding pack saw made by Gerber that has a fine tooth blade on it for cutting the bones. After splitting the pelvic bone and separating the hind quarters you can cut the legs to length, wrapping everything in plastic bags and placing on ice as you go until you can get it to a fridge. One thing is true though if you have a cold place to hang the meat for a little while and let the blood drain from it that will help to ensure that the "game" taste is not there. The two main places that the bad taste comes from is the blood and the fat. If you don't believe me on the fat just butcher a wild fed cow straight off the grass. It will not taste the same as one that has been grain fed for even six weeks before killing.

Now I will ask this: I was once told that the belly flap off a deer was no good. Is that true or have I been skipping some great meat?? 

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i grind the belly flap. i don't let much go to waste. for a long time i kept the kidneys, heart, liver. some people save the lungs and deep fry.

candycoated said:

Ok I ground some sausage! It took maybe 5 minutes to grind this up with my cabela's #8. So easy!

I think I'll try grinding up those small pieces that I mentioned earlier whole, minimal trimming, to see what happens. My grinder chewed through this trimmed up stuff like it was nothing.

Deer meat cubed up 4.4lbs

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• candycoated
• Jan 31, 2013

I could only get my hands on 0.6lbs of pork fat, so added 1lbs of beef fat for a total of 1.6lbs of fat added.

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• candycoated
• Jan 31, 2013

Seasoned with 1TBS + 1tsp of kosher salt

1tsp ground sage

1/2tsp ground celery (I love celery flavor, but it's a strong seasoning. however, next time I will use more)

1tsp cayenne pepper

1tsp black pepper

1tsp granulated red bell pepper

1tsp onion powder

1tsp of pumpkin spice (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger mix. leaving this out next time)

I portioned out 5lbs in 1lbs bags to freeze, and then I cooked what was left for dinner.

Sorry Smoking B, I'll have sausage balls soon!

Sorry for no more pics but my hands were nasty.

Here was our breakfast for dinner. Deer sausage patties and deer sausage drippings made in to gravy- a little lumpy but tasted great!

IMG_0353.JPG

• candycoated
• Jan 31, 2013

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about the fat. a   lot of times i add 1 part 73% ground beef to 1 part deer. i have also used bacon ends and pieces.

happy smoken.

david

Like I said "everything but the grunt!". I had an older cousin that had a hog farm at one time. When it was hog killing time my grandmother would scramble the brains with eggs.Then again she was depression era and wasted nothing either. For me adding fat would depend on what I would be using it for. If I was making sausage I liked pork fat, hamburgers I wanted beef fat. Not sure how much difference it really makes, just you use pork for sausage so it only seemed right.

In all the ones I cleaned the belly was lean. One thing you also have to remember is that farm raised animals are kept in pens of some fashion,and don't have to move very much. That is why the fat gets marbled into the lean muscle tissue, deer and other wild animals are constantly on the move and don't get that. Their fat is layered on top of the muscle tissue.

Wow.. all great ideas, I might have to try some of them!  I tend to not like my venison "over flavored" though, much like my beef.  Plain and simple works for me.  The one thing I have lots of experience with is venison, just not "smoking it". I hope to learn more about that here though!  :-)

In fact, we just ground (hamburger/sausage) about 100lbs (at home) about 2 weeks ago.   We have been processing our own venison for about 35 years, and we love it.   One thing we learned a few years ago that takes out a LOT of the wild gamey taste is when the deer is first cleaned and cut up i.e. hams, shoulders, backstrap etc. is layer it in an ice chest with ice for about 5-6 days before processing/freezing.  Layer as in ice, meat, ice, meat, ice, meat.  BE SURE to drain it every day (lots of bloody water) and add more ice each day.  I suppose if you live in cold climates, you would have to put it somewhere that it might more easily melt?? Not sure about that.  Then we cut it up to freeze. 

I also am a FIRM believer in the buttermilk soak, and until this year have done it mostly with only buttermilk, then seasoned to taste for cooking.  I did however find a GREAT brine a couple months ago that is absolutely awesome, and makes the meat better than anything I've had in my 50ish years of enjoying venison. I will post it below, in the event you/anyone is interested in trying it.  I wish I could remember "where" I found the recipe, so I could offer the link and say thanks!  Combine this with the ice cooler method, and unless you "enjoy the gamey taste", I believe you will love it.

I did of course change the spices to my liking, and go light on adding salt when cooking until you learn what you like.. Here it is, and hope it helps.. :-) 

I used this on tenderloin/back strap (which we also enjoy fried :-) but it also made EXCELLENT medallions for quick grilling/cooking and it also makes a good "hash" as we call it.  I also, for the first time ever, tried a "neck" and used this brine, I just added more of the ingredients to cover the whole neck.  Someone told us to try a neck in the crock pot.  I did add other spices while it was in the crock, but I have to say it was pretty darn good, and all the meat fell right off the bone!

Brine for Venison

The critical part – buttermilk brine
 
2 cups              Buttermilk
2 cups              Water
¼ cup              Kosher salt
2 tbs                Sugar

    >>        Mix the salt and sugar in the water and heat till dissolved.  (I didn't do this, I just used warm water and stirred well)
    >>        Cool the mixture then add the buttermilk.
 
The tasty part – spice mix (vary as desired)  Just use what you like here.. Garlic, onion, chipotle whatever. It doesn't overwhelm, just adds a "hint" of the flavors.
 
2 tbs                Thyme (fresh if available, or dried)
2 tbs                Oregano (fresh if available, or dried)
2 tbs                Rosemary (fresh if available, or dried)
2 tbs                Balsamic vinegar   (can't remember if I added this or not, lol)
1 tbs                Coarse ground black pepper (I used lots of fresh ground black pepper because we like peppery)

           >>        Add to the liquid mixture.

Wow, I am seeing lots more post on this thread than I saw last night.  I must have missed some pages.  I might have to try some of the recipes for sausage, they look/sound great.   We just got our new BIG grinder (LEM BigBite, I think it is)  year before last, and I had been using mixes then adding some extra spices.  I still don't have just the taste we like.  I may have to "skip" the mixes and just start experimenting with some of these recipes as I like using fresh ground herbs best.

What we do with our meat when grinding is go ahead and cut it into chunks before we freeze it. Ours takes pieces as long as you like, and about 2-3" around to fit in the feed.  Anyways, we cut it, I lay it out on any and all available pans and freeze it individually. Then I store it in 2 Gallon Ziplocks until we have as much as we want to grind at one time (last time was 60lbs.) Then, when we start to grind be sure and leave it half frozen and it works like a charm.  We use about 15% fat, we've played with it for years, and we like the tenderness/juicy of about 15-16%. 

If I am repeating anything someone else already posted, sorry.  I have to come back later and read all the post.

I have to run, DH is calling me out to discuss our "make shift smoker" for all that bacon we have curing.  :-)

I use the belly meat (flap) for some delicious fajitas.

stillsmokin said:

I use the belly meat (flap) for some delicious fajitas.

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fajitas are always good. had them tonight. used yard bird tho.

happy smoken.

david