Deer butchering
 

I've heard that deer are only good for burger meat,sausage, jerky and the back strap and tender loins. Is this true?
Thanks
FA

Deer roast also, not much else. Doesn't get much better than steak out of the backstraps.

I always do mine in steak and sausage.

Nope, at least in my opinion. I cut roasts and steaks out of the front and hind quarters. Tenderloins and back straps are going to be more tender but to me it all tastes the same. The rest gets ground up and used for burger, jerky and sausage. I even like the heart with some garlic, Montreal steak spice wraped in harvest bacon. Wrap the whole thing in tin foil and cook just like roast.mmmm

Depends on so many things. A deers cuts are the same as a beef....just smaller :)

LC

"Deer butchering

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I've heard that deer are only good for burger meat,sausage, jerky and the back strap and tender loins. Is this true?
Thanks
FA"

No that's not true, but if you like ground meat for Chilly ,Burgers, Lasagnas and so on nothing wrong with grinding all.
As long as one use it and enjoy it.
It take some practise to properly butcher Deer and use all prime cuts but it is well worth it.


Those are prime cuts from Deer.

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/deercuts.jpg

Those are my prime cuts from 2 WT Does.

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/IMG_1099.jpg

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/IMG_1097.jpg

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/IMG_1100.jpg

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/IMG_1098.jpg

Andrew

That's pretty! Do you have any resources you used to improve your butchering? Or just years of practice?

Also, what's that corn on the cob holder looking tool? Just to hold the meat steady while you trim?

Im not 100 percent sure but it looks to me like a knife sharpener. Which is probably the most important tool when butchering... cant get nice cuts without a sharp knife.

All good
 

Wow you are making me Hungary:)

I have found these you tube videos helpful. We don't bone out the ribs as they are very fatty on prairie mule deer and don't have very much meat on them. Alberta deer are much larger than the ones in the video and you will get much more meat than shown in the video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD7K43vyHLI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eis2wg8mYhc

Yup, watch a few videos, get a sharp knife and preferably a higher then average table. I've done a lot of different things with my deer over the years, but there is much more you can do with the meat then keeping the tenderloins and the backstraps and grinding the rest. Don't get me wrong, I love my deer burgers and enjoy making maple sausage with some of my deer, but it's good to experiment with trying some different stuff. I used to be at a loss for what to do with the shank meat on a deer because my old grinder couldn't handle all the connective tissue. I tried cutting it up into small chunks one time and my wife tossed it in the slow cooker with some bbq sauce, a little beer and some spices and by the time it had finished slow cooking it was super tender and some of the best dang taco meat I have ever had. This year I want to try taking a whole hind quarter, bone it out, stuff it, and cook it whole for thanksgiving or Christmas. Take time to experiment and you'll probably find tons of good ways to prepare your venison.

Don't forget stew and soup. Did I mention I like soup?

ARG

What, no ribs? In a slow cooker covered in bbq sauce, trust me.

Deer ribs slow cooked over an open fire bed of coals are worth making the fire and taking the time. Just used granulated onion and garlic for seasoning.

Here's the chart for butchering a deer.

It is broken knife sharpener. That's all I had at the cabin.

This year I used ribs meat for sausage.

And as was mentioned before shank meat is one of the most tender meat done in slow cooker.

I am ready to put my Green tag on WT.. I will try this weekend.


You can make Deer Ham

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...psiqtvfjfj.jpg

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...pspw8bxobl.jpg

Or make Pizza steak form ground venison;
I am now "Hungary" and slobbering...

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...pizzasteak.jpg

We grind all our deer except for the tednerloins and back straps.:)
It goes a lot further that way.
Cat

I smoke the ribs in the smoker always a great hit on greycup day

I haven't done soup, but I LOVE making stew from my deer. It's excellent.

Smoked a few roasts this summer, from last fall's muley, and they were absolutely amazing.

This looks amazing. How do you make it?

Here is a list of things Ido with mine:

Pastrami
Corned beef
Deer burgers
Donair meat
Pepperoni
Garlic sausage
Hot Italian breakfast sausage
Summer sausage lunch meat
Stew meat
Stir fry
jerky

I usually get a couple of deer a year and a moose but this year only 1 deer tag but still got a moose draw.

LS

My experience with venison ham is limited to one time production last December.
I've had frozen hind quarter from WT Doe and decided to brine it with bone in.

Wet brine consists
for 1 kg of meat/weight,
400 ml of water,
30 grams of pickling salt,(no Iodine)
4 grams of CTR Cure #1 ( 5% Nitrite)
3 grams of brown sugar

I've brined it in the fridge for 6 days than I've deboned it and soaked in cold water for couple of hours.
Than all was trimmed and dried and than formed into hams.
I did not keep record of smoking but all hams once smoked need to be submerged in BOILING water for about 15 minutes ( this will seal juices inside) than water is only rolling or 80 degree Celsius until hams are 72 Degree Celsius inside.

It was super tasting and moist ham so for sure will do it again this year.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps1bqkhlpz.jpg

Wow, that looks like just fine butchering you do there Andrzej. Clean, tidy, organized, great packaging. Not much waste, impressive. :)

I agree 100%

LC

Thank You

Don't forget about pepperoni...:)

Another question is it safe to eat deer steak medium rare like a beef steak? For when we cook a medium rare steak we do 6 minutes one side 7 minutes other at 300F. Is it the same for deer steak?

Yes as long as your food handling skills are sound....I would go so far to say rare or medium rare is the ONLY way to eat wild game, with the exception of ground meat :) BUT Some folks like tartar....

If you over cook wild game you will not enjoy it as much.

LC

X2 most people who don't like wild game have only had it over cooked.

Also realize it is lean meat so your cook time duration is much less than say a beef steak.