Bison!

[gitano]

Thanks, Bill!

As for the "Anglo-American Self-leveling Hanger" - may be.

Paul

[Paul Hoskins]

Self levelling hanger. .......Coat hanger. They work.     .......Paul H

[j0e_bl0ggs (deceased)]

Forgot the 'earthquake-proof' bit

[gitano]

It's all in pieces and hanging. What a chore. An amazing amount of meat on the ribs, and the hump is all "backstrap"! I was tempted to take the neck bones for soup, but I'll get good soup bones from the legs without the hassle of messing with neck vertebra. My GUESS at total meat is between 5 an 6 hundred. I don't think the live weight was over 1400. He had VERY little fat on him. None over the tops of the haunches which is where deer, (moose, caribou, and 'deer') usually have a big slab, and the "net" around the stomach was almost not there at all.

So far no bullets. I can't find my metal-detecting wand so I can't wand the lungs/etc. The heart shots were pass-throughs and I'm pretty sure  the lung shot was a pass-through. The shoulder is the only hope I have of recovering a bullet at this point.

Tomorrow, ribs for dinner, and I start canning. I intend to can A LOT.

Paul

[Paul Hoskins]

Paul, I've been wondering how canned meat would taste if canned with a good pickling spice added. Yesterday my neighbor gave me around 10 pounds of fresh venison. Today or tomorrow I'm gonna can it & add pickling spice. Should be interesting. Most likely can it in pint jars. Muffin doesn't like venison & I'm the only one to eat it. ........Paul H

[gitano]

I'm keenly interested in how that turns out, Paul.

Paul

[Jamie.270]

Paul, I've been wondering how canned meat would taste if canned with a good pickling spice added. Yesterday my neighbor gave me around 10 pounds of fresh venison. Today or tomorrow I'm gonna can it & add pickling spice. Should be interesting. Most likely can it in pint jars. Muffin doesn't like venison & I'm the only one to eat it. ........Paul H

Very similar to corned beef, just more lean and less fat.
Depending on the balance of spices of course.

Much like corned beef round, rather than corned beef brisket.

[Paul Hoskins]

I canned the venison today. I just cut it into small chunks & put it in pint jars & added half a teaspoon of canning salt & a teaspoon of Amish pickling spice and added water. This Shipshewana pickling spice is the best I ever used. It's not sold in stores to my knowledge. That's also what the owner of the company told me. ......The venison my neighbor gave me was just two huge backstraps. I didn't pre cook it. Got six pints but didn't pack it down in the jars. Might open a jar tomorrow & fry it but I'm thinking it will be better after sitting a couple weeks. .......Paul H

[gitano]

I canned 7 quarts yesterday. I know hearing me say how big this thing is, is getting 'old', but this thing continues to impress me with it's mass. That 7 quarts didn't even dent the "pieces" (hind quarters, front quarters, backstraps, tenderloins, neck, and "pieces") sackS. I'm going to have to get a LOT of "Texas Brisket Rub" for jerky. I attached an image of the TRIMMED backstrap. Cut off short of the hump.

Paul

[Paul Hoskins]

I opened a jar of the venison back straps this afternoon & smelled it. First thing that came to my mind was spam with a spicy smell. It didn't have any "deer" smell at all. I decided to make a veggie stir fry & put the venison in it. I started by frying the meat in the pan with butter & garlic powder. Mistake. The meat turned out tough. It was so tender coming out of the jar a fork just tore it up. I used the tongs to get the rest out. I added carrots, onion & broccoli. The meat was tough. TOO TOUGH. There was little venison taste at all but more like spam with a spicy flavor. Now I'm thinking next time I can venison, I'll add half a teaspoon of seasoned meat tenderizer per pint. Maybe I should have cooked it in the pressure cooker before canning. That's more work. .......The canning book recommends adding tomato juice but I seldom do anything by the book. .......Paul, I know what you're going thru. That's a heap of meat. Jerky is work too but delicious for snacks.   ......Paul H

[Jamie.270]

I canned 7 quarts yesterday. I know hearing me say how big this thing is, is getting 'old', but this thing continues to impress me with it's mass. That 7 quarts didn't even dent the "pieces" (hind quarters, front quarters, backstraps, tenderloins, neck, and "pieces") sackS. I'm going to have to get a LOT of "Texas Brisket Rub" for jerky. I attached an image of the TRIMMED backstrap. Cut off short of the hump.

Paul

Have you found a good butcher that can/will grind you some burger?
(Not for the backstraps obviously, but for some of the rest of it)

[gitano]

I grind my own burger on an 'as needed' basis. Sausage is another matter. I like what the pros do there. (I don't like their prices - $2.75 to $5.00 per pound finished - though.) I'm sure I'll have some Summer sausage made. I think the going rate for that is $4.50/lb finished weight.

Paul

[Jamie.270]

I grind my own burger on an 'as needed' basis. Sausage is another matter. I like what the pros do there. (I don't like their prices - $2.75 to $5.00 per pound finished - though.) I'm sure I'll have some Summer sausage made. I think the going rate for that is $4.50/lb finished weight.

Paul

We used to do that.
Until we came home with 5 elk one year.  We'd have been grinding for three days (evenings) straight after spending 1/3rd the price of processing just buying fat, spices/cure for the sausage and that much more butcher paper.

So we took it in to someone with a commercial grinder and picked it up packaged into 1lb & 2lb packages, and already frozen, 3 days later.  Mostly burger with some breakfast sausage.

It was worth every penny considering how much there was of it, how much freezer space it was going to take up, and how many people would end up involved.



That much meat requires huge amounts of space in the initial freezing process.

Just something to think about,...

[gitano]

This is the "chronicle" thread, so I'll post some pictures of taking the quarters apart:


Here's the whole left front quarter "inside".






And here's the "outside".


Total weight with bones - 76.5 lb (I trimmed more off of this quarter when I removed it.) The other is pushing 100.





Here are all the joints exposed. From the left: wrist, elbow, and shoulder.





Here's a shoulder joint for ya!





The shoulder joint exposed.






The elbow.






All of the bones once the meat was off. The scapula (shoulder blade) is 23.5" long, the humerus (upper arm) is 14", and the radius/ulna pair (lower arm above the wrist), 16".




Took two hours and 15 minutes to bone this front quarter. It's been 'hanging' for 12 days (since the bull was killed). Honestly, I could EASILY leave it another 14 in this weather. It's perfect for hanging. Overnight temperatures down to about 28F, daytime temps up to about 41-43, constant slight breeze. PERFECT. However, the "experts" at the butcher where I will be taking the meat for sausage-making are too stupid to understand what properly aged meat is and I'm afraid they would either refuse to take it, or WASTE A WHOLE BUNCH OF IT by "trimming" off the "bad stuff", if I wait any longer. The last time I took 138 lb of BONED caribou to a local butcher that was supposedly "trained by Germans", I got back FORTY POUNDS! When I expressed my displeasure, he told me he had to trim off all of the "skin"! It was a good thing for him that I'm not a violent person. SO... I won't age this meat as long as I KNOW it SHOULD be aged, in these perfect conditions, because - once again - I am forced to deal with "experts" that are IN FACT, stupid, arrogant, morons.



Paul

[Jamie.270]

However, the "experts" at the butcher where I will be taking the meat for sausage-making are too stupid to understand what properly aged meat is and I'm afraid they would either refuse to take it, or WASTE A WHOLE BUNCH OF IT by "trimming" off the "bad stuff", if I wait any longer. The last time I took 138 lb of BONED caribou to a local butcher that was supposedly "trained by Germans", I got back FORTY POUNDS! When I expressed my displeasure, he told me he had to trim off all of the "skin"! It was a good thing for him that I'm not a violent person. SO... I won't age this meat as long as I KNOW it SHOULD be aged, in these perfect conditions, because - once again - I am forced to deal with "experts" that are IN FACT, stupid, arrogant, morons.

Paul

Ah, now I understand your reluctance to use a butcher for the grinding process.
I'd be P-O'ed too!  

Every time we took meat to Eddie-the-butcher we got back more weight than we took in, because of the fat he added.
We always took it in trimmed and chunked and ready to be ground, and he approved of our trimming jobs.

He added about 8-12% beef fat to the burger grind, and about 15% pork fat to the sausage grind.