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Butcher/ meat cutting
Boyaintright
Member Posts: 1 ✭
Just wanted to open a dialog about meat cutting, with fall around the corner, hunting season and livestock harvesting season approaching, it never hurts to bounce ideas around or or throw out questions.
I am a butcher by trade and happy to chat and connect with anyone who has interest in or about woods to table farm to fridge and blade to bone.
Comments
It's a good part time business if you have the tools, coolers, and experience. As a full time business, it involves a lot of overhead.
I've processed a lot of deer before my hands and shoulders gave out. If we had a walk-in cooler to hold carcasses until we had time, we'd cut all our own deer but that's a big expense for a single family cutting 1/2 dozen deer.
I enjoy it and do all my own. Have the equipment needed for the job including a butcher block table., and smokehouse.
I have killed a lot of whitetail deer, more than 90, and lots of wild hogs. I processed most of them. I have an electric grinder and have made hundreds of pounds of venison sausage and burger. I really enjoyed cutting up those animals.
By the way, I spend a summer up in the wilderness of British Columbia, hanging around with professional big game guides. When they kill a 900 pound moose, they quarter it with a chain saw.
I have done and seen a lot of butchering of hogs and beef, but in an industrial setting. No, it's not pretty but it is tasty. The skill, precision and speed of the workers who do this is something to behold. It is an industry fraught with injuries These plants kill hogs at the rate 1106 head per hour. The carcasses are cut up at a rate of around 1400 per hour more or less. The loins are deboned at 8.5 seconds each, hams around 10 seconds per ham. Bacon is sliced and packaged at the rate of 2000 pounds per hour per line depending on how it is packaged.
The rendering department is an entirely different animal. Nothing is wasted. Yeah, I'm familiar with butchering.
Meat is delicious! And, IMO, it's best when you butcher the animal your own self. A big task when you've got an elk.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Years ago I had a gun club friend that drove tractor trailer for Darling company. I would laugh when he would tell the ladies where makeup came from.
MPM Meat Processing Matters
I learned to butcher deer from an illustrated pamphlet I got in the late '70s showing how to remove virtually all the meat from the skeleton with a filet knife. And no, I wouldn't trust anyone else to process my venison. Anything bigger than whitetail deer is beyond my ability or interest: if I can't drag it, I wouldn't shoot it.
About thirty years ago we built a walk in cooler and processing room for doing deer .everything needed was salvage / reclaimed materials . Over the years we have aquired a lot of tools etc . I can dress a deer and have it ready to go in the cooler in a little under 14 minutes if i hustle.
I'm very lucky. My wife is my hunting/shooting partner. She can hunt them,shoot them,help drag them.feild dress them.
When we get them home I/we hang them,head down. I put a small kids wading pool under the deer to catch drippings. I skin it out right away,to get rid of any bugs, ticks. We usually let it hang 3 days to a week before cutting.
My wife use to work at a butchers shop front counter but picked up on the basic of how they come apart. She does the butchering of all the meat we harvest. My job is to keep the knives sharp. The first couple deer she did she was so afraid of screwing up. I told her thats not possible. The very worst that could happen is that we have alot of burger. Told if a steak doesn't come out like at the butcher shop one will never know once it's on my plate and I cut into it. She did and has continued to do a great job.
When she butchers she does so at the table. We went and bought one of those heavy plastic square pan/tray that is for under a washing machine. That's what she cuts the meat in. No cutting the table top, no drips on the floor, waste to one side/ meat cuts to other. Works great. When done rinse/clean out tray with garden hose or in the bath tub.
Thats how we do it, YMMV.
I do have a question. Do you cut through bone and use the meat attached thereof? Like the ribs, or spine. Had several guys say no way never cut through bone of game meat. I say bull, if there's something in the bones it's in the blood,and that puts it in the entire animal.
All the bones, except the spine are fine.
There can be preon disease in the spinal fluid. Ymmv
We have a small freezer and therefore find it best to filet the meat off the bones in order to keep the packages as small as possible and make maximum use of the space. I also take the time to remove all the tallow (not good eats) and anything else not edible. We no longer grind up anything, being interested only in steaks and roasts. Pan searing steaks in cast iron on the outdoor grill's side burner allows for even small pieces to be used (try for 500 degrees). Found an old square charcoal grill cover to help hold the heat in on windy or very cold days here in MN. Took a few years to come up with the system that now works pretty well.
Remove the tallow. Yes, that deer fat has got to go! It is weird what nasty stuff deer fat is.
I debone all deer meat. Maybe it's just me but I feel cutting through the bone with a saw imparts a strong flavor. My favorite knife for deboning is a 4" Victorinox paring knife.
I also debone my venison and leave the meat in large serving size chunks that I put in freezer bags and then wrap in freezer paper. When I thaw it out, I then cut into steaks or whatever size needed for my cooking plans. I also grind into burger at this time if I'm doing chili, goulash, meat balls etc.
I grind about 75 pounds of burger a year. I mix 20-30 per cent 70 per cent beef hamberger with it. It holds together better and adds flavor. It was suggested by my butcher when I used to buy pork for adding. It keeps better, and once I tried it Ive stuck with it for about the last ten years.