CelticRaven
Knows what a fatty is.
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2011
- Location
- Richmond...
First I'll say hello to all the Brethren. I've been lurking around unregistered in this part of the forum since I broke out the smoker after a long break. well since it is that time of year and I saw several posts recently about deer meat in general I thought I would register and see if I could add some insight on some of the wonderful things you can (and perhaps shouldn't do.)
So saw a few posts regarding front shoulder, ham (or rear quarter), neck roasts, tenderloin etc.... I've been cooking deer for many years and tried almost anyway you can imagine. I've smoked it, ground it, had it made into Summer sausage, made crock BBQ, done whole tenderloins, chopped em into medallions, and turned the whole deer into stakes. I am an avid deer hunter and in my family it is more religion then sport.
Now I mentioned it is that time of year right now.... Well most places deer are in season through the end of the year, and those who have friends and family like I do may commonly end up with various cuts of that oh so lean and wonderful looking deer meat!!!
A statement about deer meat in general.... (and lots of other wild game)
'Fresh' like from that morning or the day before means totally unaged meat. This meat will still be quite bloody. If you get fresh meat and it hasn't been aged at all my favorite process is simply a clean cooler, water and lots of ice. Keep the water below 38 degrees with the ice for about 3 days and change it at least once. You can age up to a week in this manner, without worry. this will help draw out a lot of the blood in the meat. I don't add anything to the water, (salt, vinegar, wostiersheier, sugars, or anything else). First I think they all toughen the meat in this stage, and it can limit what I want to do later.
The above process can be done later after you butcher your meat and before cooking by soaking for a day in your fridge if your making stakes or such without worry also.
So let's get to the meat!!!! :eusa_clap
I'll start with one of the most common and strangest pieces that gets distributed, the full front shoulder. WWhile the most commonly given away piece one of the stranger to do stuff with, or so you will be told by other hunters. the most common response from almost anyone is grind it into burger/sausage. this is a common use for it and it does work well for making burger. the front shoulder is VERY lean meat and usually when making burger from it small amounts of beef fat are added so it has some consistency. I take one deer a year to a deer processor and actually have them add less then 5% when making my burger, I like to keep the meat lean and I can add other forms of a binder later if I need it to stick together. (If we want to talk about making burger and sausage we can do it later)
However! You CAN make stakes from the front shoulder!!!!!! While these are not big stakes, prepared properly they are wonderful. Trim and butcher normally removing silver skin and tendon and any fatty tissue. any random and clean chunks I end up with if I am doing many of these I save and toss into a crock-q at some point. (If there is enough of them I will make an all venison BBQ, or grind it for chilli.)
So now you have these (usually) 4-6oz stakes all nice and trimmed. (I already hear the naysayers going EWWWWW that meat is to tough, and stringy.) Well if you don't have a roll through tenderizer like several of us who hunt, I HIGHLY recommend taking a trip to Sur La Table and picking up the Jacard Professional meat trendizer, it has like 60 flat needle like razor blade teeth in it, and is hands down one of the best kitchen gadgets I ever bought. It tenderizes meat and doesn't leave it looking like cube stake.
Well the naysayers I mentioned earlier are right the meat on the front shoulder is tough, and a bit stringy when it it first butchered. I marinate these stakes in a variety of things and work them over with the Jacard several times through out the day. One of my favorite marinades is Kinkoman Teriyaki sauce and equal parts of Paul Mason brandy. Then grill, or flash fry and rest in the oven to your desired level of 'done'.
Neck meat is very much the same as above! I won't bother restating the rest but it will slice into stakes nicely depending on the deer and can be prepared the same way.
Now with these two cuts of meat there is something you will notice I didn't even mention. Smoking.... OMG you say? your second post and you told us NOT to smoke something??? HEATHEN! GET ME A PITCHFORK!!!! (Yeah I hear it coming..... Whatever). :becky:
To put simply these lean and as mentioned somewhat stringy cuts of meat don't lend themselves to low and slow. However prepared properly, make WONDERFUL, TENDER meals for a main course, and I hope this showes yeah you really can do more then grind it into burger. If anyone wants I'll post a few recipes on my flash frying methods and how I deglaze the pans and make sauces for something like this later.
Since this post is running long and I am running short on time, I am going to break it up into a few sections. Next I'll hit up the rear quarters or Tenderloins tonight.
Yours in smoke,
CR
So saw a few posts regarding front shoulder, ham (or rear quarter), neck roasts, tenderloin etc.... I've been cooking deer for many years and tried almost anyway you can imagine. I've smoked it, ground it, had it made into Summer sausage, made crock BBQ, done whole tenderloins, chopped em into medallions, and turned the whole deer into stakes. I am an avid deer hunter and in my family it is more religion then sport.
Now I mentioned it is that time of year right now.... Well most places deer are in season through the end of the year, and those who have friends and family like I do may commonly end up with various cuts of that oh so lean and wonderful looking deer meat!!!
A statement about deer meat in general.... (and lots of other wild game)
'Fresh' like from that morning or the day before means totally unaged meat. This meat will still be quite bloody. If you get fresh meat and it hasn't been aged at all my favorite process is simply a clean cooler, water and lots of ice. Keep the water below 38 degrees with the ice for about 3 days and change it at least once. You can age up to a week in this manner, without worry. this will help draw out a lot of the blood in the meat. I don't add anything to the water, (salt, vinegar, wostiersheier, sugars, or anything else). First I think they all toughen the meat in this stage, and it can limit what I want to do later.
The above process can be done later after you butcher your meat and before cooking by soaking for a day in your fridge if your making stakes or such without worry also.
So let's get to the meat!!!! :eusa_clap
I'll start with one of the most common and strangest pieces that gets distributed, the full front shoulder. WWhile the most commonly given away piece one of the stranger to do stuff with, or so you will be told by other hunters. the most common response from almost anyone is grind it into burger/sausage. this is a common use for it and it does work well for making burger. the front shoulder is VERY lean meat and usually when making burger from it small amounts of beef fat are added so it has some consistency. I take one deer a year to a deer processor and actually have them add less then 5% when making my burger, I like to keep the meat lean and I can add other forms of a binder later if I need it to stick together. (If we want to talk about making burger and sausage we can do it later)
However! You CAN make stakes from the front shoulder!!!!!! While these are not big stakes, prepared properly they are wonderful. Trim and butcher normally removing silver skin and tendon and any fatty tissue. any random and clean chunks I end up with if I am doing many of these I save and toss into a crock-q at some point. (If there is enough of them I will make an all venison BBQ, or grind it for chilli.)
So now you have these (usually) 4-6oz stakes all nice and trimmed. (I already hear the naysayers going EWWWWW that meat is to tough, and stringy.) Well if you don't have a roll through tenderizer like several of us who hunt, I HIGHLY recommend taking a trip to Sur La Table and picking up the Jacard Professional meat trendizer, it has like 60 flat needle like razor blade teeth in it, and is hands down one of the best kitchen gadgets I ever bought. It tenderizes meat and doesn't leave it looking like cube stake.
Well the naysayers I mentioned earlier are right the meat on the front shoulder is tough, and a bit stringy when it it first butchered. I marinate these stakes in a variety of things and work them over with the Jacard several times through out the day. One of my favorite marinades is Kinkoman Teriyaki sauce and equal parts of Paul Mason brandy. Then grill, or flash fry and rest in the oven to your desired level of 'done'.
Neck meat is very much the same as above! I won't bother restating the rest but it will slice into stakes nicely depending on the deer and can be prepared the same way.
Now with these two cuts of meat there is something you will notice I didn't even mention. Smoking.... OMG you say? your second post and you told us NOT to smoke something??? HEATHEN! GET ME A PITCHFORK!!!! (Yeah I hear it coming..... Whatever). :becky:
To put simply these lean and as mentioned somewhat stringy cuts of meat don't lend themselves to low and slow. However prepared properly, make WONDERFUL, TENDER meals for a main course, and I hope this showes yeah you really can do more then grind it into burger. If anyone wants I'll post a few recipes on my flash frying methods and how I deglaze the pans and make sauces for something like this later.
Since this post is running long and I am running short on time, I am going to break it up into a few sections. Next I'll hit up the rear quarters or Tenderloins tonight.
Yours in smoke,
CR
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