Thread: meat questions

Originally Posted by Juicy

I usually shoot deer, break down the deer on the spot i.e. take back legs off, back steaks, front legs (if not too mangled). Walk back to the closest hut with legs still with skin on, hang them up to cool down overnight usually (huts I go to have meat safes, or you could buy one of those portable ones), or at least for a while. Then bone out legs and pack it all in my pack for the carry-out. If I was camping out rather than at a hut (which I don't do very often) I guess I would bone out at camp on a plastic bag or something.

Definitely lighter and less of a pain to squash into the pack when boned out. I tend to eat the good cuts as steaks and take the rest to a local butcher for sausages, because it's much easier to convince the kids to eat sausages rather than chewy steaks.

your last line jumped out at me....... been there and done that NOW I know better.
chewyness is generally one of three things in this order
1 you neglected to remove the silverskin...thats the muscle sheath,the silvery bit thus its name..cut this off and will be vastly better...I know I know it looks like you getting a smaller bit of steak,and in case of round steak it goes from lovely big cut to 3-4 smaller little steaks but the difference for those with fewer teeth left of impatient younguns is huge.
2 you didnt age meat at all..it got shot,cut up and chucked in freezer..far better to age for a week in fridge...you can get away with doing this at other end EG get it out of freezer on Monday and dont eat till after friday sortt of deal...I like to upend a small saucer inside larger SS mixing bolw and sit steak on this,so as it sits the blood can drain into cavity at bottom of bowl...or do marinate thing.
3 you stressed animal when it died or it was a smelly old stag....
I used to carry animal out whole...its got to be plurry close to wagon for that now days..front end always boned into bag,back end too if a long way away...too easy to do the four quarters and back n eye steaks into big pack thing with fallow. reds I can only fit front end i ndaybag so back wheels come out via a shoulder ride attached to pelvis eg cut off across kidney area (strangely enough got a deer recently with two other hunters and they had NEVER seen a set of back wheels carried out this way) must be a old meat hunters thing that newer generations just dont see anymore.