Made Some Stock from a Recent Deer

As I was butchering a deer a few days ago I started thinking about 'bone broth' and 'stock'. So I put the leg and shoulder bones into a big pot along with some sinewy offcuts (and a splash of vinegar) then simmered them for several hours. I was surprised at how much fat sat on the surface of the finished product. We used some of that gelatinous stock to make gravy to accompany the undercut steaks. To cook the steaks we browned them in a frypan, then placed the whole pan in the oven at around 170 C for maybe 12 minutes. Excellent.

I've set the fat aside, and I am freezing the stock in tapered stainless cups so I can put the whole lot into one freezer bag.

https://i.imgur.com/36INhRR.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/JEGp6nA.jpg

An easy way to make it is to cook it overnight or 24-hours in a big crockpot. I use the 6.5 litre Zip (on special today for $68 at Briscoes!). Saves the worry of having the stove ring going for a long period :) Your's looks a good brew! :)

Excellent.
I do this too but add some onions or celery or carrots whatever is in the fridge.
Bloody brilliant when you do your veni stew with the shoulder/neck meat.

I save all the cut onion ends, carrot tops and bottoms, clean leek greens etc and just keep putting them in a bag in the freezer. Then when I make stock I empty the bag of frozen vege offcuts into the water at the beginning

Its good to know there are other folks out there who appreciate this stuff.

I haven't consciously tried to make neatsfoot oil, but I have boiled up old skins to make hide glue. Dang it was strong. I poured some into a glass jar. When I tried to pull a flake of this glue out of the jar, it pulled some glass out with it.

That little eka knife you gave me has lived in my bumbag as an emergency spare knife....it's done a few headskins but Friday evening it showed it's worth as I had misplaced my main knife.
I keep it razor sharp and it made short work of boneing out this spiker.Attachment 181994

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Originally Posted by Coote

Its good to know there are other folks out there who appreciate this stuff.

I haven't consciously tried to make neatsfoot oil, but I have boiled up old skins to make hide glue. Dang it was strong. I poured some into a glass jar. When I tried to pull a flake of this glue out of the jar, it pulled some glass out with it.

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The flaking of the glass from dried hide glue is exactly what used to be used for "glue chipped glass" signs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOVDtOok-c8&t=178s.
I've always wanted to try it.

I'd forgotten about that Eka knife Vietnamcam. I imported a trial quantity as I thought they'd be a good 'extra' to sell from our market tent. (We were selling our glass work at markets back then). Plus I love knives and it gave me a good excuse to buy lots of them. I found, though, that the plastic scales broke easily. Hope yours are OK. I see you've left the skin on those legs... what happens after that? Do you skin them and freeze the meat fairly soon after you get home? Or do you hang the legs for a while?

I've had a recent practice of hanging my deer... even in summer with no chiller.... and the meat has generally been pleasingly tender. However I've also frozen some within hours of killing it. And the meat has been acceptable.... but i cant help wondering if it might have been better hung.

That is very interesting about the glue-chipped glass Makros. Back in 2008 I got married to Jackie. She was making her living at the time designing, building and repairing leadlight windows. She knows a lot about glass. But she didn't know about how glue-chipped glass was made, so she was very interested in your video. Jackie and I still make most of our income (maybe not this year) from glass work, but we've disposed of our leadlight gear now and concentrate on fused glass art work. She does the clever stuff, I make the stainless steel frames and help out. We sell it through a co-operative gallery that we've set up with several other artists in Nelson... with all the artists taking a turn at operating the gallery.

Making that glue was relatively easy.... although it took time and the aroma might not be to everyone's liking. Evidently it is best to keep the mix just under boiling temperature for the whole procedure.... although i'm pretty sure mine came to the boil briefly a couple of times without ruining the mix. I used goat skin. The glue making was part of my exploration into primitive technology which has fascinated me for a long time.... making my own bows and arrows, DIY traps, lighting fires without matches, primitive pottery and blacksmithing etc etc. I had a lot of fun and success.

https://i.imgur.com/QsV97ek.jpg

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Originally Posted by Coote

I'd forgotten about that Eka knife Vietnamcam. I imported a trial quantity as I thought they'd be a good 'extra' to sell from our market tent. (We were selling our glass work at markets back then). Plus I love knives and it gave me a good excuse to buy lots of them. I found, though, that the plastic scales broke easily. Hope yours are OK. I see you've left the skin on those legs... what happens after that? Do you skin them and freeze the meat fairly soon after you get home? Or do you hang the legs for a while?

I've had a recent practice of hanging my deer... even in summer with no chiller.... and the meat has generally been pleasingly tender. However I've also frozen some within hours of killing it. And the meat has been acceptable.... but i cant help wondering if it might have been better hung.

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I broke it down like that so the meat could chill right down quickly and hung it up overnight, first thing in the morning I skinned and boned out the meat so it was all nice and cold and blood free for the long pack out.
Not always possible but I let meat cool before putting in a pack and age it if I can. That meat is still mostly in the fridge.

That all sounds sensible. I don't have a chiller, but I have made a strong bracket that is fixed with multiple screws to my garage wall. I also sometimes hang game under the verandah of a small shed we have in the back yard. I cover it with a big bag made from a sheet.

Made a big batch of pork bone broth a few weeks ago using the method bumblefoot describes. Had frozen all the bones from a 90lb sow I got a couple months ago. Started by roasting em for about 30-40mins til browned, then chucked it all in the slow cooker with water & vinegar as well as a couple diced carrots, leek & onion & just let it run in the slow cooker for about 24hrs. Bloody tasty. Used a bunch that night to do a nice venison noodle soup. Still got a few litres frozen.

Great way to get some tasty results from what’s usually considered scrap.

Thanks for the inspiration Pixie.

I used some of my venison stock yesterday to make a venison curry. It is good to grab a frozen lump of it from the freezer instead of opening a supermarket packet.

Folks say it is meant to be good for you as well.

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Originally Posted by Coote

Folks say it is meant to be good for you as well.

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A guy I worked with for the last couple of years drinks a couple of mugs of bone broth every morning at work. He’s a hunter & doesn’t make his own. Buys some kind of powdered stuff & just adds hot water. Also says it’s great for health.

Dang... I don't fancy the idea of drinking a mug of broth, especially in the morning. I can occasionally enjoy a bowl of soup if I'm in the mood. I like soup that contains plenty of stuff to chew on. I guess my version of a soup would be a slightly watery version of a casserole.

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Originally Posted by Coote

Thanks for the inspiration Pixie. I used some of my venison stock yesterday to make a venison curry. It is good to grab a frozen lump of it from the freezer instead of opening a supermarket packet. Folks say it is meant to be good for you as well.

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Making a curry/casserole with stock makes a huge difference to the flavour. If I slow cook a roast in the crockpot I save the cooking juice for a casserole or soup; it's primo! Flavour base sorted!

eka knives have been around forever..my old man had one with red handle...until it went through hot wash and came out pink LOL.
I HAD a wooden handled one till my mate dropped it in spawning stream up behind rotorua (what teenage lads were doing up there need not be said)...
they were good honest knives for possum skinning.

used a cup of bone broth at mates place last wekend,poured it in pan,added my venison mince,when had browned added rice,then more boiling water,simmered until rice soft,simmered a little more to reduce liquid completely and het presto..Milkys famous rice rissotto..... normally flavour added with steak seasoning,this time just a teaspoon of vegemite....

What sort of mincer do you use Micky?

we have killed kambrook and now the george foreman...so its back to Grannies old hand crank cast iron one.....one thing if you have electric mincer use the biggest hole plate you have as venison done fine is rather mushy...course is heaps better.

I've thought about getting an electric mincer, but the domestic ones I've seen don't look particularly durable to me. And the mincers which looked good were big and expensive. I have a relatively new (maybe 15 years old) cast iron hand-cranked device which I use occasionally. We have too much stuff in our kitchen already. Bought a danged air-fryer oven maybe a month ago which uses precious bench space. Makes a quick feed of fairly decent chips though.

those air fryers do great chips...chicken nuggets go well in them too.
I did 20kgs of duck n goose breasts through hand mincer a year or 12 back......took some doing but well worth it. butcher made awesome salamis.

i got a big fat stag a while ago,and rendered down the fat into lard , and quite often use it to fry my venison steaks in , and sometimes bread and eggs too . It is yum. a little bit deerie flavoured for the rest of the family , but i like it. keeps well , and mixed with olive oil it is a good leather dressing.

Deerie flavoured would be fine with me. Just the fact that there are deer with fat on them is a cause for great rejoicing. In my experience a fat deer is pretty rare.

My first cast bullet lube was made from goat fat. It seemed to work well enough, but I had doubts as to how long it might last without deteriorating.

My home lube is now made from beeswax and Prolan oil. But prior to that I just melted some beeswax and added enough olive oil to get the texture I wanted. The ladyfolk used it for lip balm, and I used it for bullet lube, grafting wax and for the occasional bit of leather dressing.

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Originally Posted by Coote

Deerie flavoured would be fine with me. Just the fact that there are deer with fat on them is a cause for great rejoicing. In my experience a fat deer is pretty rare.

My first cast bullet lube was made from goat fat. It seemed to work well enough, but I had doubts as to how long it might last without deteriorating.

My home lube is now made from beeswax and Prolan oil. But prior to that I just melted some beeswax and added enough olive oil to get the texture I wanted. The ladyfolk used it for lip balm, and I used it for bullet lube, grafting wax and for the occasional bit of leather dressing.

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beeswax would smell a bit better for lip balm too. yes a fat deer is not that common , around christmas seems to be the best time to get fat stags i recon.

I put the bones that have most but not all of the meat removed into the oven to roast at 300F for a couple of hours for more flavor before putting them into the stock pot. Put some onions on the tray in the oven too for half the time. Great flavored meaty stock and then add all the other goodies for soup or thicken for stew.