Processed my first deer...

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MMHunter

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Have decided to started processing my own deer. I have got my doe from Tuesday deboned and bought a grinder. Just wondering when you all grind your burger meat do you grind any pork or beef fat with it? Also wondering what kind of cuts do you all typically do with the hams? Do you leave them roast and cook them whole or cut steaks? This is new to me, I'm used to the regular butchers cut burger, loins, and ham steak. I'm looking for guidance and suggestions on new way to indulge on venison. Thanks
 
I don't add fat to any of mine. The back legs (shoulders) I seperate each muscle and save the flat ones for different things. But the rest is ground up. We pretty much grind front legs, about three quarters of the back legs. The rest is saved for different ways of cooking. The neck is put in a crockpot and simmered till it falls of the bone, then chop it up. Mix some baba sauce in it and eat on a samich. Looks and taste just like a pulled pork samich
 
Agreed... I do not add any fat to mine ground either... Most of the deer, I grind. I savve the backstraps, tenderloin... I will cut some up for chili and stews but most if ground...

1 hit.. Cold meat grinds easier than warm meat... keep it cool... if the grinder gets warm, run a couple of ice cubes through....

Keep in mind, the more you do it, the easier it gets.... you also tend to learn thingsmst times you process one.. before long it is old hat....
 
hams are very versatile imo. separate muscle groups or leave them together, make steaks or stew meat or ground meat or jerky with them. the backstrap may be the best cut for making steak but hams are not far behind, they are almost the same. When cutting up a ham into different parts you can be left with a bunch of trimmings and silver skin and you can use the trimmings for stew meat or run thru the grinder. I'm gonna get a grinder so I don't have as many bags labeled "scrap" in the freezer and make some deer chili. Most of the shoulder meat goes to chunks or scrap meat for grinding.
 
I made a wet-cured "city ham" last winter out of a rear leg. It was spectacular. The other one was cubed into stew meat. I wouldn't add any fat to the ground meat. It'll last longer without it, run less of a chance of tasting funny, and give you more options as to where to use it�.burgers, sausages, etc.
 
I debone the back straps and inner tenderloins. These are butterflied and put in packages of about 1lb. The hams are separated and made into roasts, packaged 2-4 lbs. Neck, shoulders, shanks, and other trimmings are ground. I will make 5 or 10 lbs of breakfast sausage (3lbs of venison and 2lbs of pork sirloin is the ratio), and the rest of the grind goes in 1lb foodsaver packages, no additional fat added, and flattened out square for easy and uniform thawing.
 
Depends on my intention for the meat. If I am making burgers, I actually grind the deer meat as is, then run it back through mixed with 70/30 hamburger meat. I used to just used beef fat, most grocers will give it to you for free. Having the fat in there is crucial for grilling I.m.o.
 
I use the hams for steaks as well as roasts. They are great pieces of meat - I will not grind it unless I've got a freezer full of steaks.

I need a better grinder to mess with the front legs. All that sinew is hard on my little grinder.

Oh and I get a boston butt ground up at the butcher and use that with my ground deer for sausages.
 
Last year I tried keeping the hams in larger muscle groups (roasts) instead of slicing into steaks ahead of time. I liked that approach a lot, as it saved me some time and some packaging. The really huge ones I went ahead and either cut in half or sliced, but in general I tried to leave myself multiple options.

For my particular deer (a large doe) there was actually an appreciable amount of meat on the ribs. I ended up keeping the ribs in slab sections, but I keep forgetting to cook them. Hopefully they are still good... Some deer have so little rib meat that the bones get tossed. Other folks trim the meat out between the ribs. I've only had deer ribs cooked BBQ-style once, so I don't have much experience there.

In general, my advice is to think about how large of a serving you typically use at once (e.g. I am feeding a family of 4), and then keep the meat in large enough sections to feed that many people with a bit of leftovers. Don't chop stuff up more than necessary, because it's just more work, and lets the meat contact air sooner (faster spoilage, higher risk of freezer burn).
 
I have processed my own game meat for 20yrs. I grind my deer meat through a rough blade first, then through a fine blade mixed with a pork shoulder if I'm making sausage. I haven't found a processor I can trust so i've processed everything myself, moose, bear, caribou, deer, wild hog, etc. Bluegrass Dan mentioned an "inner tenderloin"? Anyone know what people refer to as the inner tenderloin? The only tenderloin is inside along the back bone. Also, when cutting out your backstraps, most people miss a lot of it. The backstrap goes all the way up through the neck. The best and easiest ways to get the best cuts of meat is to separate the muscle groups, if you are cutting through meat then you aren't getting the full cut.
I also try to age my meat, typically 10 days for larger game but down here on these deer 5-7 days is sufficient. You can definitely tell a difference between meat that has been aged properly and meat that hasn't.
 
Maybe since the term "tenderloin" is interchanged through various retail butchers, they're differentiating the deer's "tenderloin" from the backstrap (or back loin).
 
You can't uncut the roasts. If you're not sure what you want to do with them leave them whole and if you want to cut them later, you can.
 
BluegrassDan said:
Just being redundant for clarity: tenderloin = inner tenderloin.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dan, I wasn't trying to be a smart a$$ or anything, i've just heard that term a few times since moving down here and was wondering if it was a local thing and people were talking about a different cut of meat.
 
Keep as much whole as possible and to be able to use for meal portions. Larger cuts retain more natural juices and doesn't dry out or freezer burn as easily. Also, I've had excellent luck canning stew meat that makes a fast and easy crock pot meal. Works great and always tender.
 

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