Works in Progress

[Kimber45]

Poser you need your own specialty meat shop or something! Based on the projects I've seen posted by you, you undoubtedly love fooling with food and appear to be dang skilled at it too!

 

[Kimber45]

Poser you need your own specialty meat shop or something! Based on the projects I've seen posted by you, you undoubtedly love fooling with food and appear to be dang skilled at it too!

Thanks. Charcuterie seemed like the natural next step, considering the amount of game meat I always have on hand. Having "ready to eat" venison laying around, means a lot more of it gets eaten on a regular basis and pretty much guarantees what you give away gets eaten. A lot of people will ask for venison, but never get around to cooking it because they don't know what to do with it. If you give someone, say, a stick of Pepperoni, it gets eaten.

While it would be cool to take such ideas to the next level, I'm not so sure the market demand is there, plus the FDA makes artisan practices difficult for selling, since curing temperatures are higher than the FDA minimum for meat storage. I'm guessing that you could offer charcuterie as an extension of deer processing since that meat is not FDA regulated, however, it would be $$. It would be cool to offer venison prosciutto, salami, etc, but you would need a customer base willing to spend $300 on a deer processing, curing job and also be willing to wait weeks and/or months for certain cuts to properly cure. -not sure if you could make money at that. Interesting idea, though.

You would be surprised.. We have a local guy who's gone into processing and is anal about his end product. He has as many as 10 smokers going making jerky, stays wrapped up making summer sausage and trail bologna AND it can be $300 with a decent sized deer - and he turns deer away. He takes getting every bit of silverskin and proper seasoning etc to a whole new level - which again keeps him so full that he works 7-days a week once muzzle loader starts and his wife as well. They are young and passionate about it.....with a magnificent end product in high demand. These chemical companies and big farmers etc get these specialtie cuts done and give them away to customers for gifts etc is what I hear.
Either way, unless his process control methods change, he'll get to do one of mine every year in jerky, summer suasage and trail bologna.. I've had many a deer done at Yoder Bros and thought they were the best - this guy is much better.

 

[Kimber45]

Poser you need your own specialty meat shop or something! Based on the projects I've seen posted by you, you undoubtedly love fooling with food and appear to be dang skilled at it too!

Thanks. Charcuterie seemed like the natural next step, considering the amount of game meat I always have on hand. Having "ready to eat" venison laying around, means a lot more of it gets eaten on a regular basis and pretty much guarantees what you give away gets eaten. A lot of people will ask for venison, but never get around to cooking it because they don't know what to do with it. If you give someone, say, a stick of Pepperoni, it gets eaten.

While it would be cool to take such ideas to the next level, I'm not so sure the market demand is there, plus the FDA makes artisan practices difficult for selling, since curing temperatures are higher than the FDA minimum for meat storage. I'm guessing that you could offer charcuterie as an extension of deer processing since that meat is not FDA regulated, however, it would be $$. It would be cool to offer venison prosciutto, salami, etc, but you would need a customer base willing to spend $300 on a deer processing, curing job and also be willing to wait weeks and/or months for certain cuts to properly cure. -not sure if you could make money at that. Interesting idea, though.

You would be surprised.. We have a local guy who's gone into processing and is anal about his end product. He has as many as 10 smokers going making jerky, stays wrapped up making summer sausage and trail bologna AND it can be $300 with a decent sized deer - and he turns deer away. He takes getting every bit of silverskin and proper seasoning etc to a whole new level - which again keeps him so full that he works 7-days a week once muzzle loader starts and his wife as well. They are young and passionate about it.....with a magnificent end product in high demand. These chemical companies and big farmers etc get these specialtie cuts done and give them away to customers for gifts etc is what I hear.
Either way, unless his process control methods change, he'll get to do one of mine every year in jerky, summer suasage and trail bologna.. I've had many a deer done at Yoder Bros and thought they were the best - this guy is much better.

Interesting. I'd expect that cost that high might could fly with a small clietele base in Memphis and Nashville, but most hunters seems to want the cheapest processing job as possible. On the cured meats, do you get your meat back, or is it an exchange program?

The good thing is if you're High End to begin with the cheap folks wont bother you much, that is until they see the High End Folks buying your Top Notch stuff at which point they'll bite the bullet so to keep up with the Jone's :)
I see that philosophy work in a lot of the retail hunting equipment market already and see it happening for the local processor too as I mentioned. Based on your post's and pic's...I'd say your knowledge and expertise/experience on specialty meats is leaps and bounds ahead of his too. Of course for all this encouragement I will expect free samples when you get started :grin:

I "think" you get your meat back only even on cured stuff

 

[Kimber45]

Matthew Lents

731-697-7two30