Waste Not Want Not

bewsher500

Well-Known Member
I grew up on a farm, my Father was a practising veterinary surgeon, every gralloch he did was conducted like a post mortem lecture, every carcase prep involved another anatomy lesson. I was also lucky enough to have a giant of a Canadian man who was a former butcher as a neighbour.
As a result I have never shied away from a bit of butchery

I have watched a number of butchery demonstrations and videos online and one thing strikes me about some of them.

Waste.

There is a prevalence to chuck away bits here and there which all add up.
I am no master butcher but as a demonstration of what can be achieved with just a single knife and an old table top this morning I butchered a yearling buck I shot at the beginning of the week.

this particular roe was head shot as he was 20 yds away behind a mesh fence. making for a very clean, if smaller than average carcase

Feet head and gralloch off on site (minus the liver and kidneys which came with me!)
Hanging the drinks fridge for 4-5 days
Skinned this morning

I don't use a saw as I really don't see the need. I have never seen the point of cutting the pelvis to then remove the cut bit from the haunch later
  • Haunches are taken off the pelvis in one, no saw required, just follow the flat surface of the illium (the wide blade of the pelvis at the front), cut in behind the ischium, (the pointed aspect just above where you cut the rectum out) and cut the tendons around the hip joint. No loss of meat, no bone dust
  • Shoulders taken off with the entire brisket and belly in a oner, just cut along the sternum and run the knife over the ribs whilst lifting. Cut off at spine taking care not to cut loins
  • Loin taken from pelvis to neck in one go, run the knife down either side of the backbone, then cut under the loin from the ribs, peeling back and running knife along the top of the ribs and then the backbone.
  • Strip loins popped out (no knife required just a thumb)
  • Lap, brisket and belly stripped from whole shoulders, chopped for mincing
  • Shoulders boned, nice bits cubed, rest chopped for mincing
  • Haunches chopped short, shanks boned and in the stew pile
  • Loins stripped, neck chopped in the stew pile. Take the sheath off the loin by laying it flat on the table and running the knife blade between sheath and loin using the table to keen the blade flat
  • Intercostals (meat between ribs) stripped out in the mince pile

all in, just under an hour from whole carcase in the drinks fridge to bagged and labelled in the freezer

Total waste - 1.8kg of bone (minus gralloch, skin, head and feet obviously!)

You don't need to pay a butcher to do anything.

I use a light duty kitchen mincer (Beem Fleischwolf!)
£40 gets you a usable mincer so long as you don't ask too much of it
doubles up as a sausage stuffer

Clockwise from top left:
Two short haunches (no shank), two striploins, Two loins, Diced Stewing steak, mincing pile
Bone waste



Minced



i break the spine and put rear end inside the ribcage with all leg bones, fits in a smaller bag and binned.
Could even make stock with them but I am not too fond of deer stock!
 
Nice job there. Head shots do make life so much easier on the butchery side. My first buck this year was not so clean as bullet went through both shoulders - wanted to anchor it on the spot. Trimings I don't bother mincing, instead brown the off and then add some water to cook up a good dog gravy. The loins have provided two good meals and the rest sliced up , covered in a mix of corriander seed, black pepper and salt, with a splash of red wine and worcester sauce and is now hanging in the kitchen. The first bits are nearly ready - will be so tomorrow. They were hung up on Saturday.

IMG_1922.jpg
 
Good Job.
I get all my bones. Chop tgem with a tommy hawk and freeze them on a tray then bag up for my dogs.
Scott Rea does a fantastic demo.
 
I keep the heart and liver, as well as cut the larger bones into 1-2 inch lengths and back them in the oven. What is rendered is re-hydrated, a wee bit and frozen for gravy starter. I also separate the tenderloin from the back strap as the tenderloin is the most tender. Other than that, I agree with bewsher500, "waste not want not." I, too, do my own butchering.

Dog gets rationed portions of lung.

Good write-up bewsher500.

atb

Grant
 
Personally, I am probably a bit wasteful of meat around the entry and exit holes, especially if the shoulder is taken out. Mostly I am shooting Roe and in woodland or on the edge of woodland with shot opportunities few and far between. If a deer is there, its a cull animal I will shoot even if not perfectly broadside. Yes I know that there are those who have the luxury of being able to stalk all the time and only take perfect shots, but I don'y.

I also tend to err on being a bit further forward rather behind the shoulder. Result is often a bullet through one or both shoulders. Having seen the x-rays of lead fragments around the bullet hole, i tend to cut away this meat, or indeed bin the shoulder. Also the jellied, blood shot meat will go off quicker than the rest of the carcass. I am not sure if I want to eat such meat, nor indeed feed it to the dog. This is a conscious decision and like everything in life you have to compromise. If I wanted a really nice clean carcass I would need to either take a perfect broadside shot through the lungs, or go for a head shot - often neither are an option.
 
With regards to the Blood clotting / jellied stuff, often if you take a sharp knife and come underneath it , similar to filleting a fish then the meat underneath will be fine , not always but most of the time .....
Looks worse than is

Paul
 
the really bloody jelly stuff I pass through the mincer, mix with bit of rice and some water, shove the whole lot in the oven on low

comes out like black pudding with rice
use it as wet dog food to go with mixer

goes down a treat!
 
The only venison I butcher these days are animals that have been badly shot by clients, all decent carcasses are sold , I won't sell anything
that's saddled or haunched , for two reasons one you get so little for damaged carcasses and two I take a bit of pride in the quality of the carcasses going to the dealer.

Even only salvaging the best bits from damaged carcasses I tend to have more venison than I can use ,as my kids have all left home and my wife won't eat it even though we have been together for over forty years, and stalking was my job ,or perhaps because it was my job,, she is.not anti in any way far from it, more a case of familiarity breeds contempt as far as venison goes.

However to get back to the point, I will admit to being a bit wasteful as I tend to salvage only saddles and haunches and the odd undamaged shoulder,
Even if making burgers I have no hesitation in using the best cuts, wasteful I know but why use the poorer stuff when you have a surfeit of the stuff,
 
Hi, great thread. Sorry to go a bit off topic but what do you do with the hide once it's skinned? Can't find anything on here besides taxidermy. Seems like a waste to just bin it, could be made into a nice rug, set of gloves etc.
 
Sometimes the neck is a fidgety to debone and there is waste. I usually drop that into a slow cooker and the bone comes out like it has been laid on the hill for months. The quantity of meat you get is astounding and is then made into a stew for the freezer.
 
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