Late last November I had the pleasure of attending a venison butchery demonstration at Launde Farm Foods in Leicestershire with the butcher Gwilym. I have seen him at the game fairs selling his wares in the food area. He is a busy man as a butcher on the family farm and with shooting and a family we all know what a balancing act that can be so thank you to him.
At this demonstration about maximising venison cuts we were told that we could bring a deer and butcher it so here we are.
So on the 22nd Feb we ended up with 5 of us, in the end. The deer were provided at a very competitive rate to make things easy.
We met at again at Launde Farm at the very spacious butchery, teas, coffee and biscuits and straight into the banter.
We started off with Gwilym skinning a fallow shot the previous weekend then a young lad and I both skinning a muntjac each. Excellent start with us discussing the different thought processes around skinning different beasts with dos and don'ts.
View attachment 410895
We then took these carcases and some that he had previously prepared, 5 fallow and 2 muntjac.
We discussed butchering hanging and also on the table. We had our own blocks, knife and apron too, plenty of cups of tea and chocolate biscuits
Slowly we broke down the beasts. Butchery is also an art form, depending on the shot and beast and fat cover it struck me that each beast in Gwilym's eyes would be Butchered slightly differently and of course down to us, the customer as to what we want.
Gwilym's ethos was maximising the best cuts from the beast perhaps with a twist, we all produced slightly different cuts, dice and of course mince. We did stop for lunch with freshly cooked venison sausages of course.
Hygiene and knife safety was discussed at various time during the day.
We discussed and created various cuts, best steaks, I remember salmon cuts from the hind leg, ribs, the joints, the list was endless with Gwilym's experience shining through. Nothing was too much trouble. We found glands, looked at various body parts and so it went on.
I ended up with 18kg of various cuts all lovingly vacuum packed and labelled waiting for our freezer.
The cost was £150 for the day, some would say steep for the day but the price was aimed at BASC who do a similar course and where else would you get a butcher for the day with Gwilym's experience and teaching ability?
If more people had attended we had another butcher on stand by and plenty of room. In a smaller group you could argue that we had more time and discussion chances.
The benefit of this course was that rather than winging it as I do, particularly with smaller deer pretending that they are big rabbits I can now butcher with confidence so I can now take on larger beasts and hopefully take more pleasure creating cuts to enjoy and pass on to family and friends to enjoy the benefits of a potential cheap and plentyfulsupply.mog quality meat.
My wife has since acquired a vacuum packer, I do have the benefit of a fridge and a mincer too so thank you very much to East Mercia I am really looking forward to butchery with my new found confidence and despite my grand parent rights I am looking forward to my DSC1 in the autumn thanks to BDS.
Well done to all concerned, if you like the idea of doing this, don't hesitate just give it a go, you won't regret it.
Just need to Find some deer in Essex
At this demonstration about maximising venison cuts we were told that we could bring a deer and butcher it so here we are.
So on the 22nd Feb we ended up with 5 of us, in the end. The deer were provided at a very competitive rate to make things easy.
We met at again at Launde Farm at the very spacious butchery, teas, coffee and biscuits and straight into the banter.
We started off with Gwilym skinning a fallow shot the previous weekend then a young lad and I both skinning a muntjac each. Excellent start with us discussing the different thought processes around skinning different beasts with dos and don'ts.
View attachment 410895
We then took these carcases and some that he had previously prepared, 5 fallow and 2 muntjac.
We discussed butchering hanging and also on the table. We had our own blocks, knife and apron too, plenty of cups of tea and chocolate biscuits
Slowly we broke down the beasts. Butchery is also an art form, depending on the shot and beast and fat cover it struck me that each beast in Gwilym's eyes would be Butchered slightly differently and of course down to us, the customer as to what we want.
Gwilym's ethos was maximising the best cuts from the beast perhaps with a twist, we all produced slightly different cuts, dice and of course mince. We did stop for lunch with freshly cooked venison sausages of course.
Hygiene and knife safety was discussed at various time during the day.
We discussed and created various cuts, best steaks, I remember salmon cuts from the hind leg, ribs, the joints, the list was endless with Gwilym's experience shining through. Nothing was too much trouble. We found glands, looked at various body parts and so it went on.
I ended up with 18kg of various cuts all lovingly vacuum packed and labelled waiting for our freezer.
The cost was £150 for the day, some would say steep for the day but the price was aimed at BASC who do a similar course and where else would you get a butcher for the day with Gwilym's experience and teaching ability?
If more people had attended we had another butcher on stand by and plenty of room. In a smaller group you could argue that we had more time and discussion chances.
The benefit of this course was that rather than winging it as I do, particularly with smaller deer pretending that they are big rabbits I can now butcher with confidence so I can now take on larger beasts and hopefully take more pleasure creating cuts to enjoy and pass on to family and friends to enjoy the benefits of a potential cheap and plentyfulsupply.mog quality meat.
My wife has since acquired a vacuum packer, I do have the benefit of a fridge and a mincer too so thank you very much to East Mercia I am really looking forward to butchery with my new found confidence and despite my grand parent rights I am looking forward to my DSC1 in the autumn thanks to BDS.
Well done to all concerned, if you like the idea of doing this, don't hesitate just give it a go, you won't regret it.
Just need to Find some deer in Essex
