Silver skin.

[VSS]

Do you or don't you remove the "silver skin" from joints etc?
It's not something I ever bothered about in the past when butchering for home consumption, largely because we favoured large joints cooked long and slow (such as a whole haunch, bone in) to feed our hungry family.
However, now butchering venison to sell I'm conscious of the fact that consumers seem to want something that'll cook quickly and easily, and is of a fairly uniform texture throughout. Therefore I've been meticulously removing as much of the silver skin as possible when doing boned rolled haunch roasts, and also from the loin fillets.
Looking today online at a few other venison sellers - mostly parkland producers with farm shop and mail order, but also some wild game retailers - I notice a lot of photos of boned and tied haunch joints with all of the silver skin still on. They certainly look tidier than mine as the surface of the joint is more uniform.
Am I wasting my time?

 

[User00043]

Personally I only remove the silver skin from the loin strips

Paul

 

[willowbank]

I think the meat looks nicer without the silverskin but it’s such a fiddly job and imo does tend to spoil the appearance if the knife nicks the surface. I only remove the thicker layers that peel off easily for home consumption.
Depends really on how much time you have and how far you want to go, it does get easier with practice though.

WB

 

[JMikeyH]

I'll remove it from wherever I can. On the back legs for example, when I'm separating muscle groups for chops or steaks you can get to a lot of silverskin and remove it following up from the knee to it's end somewhere up the muscle but on some muscle groups in begins to run within the tissue, I think it's ends almost immediately after entering muscle tissue so I never bother to cut open the muscle and follow it in because that ruins the cut.

In short, if I see it I remove it

 

[JMikeyH]

One thing I would add though is to try and remove it like fish skin off a fillet, by laying the knife flat on the board and gripping the silverskin, pulling it over the blade. I find this gives a lovely uniform surface to the meat which is near impossible to achieve if cutting it away in the usual manner

 

[willie_gunn]

One thing I would add though is to try and remove it like fish skin off a fillet, by laying the knife flat on the board and gripping the silverskin, pulling it over the blade. I find this gives a lovely uniform surface to the meat which is near impossible to achieve if cutting it away in the usual manner

^^^^^^^ this. I remove the silverskin where I can using this method. It results in a much more attractive end product.

 

[8x57]

It may be a pain doing it but I always try to remove all silver skin. (I only butcher for my own use plus family and friends.)

 

[VSS]

One thing I would add though is to try and remove it like fish skin off a fillet, by laying the knife flat on the board and gripping the silverskin, pulling it over the blade. I find this gives a lovely uniform surface to the meat which is near impossible to achieve if cutting it away in the usual manner

Yes, that is what I do with the loin fillets.

I'll remove it from wherever I can. On the back legs for example, when I'm separating muscle groups for chops or steaks you can get to a lot of silverskin and remove it following up from the knee to it's end somewhere up the muscle but on some muscle groups in begins to run within the tissue, I think it's ends almost immediately after entering muscle tissue so I never bother to cut open the muscle and follow it in because that ruins the cut.

In short, if I see it I remove it

This is what I was talking about^^^
I get 3 boned rolled roasting joints out of each hind leg of a reasonable sized fallow by separating the muscle bundles, but each is covered with tough silver skin, much thicker at one end as you say. This is what I've been carefully removing, but noticed other people don't bother.

 

[Freeforester]

This is what I've been carefully removing, but noticed other people don't bother.

Small wonder then that venison isn't too popular, then! Unless their customers like to eat the silverskin??

 

[VSS]

Small wonder then that venison isn't too popular, then! Unless their customers like to eat the silverskin??

Well, if removing the silverskin makes my venison more popular than my competitors then I shall certainly continue to do so!
It's a bit of a faff, but no doubt will become easier with practice (and with some sharper knives!)

 

[Freeforester]

Never had a customer wanting the silverskin left on, Tim, - just saying.

 

[VSS]

Never had a customer wanting the silverskin left on, Tim, - just saying.

Fair point, and I agree entirely.
I was going to post a link to some of the photos on other people's sales websites, just to illustrate what I meant, but figured that some were likely members of this site so thought better of it!

 

[Freeforester]

As you say, fair point, and I agree entirely

 

[CarlW]

I always remove it but, to be honest, I was really hoping that everyone would reply to your thread, Tim, saying: "Nah, leave it on."

It is a job that makes me truly miserable.

 

[Magnificent 7]

Personally I only remove the silver skin from the loin strips

Paul

Me too and give away loads yet to have a complaint have plenty of compliments though

 

[VSS]

Me too and give away loads yet to have a complaint have plenty of compliments though

No-one looks a gift deer in the mouth!
However, they might have something to say about the stringy bits if you'd just charged them £25 a kilo for it!

 

[TheCornishman]

Silver skin on or off really depends on how your venison ends up on the plate... If it’s long and slow just let it go...it will turn into gooey delicious umptious flavour. That callogen will turn into bambi jam after a good slow cook

If you are looking a small joints that cook quickly, steaks or Daubes then remove it every time as the cooking process won’t have time to break down the protein. The intense heat of the pan will cause the membrane to contract which leads to poorly presented curled up steaks with that boot leather mouthfeel. This doesn’t just apply to venison but to all meat to be honest. It’s just the mechanics of the material. Best comparable example I can think of would be beef Flat Irons.

Flat Irons are prepared from the feather blade taken from the shoulder. Classically this is best cooked Long and slow. Almost like a beefy pulled pork. This is one of the tastiest cuts of the animal but it is packed with gristle & collagen that needs that time to do its thing. Rush it and it’s only for those with their own teeth!

However if you seam butcher the layers of muscle from the gristle you have delicious steaks that are now suitable for cooking steak style “hot & quick”... just remember like all meat it’s best rested. Any steak from any speciesshould be rested at least 1/2 as long as it was cooked before slicing...it makes a massive difference

 

[jb1]

If i was selling joints with what your calling "silverskin" left on i would ask the customer if they would like it trimmed before they bought it. My opinion is depending on the whereabouts this membrane is it would always be left on prior to selling due to the meat likely to dry out or discolour.

TheCornishman, never heard of "Flat Irons" over all the years in butchers its amazing to hear different cuts of meat called different names depending on area. TV was also a confusing time for butchers, you would have customers asking for all sorts of cuts they have seen on the cooking programs.

 

[VSS]

If i was selling joints with what your calling "silverskin" left on i would ask the customer if they would like it trimmed before they bought it. My opinion is depending on the whereabouts this membrane is it would always be left on prior to selling due to the meat likely to dry out or discolour.

I would agree with you if the meat was going to be sitting on a butcher's slab all day waiting for a customer to pop into the shop, but it's a bit different when it all has to be fully prepped, vacuum packed and maybe frozen before being purchased online and then sent out to the customer by courier. There's not much scope for personalisation in that.

 

[willowbank]

If i was selling joints with what your calling "silverskin" left on i would ask the customer if they would like it trimmed before they bought it. My opinion is depending on the whereabouts this membrane is it would always be left on prior to selling due to the meat likely to dry out or discolour.

TheCornishman, never heard of "Flat Irons" over all the years in butchers its amazing to hear different cuts of meat called different names depending on area. TV was also a confusing time for butchers, you would have customers asking for all sorts of cuts they have seen on the cooking programs.

So would there be any advantage to leaving the silverskin on prior to freezing and then removing it on thawing if necessary, would it make for better quality meat?
Time wise it would be better to remove it from each joint as needed from the freezer but have never done it that way.

WB