After the shot.

[chrislibby88]

I see a lot of harvest posts, but not much of the aftermath. Thought I would share a snapshot of the meat processing. I usually age any game I kill for 2-5 days in an iced cooler. I try to keep the meat out of the water. Blanched, soaked meat doesn’t taste better, has IMO an odd texture, and bacteria/fungus thrive in water, so I keep the meat on top of the ice and try to stay ahead on draining it.

Mixed the meat with domestic pork fat. I went for about a 80/20 ratio, but left as much fat on the meat as possible.
Bought some beef fat too, but wound up not using it, so we just rendered it into tallow while we worked on the meat.

Huge shoutout to my pregnant wife, that spend the whole morning helping me make sausage. She’s a heck of a team mate.

We made bulk Italian, apple sage patties, and a few lbs of bulk ground pork. I only saved the backstraps as a whole cut, everything else was ground.

A few tips I’ve learned:
I cling wrap my whole counter for easy cleanup. Wetting the surface helps the wrap stick and stay put.
Gloves and an apron help keep you clean.
Keep your meat and fat as cold as possible when grinding so your fat doesn’t smear.
I like vac sealing all my meat. Keeps longer, no mess when you thaw.
If you make patties, freeze them before vac sealing so they keep their shape. Honestly, if you have room or time you can freeze everything before vacuum sealing.

 

[bany]

Your wife has a lot of tattoos ?!! Sorry I couldn’t help it!
Nice post. That’s good info,pretty much how I do it. Putting cling wrap down is a great idea! I just plain quit adding domestic fat to anything, our preference. We usually keep the whole hams and grind the rest. And I too have a spectacular wife when processing!

 

[chrislibby88]

Your wife has a lot of tattoos ?!! Sorry I couldn’t help it!
Nice post. That’s good info,pretty much how I do it. Putting cling wrap down is a great idea! I just plain quit adding domestic fat to anything, our preference. We usually keep the whole hams and grind the rest. And I too have a spectacular wife when processing!

Haha. She was taking the photos!

 

[chrislibby88]

Your wife has a lot of tattoos ?!! Sorry I couldn’t help it!
Nice post. That’s good info,pretty much how I do it. Putting cling wrap down is a great idea! I just plain quit adding domestic fat to anything, our preference. We usually keep the whole hams and grind the rest. And I too have a spectacular wife when processing!

You don’t find the sausage or burger grind to be too dry and crumble when cooking without added fat? My family eats paleo, so we don’t add bread crumbs to our patties to help them stick together, so the higher fat content helps keep things solid. I do want to find a nice fat pig where I don’t need to add fat. This was one breast feeding, so I’m guessing that sucked a lot of fat off of her, plus this is the leanest time of year for most animals.

 

[bany]

Sausage is always firm, we don’t do veni burgers but she makes meatloaf occasionally. Maybe an egg in your burgers? I don’t over cook any of our wild meat......unless I screw up! That keeps it from being dry. From hoof to freezer I know exactly how it got there so I don’t have to kill a second time while cooking. I know lots of folks add fat or meat to their game, I’ve tried different stuff over the years and find 0% the best here.

 

[bany]

A year ago this month the pigs were as fatty as I’ve seen. I was a bit worried about that as I usually get rid of most of it. I just removed the usual outer fat and let the rest ride and that was some excellent pork.

 

[chrislibby88]

Sausage is always firm, we don’t do veni burgers but she makes meatloaf occasionally. Maybe an egg in your burgers? I don’t over cook any of our wild meat......unless I screw up! That keeps it from being dry. From hoof to freezer I know exactly how it got there so I don’t have to kill a second time while cooking. I know lots of folks add fat or meat to their game, I’ve tried different stuff over the years and find 0% the best here.

Probably need to get those hogs well done. I think they need to hit 160 to kill trichonisis and brucellosis. I’m too scared to feed my wife and kids undercooked pig. I always eat my venison rare though.

 

[bany]

Yes sir, on the ham I smoke, cook, wrap and go low for hours= tender and moist! Now I’m hungry......

 

[chrislibby88]

Yes sir, on the ham I smoke, cook, wrap and go low for hours= tender and moist! Now I’m hungry......

Yea I slow cook my whole cuts too. I’m trying to find and kill a 200+ lbs pig so I will have enough back strap to some cubed, or some small chops.

 

[FrChs28]

Nice post ! Good info....

 

[DoubleFive]

Good idea about the plastic wrap. I will give that a try next time.

 

[chrislibby88]

Good idea about the plastic wrap. I will give that a try next time.

I still wipe the counter down with bleach or Lysol wipes, but it keeps all the blood and fluid off the counter, and makes cleanup a bit easier.

 

[bfriendly]

Great post sir.......definitely try to keep the meat out of the water when on ice!

 

[bany]

I got a few more pigs last week. Out of west ala. Full of fat again! Thought I’d add y’all try to protect those bellies! They are the best part to add the fat and flavor. I peel the inner membrane off.