Processing Tips and Tricks

[cohunter14]

I put this in the elk forum since I am tailoring this more towards elk than other big game. We started processing our own game last year with our test subjects being a couple of antelope. We just decided it was silly to continue paying as much as we were to have animals processed, and it would also give us something to do over the winter! We ended up just making a bunch of jerky and it turned out awesome! However, an elk created more issues, including the fact that we weren\'t going to make all jerky.

We brought the elk back quartered, skinned, in game bags and in then in some large coolers. We also had a separate bag for the back-straps and tenderloins. The day after we got back, we de-bonded the meat, cleaned it all up, and cut it into chunks that would fit into our grinder. We decided to throw all of those chunks into a couple of garbage bags and freeze the meat until we could get back around to it. At the same time, we also de-bonded the quarters from my antelope that I had shot the weekend before. I had vacuum sealed those quarters and put them into the freezer.

Tip #1: Do not freeze whole quarters and do not freeze a big bag of chunked meat unless you have to.

This is because I had to thaw the antelope quarters just to de-bone them. We then had to thaw the chunked up meat just to grind it up. This leads to freezing, thawing, freezing, thawing, etc. In a perfect scenario, my suggestion would be to de-bone the meat as soon as possible to avoid freezing the quarters.

Tip #2: Once it is de-boned, I would suggest grinding everything and weighing it out into packs to vacuum seal before freezing the meat.

This is obviously only for the meat that will be turned into burger, sausage, jerky, etc. At that same time, you can take any roasts or steaks and vacuum seal those as well. By weighing out the packages, you also avoid freezing, thawing, and freezing again. Weigh anything that is to be made into jerky or sausage into five pound bags since most of the seasoning kits out there are for five pounds at a time. That way you can remove a bag, thaw it, and get to work making jerky or sausage. You can weigh the burger into whatever size bags you would expect to cook at one time. We did mainly 1 lb bags, but a few 2 lbs bags as well. I would also recommend adding any fat at this time, again to avoid the freezing and thawing. We used 10% beef suet on some of our burger and left some without any fat added. I will try to post back on here and let you guys know any difference in taste and cooking methods used because of this. By vacuum sealing everything, you also avoid freezer burn that can happen without doing that. The chunks of meat that we put in garbage bags iced up very quick and would have eventually gotten freezer burned.

Tip #3: Cut all steaks and roasts into whatever portion you would consume at one meal before freezing them.

When we got back, I just vacuum sealed the back-straps into large packs and got them into the freezer. I will now have to thaw them to cut them into an appropriate portion and re-freeze the rest.

This is all I\'ve got for now. Who else has tips or tricks that they use? This is a learning process for sure, but it\'s a lot of fun as well!

 

[cnelk]

I dont have the option of not freezing my quarters, but yes it can be a pain. I can thaw a quarter at a time and process at my leisure. But one tip if you do freeze your quarters, place a plastic garbage bags between them as they will freeze together. And then you WILL have one big chunk o meat to thaw out!

Another tip for steaks if you vacuum freeze:
After cutting steaks, place on cookie sheet and freeze them lightly. This will create sharper corners, not so much blood squeeze and the vacuum sealer will do a much job.

Same goes for grinding chunks of meat. If you lightly freeze the chunks, they grind so much better and your grinder wont work as hard.

 

[Anonymous]

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[elky McElkerson]

i quit using vacuum sealers. i think what happens is that ice crystals form and stab holes in the bags and eventually they leak. and this is the stuff my butcher uses..maybe he buys crappy bags.

i researched pro kitchen staff tips and i do this..and it has been 100% successful. no meat loss due to freezer burn.

i portion off my stuff into whatever size i want. usually two-people portions. wife and myself.
i clean it off..silverskin, extra fat, grass, bullets..etc.

wrap it with a layer of plastic. the stuff from Costco is VERY good. then i turn the pocket of meat 90 degrees and flip it over, and wrap it with plastic again. seams are now opposite of each other. i then wrap it with heavy duty alum foil. then i gather up a few similar packets..example. \"backstraps\" cram them into a gallon or two gallon ziploc,label the bag with a sharpie and pop it in the freezer.

when you pull a packet to defrost. it goes alot faster if you remove the foil.

my wife likes to sharpie mark the foil itself so she can mix/match meat types in the same ziploc.

oh, i keep heart and liver..next elk..i am bringing out the tongue..i\'m an adventurous cook.

 

[WW]

We have an old fridg in the garage. I can stuff a whole quartered elk in it to cool the meat. Cool meat is much easier to work with. No freezing necessary! Once the meat is cooled throughout, we work it ASAP.

 

[cnelk]

I realize that processing an elk by yourself is what most what to do - me included.

But...
What do you do when you shoot 2? Or 3?

Vanish, if both and your wife had shot an elk, do you have enough cooler space to process them in a timely manner without freezing?
I dont.

I intended to process my \'elk\' this year, but when I shot 2 and then my son shot one, there was NO WAY, with a full time job and having several hundred pounds of meat to take care of, I had no choice to freeze and take some to the processor.

Just saying to be prepared to adjust if you need to.

I have seen no evidence that freezing, thawing and freezing meat again has any negative effects on taste or freshness.

 

[bowhunter]

I realize that processing an elk by yourself is what most what to do - me included.

But...
What do you do when you shoot 2? Or 3?

Vanish, if both and your wife had shot an elk, do you have enough cooler space to process them in a timely manner without freezing?
I dont.

I intended to process my \'elk\' this year, but when I shot 2 and then my son shot one, there was NO WAY, with a full time job and having several hundred pounds of meat to take care of, I had no choice to freeze and take some to the processor.

Just saying to be prepared to adjust if you need to.

I have seen no evidence that freezing, thawing and freezing meat again has any negative effects on taste or freshness.

I have a couple extra freezers. Plenty of room to freeze quarters and process them when I can. I have always done my own processing. I might take some deboned meat in to have sausage or salami made at a local meat shop.

I have a spare fridge in the garage to put quarters in if it is too warm to let it hang.

 

[Anonymous]

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[elky McElkerson]

last time i went hunting for elk. we kinda had an unwritten code..we split the meat. i consciously brought back the least, since i have pathetic freezer space.

wife and i talked about \"what if\". we put a chest freezer in the shopping cart from Sears. she was gonna pay for it and have it delivered and plugged in by the time i got home. it was surprisingly NOT expensive. two animals down would be a staggering problem. i would have had to hit the local stores to buy more ice chest for the drive home!! and maybe a hitch rack basket. my tacoma would have really been too small. it is a one elk truck, for sure.

i\'m a rare bird..i think there is such thing as too much elk.

 

[cohunter14]

Too much elk would be a good problem to have! Our group has enough freezer space to make it work...but we all don\'t live together either! Three elk in one household would have to be a chore Brad!

 

[Baby Huey]

For processing, we have an old grinder that is 30+ years old we had when we were farming and butchering our pigs and cows. That thing still works like a champ. We also use vacuum sealers. We bought the largest Cabela?s branded unit last year after going through a couple Food Savers from Costco, and it works great. My 3 brothers, mom & dad and a couple of friends will typically be around to help out whenever we get animals, so that is a huge help with a crew that big in butchering. We have one guy cutting steaks, one guy on the vacuum sealer making bags and sealing once the meat is in the bags, another guy running a grinder and the rest are working on the meat. We typically just do hamburger and steaks although we did butcher a pig last year and mixed it 1/2 & 1/2 with elk, added spices and put it into sausage casings for about 6 different sausage flavors. That was a separate butchering day where we just made sausage - took a lot longer than we expected, but that stuff is great!

A couple more tips:

1. When using the vacuum sealer, I try to add a book or small wood plank on the table and under the meat bag that is about to be sealed, but not under the sealer. This allows the bag to be at the same level as where the lid closure meets its \"base\", and the bags seal much nicer and easier.
2. Write out what the cut of meat is in the vacuum sealer bags prior to filling them with meat, it is much easier to write on the bags while on a flat table than with burger or steak in them. We usually write on the bag the unit, year, cut of meat and if it is elk or deer.
3. When packing the burger in the bags, we push the meat into the bottom corners (to get the air out) and then lay the bag flat and smash down the burger until it is flat and 3/4 \"to 1\" in thickness. This helps get a lot of the air out and helps in the sealing process. The flattened bags store much easier in the freezer since they are all flat.
4. Use a paper towel to wipe the inside of the sealer bags dry at the top, so that the bags are dry so the sealer can make a proper seal. The blood will usually not allow a good seal, so using the paper towel really helps.
5. For the hamburger, we try to take off as much of the tendon and \"silver skin\" from the meat as possible. We find this makes for much better burger - but it is pretty time consuming.
6. In the field we use 2.5 gallon ziplock bags to place the backstraps and tenderloins in. We cut the backstraps to the length of the bag so they will fit. We roll them a bit and smash all of the air out as well as we can. This helps keep them from drying out. I always carry 3-4 with me in my pack.
7. We also try to keep water off of the meat as much as possible. The last few years we have been using gallon water jugs, filling them about 2/3 full and then freezing them (fill them too full and the ice will expand and pop the lid off). So, when the ice melts, it is inside the gallon jugs. One still gets condensation inside the cooler, but it is considerably less than melting ice. Definitely not a requirement and our personal preference, but we find out meat comes out better by not being water-logged.

However many people were at the butchering session is how many final divisions of packaged meat we divide up. Everyone gets an equal amount.

 

[cohunter14]

1. When using the vacuum sealer, I try to add a book or small wood plank on the table and under the meat bag that is about to be sealed, but not under the sealer. This allows the bag to be at the same level as where the lid closure meets its \"base\", and the bags seal much nicer and easier.
2. Write out what the cut of meat is in the vacuum sealer bags prior to filling them with meat, it is much easier to write on the bags while on a flat table than with burger or steak in them. We usually write on the bag the unit, year, cut of meat and if it is elk or deer.
3. When packing the burger in the bags, we push the meat into the bottom corners (to get the air out) and then lay the bag flat and smash down the burger until it is flat and 3/4 \"to 1\" in thickness. This helps get a lot of the air out and helps in the sealing process. The flattened bags store much easier in the freezer since they are all flat.

Really like these ideas. Simple, yet I hadn\'t thought about them :clap:

 

[Lark Bunting]

I wrapped all the cuts of meat off my deer in butcher paper and put those in freezer bags.

By having them in freezer bags it saved me a LOT of cleanup time when my freezer sh!t the bed and I lost half my deer meat. :wave: