Every year, thousands of hunter's head to the woods for the annual deer hunt. After the deer are hunted, hunters either take the deer to a local meat processor, or cut the deer up into venison steaks, stew meat and hamburger themselves. Learning to cut venison yourself is not hard; the key is getting the deer carcass into pieces that can be easily managed.
Instructions
1. Use the meat saw to cut the deer into manageable sized pieces after it is field dressed and skinned. Remove both front legs, both hind legs and the backstrap, and then cut the back down the middle to create two sections of ribs.
2. Place the sections of meat into plastic tray bags, and put them in the ice chest to stay cool until you are ready to cut the deer into steaks, stew or other cuts of meat.
3. Lay out newspaper on your work surface, and place a cutting board on top.
4. Use a very sharp knife or a meat saw to cut the ribs into portions that will fit your grill, roaster or other cooking pans. Slice the meat between the rib bones, leaving meat on either side of the cut.
5. Cut the backstrap into 1 inch medallions for steaks similar to filet mignon.
6. Decide if you want the front legs to be bone-in or boneless roasts, stew meat or hamburger. A bone-in roast can be made using the entire front leg portion from hip to knee and packaged as is, or it can be cut into smaller sections, using the meat saw, and packaged. To make boneless roasts, use a sharp flexible knife to cut into the meat, and work around the bone until it is detached fully. For stew meat or hamburger, slice the meat from the bone in large chunks, and cut into 1 inch cubes.
7. Cut steaks from the hind leg by carving a line close to the bone in the meatiest portion of the section. This will separate the meat from the bone. Carve steaks by cutting from the outside of the meat to the bone in the thickness you prefer.
8. Remove any remaining meat from the bone, and cut into cubes to be used as stew meat or hamburger.
9. Package your meat in appropriate serving sizes in either heavy duty freezer bags, or by wrapping in butcher paper. Freeze until needed.
Tags: meat hamburger, stew meat, stew meat hamburger, deer into, from bone, meat from, meat from bone