Although it's not your typical entrée, venison, or deer meat, is gaining popularity because of its exotic, full-bodied taste. In addition to being low in fat, venison provides an excellent source of more than 80 nutrients. If you plan to consume venison obtained from hunting, the next step is to clean and process the venison to prepare the meat for cooking. Although butchers can process the meat for you, processing your own venison is a grueling but satisfying procedure that lets you control how the venison is cut and saves you time and money.
Instructions
1. Find a clean, spacious, unheated and well-ventilated area in which to process the carcass.
2. Hang the field-dressed and cleaned deer carcass by its head on a meat hook or any hook that can support the weight, or a tree. Remove the skin from the carcass with the knife. Start at the neck and move down the body to the knee joints. Saw off everything below the knee joint.
3. Wash the carcass with a garden hose in a drainable area to remove any hair, dirt, blood or damaged tissue.
4. Remove the shoulder by lifting one of the front legs away from the chest and remove the meat on the side of the ribs. Saw the connective tissue between the leg and the rib cage. Cut the shoulder away from the withers, the ridge between the shoulder blades. Cut the front leg into three parts---the shoulder roast, arm roast and shank. Separate the shoulder roast from the leg by cutting through the shoulder joint. Separate the arm roast (the top part of the leg) from the shank by cutting through the elbow joint. Trim the cuts from the fat and de-bone and de-tissue the shank.
5. Remove the loin by making an incision in front of one of the hind legs, cutting to the backbone. Cut along the backbone to the base of the neck. Cut directly over the point where the ribs curve to merge with the backbone. Remove the loin by cutting it loose from the rib cage by raising the loin and cutting down the cage. Trim the connective tissue from the loin and cut into chunks.
6. Cut the flank, the area between the bottom of the ribs and the top of the pelvis, away from the body by slicing it away from the backbone and the ribcage.
7. Saw off the neck at the backbone just in front of the shoulder. Neck meat is excellent for stews.
8. Remove the side of ribs from the backbone with a saw, cutting from the bottom of the ribcage to the neck. Separate ribs as desired.
9. Cut off the tenderloins, which are located on either side of the backbone in front of the pelvis, by removing it from the backbone with a knife.
10. Saw the backbone off just in front of the hind legs. The backbone is best used in making soup stocks.
11. Separate the two hind legs by sawing through the middle of the backbone. Cut each leg into a sirloin roast, a sirloin tip, a round and the shank. Remove the sirloin roast from the leg with a knife by cutting through the ball and socket joint. Create the sirloin tip by cutting the leg just below the knee cap. Separate the round from the shank by cutting the tendon and connective tissues. De-bone the round. Separate muscles in the meat by cutting the connective tissues.
12. Put meat cuts into freezer bags. Remove the air from the bags and tightly seal them. Label the cut of meat with a permanent marker. Store the meat in a freezer.
Tags: away from, cutting through, from backbone, hind legs, with knife
