Obviously the Christmas season is upon us and things are a bit busy around here. Who am I kidding? Things are always a bit busy around here. Anyway, here are the new developments.
I got all the carrots finished a week or so ago. I’ve got a post on bottling carrots coming up as I did give in and bottle a batch for sweet husband even though none of the kids will eat them.
Then last week we had a friend bring us two front quarters and one hind quarter of an elk. Hubby says next year we’re both getting cow elk tags since just him getting a spike tag this year didn’t get us any meat, so I told him he’d have to babysit while I went hunting. We’ll see what happens. THEN after we got the elk, he conveniently had to work the next three days. Seriously, this happens every time! He really doesn’t like cutting up elk. But this year, I can’t stand in the kitchen for hours on end cutting meat without suffering some severe hip and back pain (thanks, baby), so I didn’t cut it up those three days either. We did get two quarters cut off the bone and into a cooler before he had to get to work, and the last quarter sat in the shop “aging” (it’s been plenty cold around here that I wasn’t too worried about it). So we spent most of the weekend cutting up elk, lucky guy. I’m out of pint bottles, so we cut random chunks that will be steaks when we thaw them so we could be done faster, stew meat, and jerky. Did I mention sweet husband really dislikes cutting up elk? Part way through, he announced he’d discovered a “method” but didn’t tell me what it was. Well, I figured it out–his “method” was to cut on a piece until he was tired of looking at it, then pass it on to me to finish. What a hoot! He hardly got anything cut down to a finished size, but whatever. It still got done faster than just me cutting it all up. He did tell the girls that it takes the patience of a woman to cut elk. Hilarious. So now it’s all in the freezer and I’m moving on to finishing Christmas shopping and wrapping and shipping like a regular person in December.
Next time, I’ll try to get a video or pictures or something when we’re cutting the elk up to give you a better idea of how it’s done. It’s really non-scientific which I think is why it is so frustrating for some. Not too difficult–just takes time and a sharp knife. And, in my opinion, you get better cuts doing it yourself than taking it to a butcher.
Hopefully I’ll have more productive posts from here on out, but for today, catch up is all my brain can handle! :)
Keep preparing! Angela
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Wow! I'd love to hear more details on the cutting. (And again, I'm so impressed that it doesn't bother you–especially when you're pregnant! I can't even look at/touch meat for the first 16 weeks of my pregnancies!)
I would love to hear what kind of knives you recommend and how you keep them sharp.
Thank you!
Yep – you get every morsel when you butcher it up yourself.
And even better, there are the bones! I pressure good the backbones, neckbones, and rib bones down. I get broth to can for soups and a shredded meat that is good either in soups/stews or as a BBQ beef type thing, or great in tacos, burritos, etc.
Yes it is a long process… I usually sit down at the kitchen table and do one small piece at a time so it doesn't get too warm.
One memory I'll never forget is when we had an emergency butcher of one of our dairy cows – broke a leg… I was up PAST midnight on Christmas Eve wrapping hamburger… Not my fav memory – exhausted – but ya gotta do what ya gotta do!
marci357
Marci I bake my bones for stock.Then throw them in in a crock pot with veggies. Never thought of pressure cooking them. Do you get more flavor/stock that way?