OP
OP
PokyBro
Senior Member
Super Doody, gotta love that handle!
Thanks for checking in. I don't watch that much tv, so I had to look up who Steve Rinella is, and I think it would be fun to hear some of his stories.
I'm not sure if there is any one person that most inspires me, but certainly many over the years. My love of wildlife was spawned n my teenage years by watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. So much so, I decided on that for a career path, and learned what had to be done to work in the wildlife arena. That led to a degree in Zoology, with emphasis on field biology. One of the best times of my life. Loved learning so much about the animal universe, it was great.
To your questions on meat handling. I let the meat age until I can get it into the freezer, which is as soon as possible. I usually go on the elk hunt the second week of October, and while it might be plenty cold, to even below freezing in the mountains, back at home it can be warm. I don't have access to a walk in cooler, so I am really under the gun to get things taken care of quickly as possible. I have a refrigerator in the garage, so often, I start the processing by getting the meat onto trays in the fridge first, then I am pretty particular to make sure it's clean of hair and grit, then I typically cut steaks from the back straps, roasts from the hind quarters large muscles, and then stew meat, fajita cuts, and lots of ground burger.
To give perspective, I got home this year on Friday night, after the two days of packing the meat out. I had to bone out the meat up there, because I was alone, and it was just too heavy to pack otherwise. Once home, I spent Saturday and Sunday, cleaning, processing, and wrapping. Then several more nights after work till finished the following Friday. What we don't want to eat gets ground up and frozen for our dog, so there's very little waste.
We have our own grinder, and I add pork fat, or boneless country pork ribs, at about 5-8%, to help keep it together, and to add flavor and cooking fat. We use the burger in place of anywhere you'd use beef hamburger. I like to marinate the steaks in whatever concoction I come up with, and throw it on the grill. As I said earlier, I love roasts. We use a crock pot to cook the roast slowly, add a packet of French onion soup on top, maybe an onion, let it go till very tender. Mashed potatoes, and use the drippings from the roast, with beef bouillon, add a bit of water and corn starch to thicken as desired, and your set. There's zero fat in the roast, so the gravy helps keep it moist, but I'll tell you what, it is awesome! I'm going to make some summer sausage this year, and maybe jerky, but never tried either before.
Sorry so long winded, I tend to be that way.
Take care, and let me know if you have any other curiosity questions.
Poky
Sent from my iPad using Wander The West
Thanks for checking in. I don't watch that much tv, so I had to look up who Steve Rinella is, and I think it would be fun to hear some of his stories.
I'm not sure if there is any one person that most inspires me, but certainly many over the years. My love of wildlife was spawned n my teenage years by watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. So much so, I decided on that for a career path, and learned what had to be done to work in the wildlife arena. That led to a degree in Zoology, with emphasis on field biology. One of the best times of my life. Loved learning so much about the animal universe, it was great.
To your questions on meat handling. I let the meat age until I can get it into the freezer, which is as soon as possible. I usually go on the elk hunt the second week of October, and while it might be plenty cold, to even below freezing in the mountains, back at home it can be warm. I don't have access to a walk in cooler, so I am really under the gun to get things taken care of quickly as possible. I have a refrigerator in the garage, so often, I start the processing by getting the meat onto trays in the fridge first, then I am pretty particular to make sure it's clean of hair and grit, then I typically cut steaks from the back straps, roasts from the hind quarters large muscles, and then stew meat, fajita cuts, and lots of ground burger.
To give perspective, I got home this year on Friday night, after the two days of packing the meat out. I had to bone out the meat up there, because I was alone, and it was just too heavy to pack otherwise. Once home, I spent Saturday and Sunday, cleaning, processing, and wrapping. Then several more nights after work till finished the following Friday. What we don't want to eat gets ground up and frozen for our dog, so there's very little waste.
We have our own grinder, and I add pork fat, or boneless country pork ribs, at about 5-8%, to help keep it together, and to add flavor and cooking fat. We use the burger in place of anywhere you'd use beef hamburger. I like to marinate the steaks in whatever concoction I come up with, and throw it on the grill. As I said earlier, I love roasts. We use a crock pot to cook the roast slowly, add a packet of French onion soup on top, maybe an onion, let it go till very tender. Mashed potatoes, and use the drippings from the roast, with beef bouillon, add a bit of water and corn starch to thicken as desired, and your set. There's zero fat in the roast, so the gravy helps keep it moist, but I'll tell you what, it is awesome! I'm going to make some summer sausage this year, and maybe jerky, but never tried either before.
Sorry so long winded, I tend to be that way.
Take care, and let me know if you have any other curiosity questions.
Poky
Sent from my iPad using Wander The West
