Nice. I use ancho chile powder when I make venison chili.
The meat...
- Thread starter Shanghai McCoy
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Armored farmer
Member
You can keep your man card.
We have an excellent local, family owned processor that we have been using for generations. They do an excellent job of packaging and their processing plant is CLEAN.
We have processed a few of our own over the years, but always field dress them.
A homemade chest spreader and a sawzall helps there.
Spread the ribcage and reach in and remove those inside loins before you go to the processor.
Appalachiannative
Member
You make me wish we had Duck hunting here in WNC. I've heard of guys floating the French broad river and shooting a couple mallards or a wood duck but we don't have the big flocks here so duck hunting ain't much of a thing. I've only had duck at Chinese restaurants
Well I never have found that last thing, and am finally smart/tired enough to quit lookin'.
Up early, heading out to hunt in a couple hrs.
3 hrs sleep wooohooo.
The doe I shot has been excellent table fare. But she aint gonna last long, I gotta blast at least one mid sized deer to have anything left by summer.
And may have to shoot two (I have 3 tags left).
BreechFace
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I’ve lived up here in WY for 17 years and never gone duck hunting in my life. Decided the other night at work to try it out and go out to a little walk in area just outside town. 10 minute drive, 5 minute walk to the creek and I can spend an hour or two and have my limit. It’s definitely going to be another season to look forward to in the future
So here are photos of my kitchen fireplace as it is now. I'll also describe the change that I made a few years ago that made it much more convenient to use.
Here are the glass doors and the inner steel mesh doors. The old doors were bifold style and inside were steel mesh curtains. The doors and curtain were oversized/wider than than the fireplace so when opened the glass doors were beyond the opening and the mesh curtains were almost out of the opening (maybe an inch of overlap on each side).
Here are the cooking grate and the steel "rails" the cooking grate sits on.
You can see the notch in the rails at the back. That is the key improvement that I made. With the old doors/curtains being wider than the opening, when I wanted to change the height of the grate I would slide the grate fully forward so the rear of the grate cleared the front of the rail. This worked okay, but the curtains had about 1" overlap with the fireplace opening, so this was somewhat inconvenient. It wasn't too bad when the grate was empty, but when it was loaded with meat I needed another set of hands because I couldn't handle the loaded grate with one hand while manipulating the curtains with the other.
So we made do until the renovation. When we went to buy the new doors, it was impossible to find a door that could be wider than the opening and mount the way the old door did. Any new door would make it impossible to slide the grate out and change its height. This left me three choices: keep the old, beat doors; stop cooking on the fireplace; get creative. First two options weren't acceptable, so I had to figure out a new way to do this.
That's when cutting the notch in the rails dawned on me. I also had to cut the last bar on the grate on each side (this created elongated "tabs" that rested on the rails). Now, all I have to do is slide the grate forward about 1" until the rear "tabs" are in the notches. I wish I had done this years ago because it makes it so much easier to use the grate, but necessity is the mother of invention. The hassle wasn't great enough to force me to think of a new way.
Here are a couple close up photos of the grate and rails.
Here are the glass doors and the inner steel mesh doors. The old doors were bifold style and inside were steel mesh curtains. The doors and curtain were oversized/wider than than the fireplace so when opened the glass doors were beyond the opening and the mesh curtains were almost out of the opening (maybe an inch of overlap on each side).
Here are the cooking grate and the steel "rails" the cooking grate sits on.
You can see the notch in the rails at the back. That is the key improvement that I made. With the old doors/curtains being wider than the opening, when I wanted to change the height of the grate I would slide the grate fully forward so the rear of the grate cleared the front of the rail. This worked okay, but the curtains had about 1" overlap with the fireplace opening, so this was somewhat inconvenient. It wasn't too bad when the grate was empty, but when it was loaded with meat I needed another set of hands because I couldn't handle the loaded grate with one hand while manipulating the curtains with the other.
So we made do until the renovation. When we went to buy the new doors, it was impossible to find a door that could be wider than the opening and mount the way the old door did. Any new door would make it impossible to slide the grate out and change its height. This left me three choices: keep the old, beat doors; stop cooking on the fireplace; get creative. First two options weren't acceptable, so I had to figure out a new way to do this.
That's when cutting the notch in the rails dawned on me. I also had to cut the last bar on the grate on each side (this created elongated "tabs" that rested on the rails). Now, all I have to do is slide the grate forward about 1" until the rear "tabs" are in the notches. I wish I had done this years ago because it makes it so much easier to use the grate, but necessity is the mother of invention. The hassle wasn't great enough to force me to think of a new way.
Here are a couple close up photos of the grate and rails.
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BreechFace
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brewer12345
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Whacked a few ducks yesterday, so I took a couple of the goose breasts and a mallard breast, sliced them thin, and sprinkled them with the cure and seasoning to make some jerky. I will put it in the dehydrator tomorrow. I used a maple garlic seasoning.
north east redneck
Contributing Member
Whitetail back strap. Salt, pepper and onion. Cooked rare.
Armored farmer
Member
Wow.
Absolutely fantastic @wombat13 !
If I ever get to build a new house, it's gonna have one of those right there!
Brilliant!
9x56MS
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Just a good rifle that shoots where he points it.
9x56MS
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I have taken well over 100 deer and butchered all but a few. For the past 43 years my wife has helped me cut and wrap, then after season we do grind and make sausage some in casing and some bulk. For us the harvest is just the beginning. We haven’t had beef in over 30 years. Both our kids were raised on venison. The lord has blessed us and so I thank every deer I harvest.
brewer12345
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Looks good.
My favorite thing to do with backstrap is a dish dad clued me into. You take a chunk of backstrap and slice it really thin into circles. Cut up a sweet onion or two and saute in olive oil. After it softens, add salt and pepper and a generous amount of white wine. Cover and cook until the onions are a bit caramelized. Toss in the thinly sliced steak and move it around for a minute or so until it is just cooked. Serve as a filling in a chunk of Italian bread to make a sandwich.
Shanghai McCoy
Member
Marinated some small chunks in rice wine vinegar and soy sauce with garlic cloves. Stir fried with onion, broccoli and thin sliced carrots in soy oil and served over rice. Little siracha sauce on it to "kick it up.." 
Thanks. Like I said, it was one of the reasons we bought this old farmhouse. I would never recommend buying
That sounds great. I've made Philly cheesesteaks with backstrap twice and my kids loved it.
brewer12345
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This is simpler. It is a poor man's dish, but it is great.
Captcurt
Member
I just finished dinner and saw this. I am drooling.
Armored farmer
Member
Ok
I feel like we need to all get on the same page......:
This may not be the best diagram, but what are we calling backstraps?
The loins?
We call the tender muscles along the backbone inside the cavity the "inside tenderloins".
I just want to get my terminology right.
I feel like we need to all get on the same page......:
This may not be the best diagram, but what are we calling backstraps?
The loins?
We call the tender muscles along the backbone inside the cavity the "inside tenderloins".
I just want to get my terminology right.
brewer12345
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Backstrap would be called the loin in this diagram. The hindquarter separation is not good in this diagram. I separate the hindquarter into bottom round (tougher, roast), top round (steaks), sirloin (roast or steaks), eye of round (my favorite steak on the whole animal), and shank. Then there are some odds and ends that end up in the grind pile or cut up for stew meat. This video from Cabelas shows the separation of the hindquarters very clearly: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...CFCE6597F53536551C50CFCE6597F535&&FORM=VRDGAR
Another look:
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Armored farmer
Member
That's just not right!
Lol
Duster340
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It comes out fork tender. Melts in your mouth.
Savage30L
Member
OK, my turn.
I was looking for something to fix for dinner tonight, and found, in one of our freezers, a vacuum-sealed bag of venison backstrap with a broken seal, which looked like it might be getting freezer-burned, so I pulled it out.
In the photo, the far piece is larger than the near piece, although the perspective of the photo doesn't show that...
Mushrooms and onions, cooking in bacon grease....
Add venison and sear on both sides.....
Put into a 450-degree oven for finishing....plate, and serve with roasted potatoes....
...and the wine to accompany:
I was looking for something to fix for dinner tonight, and found, in one of our freezers, a vacuum-sealed bag of venison backstrap with a broken seal, which looked like it might be getting freezer-burned, so I pulled it out.
In the photo, the far piece is larger than the near piece, although the perspective of the photo doesn't show that...
Mushrooms and onions, cooking in bacon grease....
Add venison and sear on both sides.....
Put into a 450-degree oven for finishing....plate, and serve with roasted potatoes....
...and the wine to accompany:
