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Ryda85

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
hey guys, im in the process of butchering my 1st deer. main question is, do i have to remove all of the membrane off of the meat? not the fat or silverskin, but the "connecting tissue slimey" stuff.

i am having a hell of a time trying to cut it out. i seem to be hacking up my nice cut pieces. thanks
 
#5 ·
I have always found it better if you remove it or at least all you can. If you have some way to cool it cuts better. You can take a paper towel and get ahold of the slimmy stuff and kind of peal and slice almost like skinning the dear. That seems to work well for me.
 
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#6 ·
I'm curious, too

I'd like to know more about this, too. I already searched "silverskin" in the cooking subcategory and read all the relevant posts.

I know this probably seems like a dumb question if you've been processing deer since you were a kid. But, every one of the muscles is covered with some kind of membrane. Do you need to be concerned with all of it, or just the stuff between muscle and skin?

Also, this stuff is slippery as snot on a doorknob. So, it's really hard to get off. I ended up using some needle-nose vise-grips because my hand got so tired. Any tricks of the trade?

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
#7 ·
I try to get most of it off. A fillet knife is my best friend when butchering. Also, using a stout blade (hunting knife) to scrape the meat lightly removes a lot of it.
 
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#8 ·
I use my fish filet knife (very sharp) and gently work the tip of the knife between the sections of muscle and your finger of your other hand and seperate each section. Those sections cut into great steaks and roasts.
Practice makes perfect.
Over the last few years I've done probably a dozen deer and I get better at it each time. Practice makes perfect, well, maybe not perfect, but I'm better at it now than the first time.
Good luck
 
#9 ·
Use a good sharp thin bladed knife, like a boning knife or as others have said, a fillet knife. I usually cut as much as I can off. It depends what you are cutting though, sometimes it is easier to trim a big piece other times it is easier to trim the individual steaks (or whatever it is).

If you are grinding, take the extra time to trim out at least 75% of the fat and junk stuff - you burger will taste much better.
 
#10 ·
I have always processed my own deer since I started harvesting them. Really slow and painful at first. Nobody to really teach me. I have since gotten fairly decent. Last year I decided I would get a dvd and watch how a professional would do it. I was on the right track. But I still got a couple pretty good tricks from this dvd.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...avAction=push&catalogCode=IK&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601975&hasJS=true

I know it won't help you tonight but I recomend it for future viewing if you are going to continue to process yourself. If you could find someone you know to help you out with just one you would probably save yourself a lot of headache in the future also. Hope this helps and the above thread is spot on to help you get through this one. good luck
 
#11 · (Edited)
Make sure you use a SHARP knife and it makes it easier when the meat is semi frozen.As far as all the slimey stuff I would'nt worry about it! Just get the fat off as best you can.Even the silver skin on the straps can be cut off with less wasted meat after it's cooked!Good luck PJ:darkbeer:
 
#12 ·
Well not sure if this is right, seen a butcher do it. I take a torch and lightly braze it across the slimy stuff, stiffens it right up , then take a fillet knife and cut it off

That thread from a while ago that was posted was good

however i like to take off the silver on the back straps as I butcher. Then I take that silver and fillet off the meat, which is a thin strip. I put this in a quart bag and we make Philly steak sandwiches out of it. MMM good

I vacuum seal my stuff. grind the burger into the 1 and 2lb bags from Rural King , make my own summer sausage, breakfast sausage and brats.

Takes time, but I like knowing how my meat was handled. And I shoot quite a few deer a year, last year we got 11, 1 which I gave away. So 10 deer at 65 bucks plus adds up.


Don't worry, my first deer looked horrible, most of it went to hamburger as I had tore it all up

You'll get better
 
#13 ·
I take the whole quarters / backstraps and fillet the slimy stuff and fat off like I am filleting the skin off a fish.

Then I follow the muscle groups and cut the quarters into roasts, steaks, and stew meat-grind meat removing as much connective tissue and fat as possible.
 
#14 ·
Keep searching for other threads on this ,get a DVD or find some website that shows the proper care of your deer.
Also nobody mentioned , there are several glands that MUST be removed. Most look like a large bean, others look like a pea. just pull or cut around them and connecting tissue.Most are between some of the muscles. They will make the meat real "gamey" if you leave them in the meat or cut them open.
 
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