7.62NATO,

When you say "grissiley", it sounds to me you didn't take enough of the tendons and tougher sinew away. This stuff will make chewing rough and will also plug up your grinder faster.

As for your question: "...how on earth can you cut away all of the other white stuff...the membrane, sinew...whatever it is...without it taking FOREVER."

I have no great answer there except it takes practice. Last time I processed a deer, cutting up the meat and steaks, etc, it was commented that I do that real well. Well, years ago when I first started, it did take "FOREVER". After some practice, I got better. What made me even faster was watching Metz' #2 video on meat processing. It's very similar to filleting a fish or rather removing the skin from the meat part.

What helps too is to have a sharp knife. I have a big plastic cutting board that the meat goes onto. I pick a piece of meat, then go to work on it cutting away the thin membrane part. I usually start in the middle of the meat, then cut a thin slice away just under the membrane all the way out to one side, then turn around 180° and continue to the other side. You do lose some meat, but this is meat you wouldn't eat at the dinner plate anyway, so you're really not losing anything. Plus removing it now means you remove some of the stuff that gives the meat a "gamy" taste.

For the hind quarters, I take the meat and remove the muscle groups first. Some people keep it whole for roasts and this is ok, but sometimes I cut it into steaks or use that for grinding. A guy can go crazy trying to remove all the smaller tendons from the meat in the lower legs of both the front and back, but by the time a guy is done, there's hardly anything there. I've learned to not mess with that area as there's not much there anyway. I also use the roasts of the neck, the area under and around the shoulder blades as grinds. I especially like to take the backstraps and grind that up.

NO way! Just kidding there! No way I'm grinding backstraps!

Hope that helps.

iSnipe