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Advice needed on home processing
Ok, so this year i decided that i am going to do all of my own processing. I have heard far to many horror stories and experienced a few myself with the local butcher shops here in Ohio. Plus i think that i will bring me a deeper feeling of achievement and a greater appreciation for the food on the table. So far i have watched a 2 hour DVD on the entire process and also numerous videos and articles online.
So far i have installed a gambrel (deer hanger) in the garage, purchased a secondary garage refrigerator and purchased a set of boning knives and a cheap little hack saw. I have yet to purchase a meat grinder because i am not sure if i want a manual for around $25 or an electric for around $100. Is a manual all that much work? I figure that i will process 2-4 deer per season and will not be making and sausage only steaks, ground and jerky. Also, do you guy's mix in beef fat with your ground or do you just go with straight venison? Any other tips that you would like to share please feel free. |
RE: Advice needed on home processing
I mix in beef fat personally in my hamburger so it doesn't get so dried out.
The hand grinder is alright but I would go with the electric one. We have one and it works really good. Alot faster and less work than a hand grinder. |
RE: Advice needed on home processing
Go electric on the grinder for sure. I add pork trim/fat at approx. 15%-20% in my burger and grind twice with the course grinder face.
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RE: Advice needed on home processing
i think that i will bring me a deeper feeling of achievement and a greater appreciation for the food on the table If you're going to do a good portion of ground I would suggest getting an electric grinder, as hang grinding can be quite a chore. Mixing with ground is just a matter of choice. I usually do half plain venison and half a venison/bacon mixture at 5/1 lbs. It's good stuff! |
RE: Advice needed on home processing
Really not that hard to do but don't forget the important things like plastic and wrapping paper, cleaning things thoroughly everytime, etc. Eventuallly a nice freezer and meat saw but you can do without for now. Trust me when I tell you it's soo much easier when you can freeze a hind quarter and run it through a meat saw and have steaks. Go for it and see if it's for you. And yes if you are gonna grind much burger the electic one is nice but you can "rig" a manuel one with an electric motor.
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RE: Advice needed on home processing
DO NOT BUY A $100 ELECTRIC GRINDER. You will be disappointed and will more than likely strip the gears out of it. Go to LEM's web site and get a #32 hand grinder, you can get them for about $85, money well spent. It has a 6" throat, so you will be able to shove some meat in it. The best part is, later if you desire, you can add a pulley wheel to, with a cheap motor you have a GREAT electric grinder. You will have to gearyour motor down, but will some play you will have it going in no time. This is the set up I have, I have been using for about 8 years now and it is amazing. With the motor gearing I have, it is equal to able a 1 1/2hp and just eats meat. All total I have about $140 in it. I have done deer with a small hand grinder, pain in the butt. I have gone the cheap electric route, have thrown out 3 or 4 of them before I learned my lesson.
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RE: Advice needed on home processing
My wife and I process ours. We used an old hand grinder the 1st time. What a pain. She has one of those heavy stand mixers that have bread hooks and all. If you or your wife has one, you can purchase a meat grinder attachment for like $50. We used a vacuum sealer and pre-marinated the steaks before vacuum sealing and freezing. Worked great.
We mixed 1/3 pork fat in with our ground. Was great for chilli, spaghetti, whatever. |
RE: Advice needed on home processing
Well i am on a tight budget and have already spent way to much this year on hunting stuff. It's either the el cheapo electric or the decent hand crank. What do you guys use for packaging?
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RE: Advice needed on home processing
Vacuum sealer for me. Costs more to package, but it'll last A LOT longer.
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RE: Advice needed on home processing
I use a vacuum sealer, but you do not have to do that. For years I used Reynolds wrap and freezer paper and never had a problem. The vaccum sealer is really nice, but not a must have. I would purchase the decent hand grinder (be sure you can add a wheel to it later) this year. You can figure out in the off-season what "nice-to-have" things you want to add after you have a year under your belt. The fact is, all you have-to-have is a set of good sharp knifes and a decent grinder.
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RE: Advice needed on home processing
My advice on a grinder is find a cheep kitchen one at a yard sale. My wife and I do our own also and thats all we have ever used. Its not fance and its not the fastest but it gets the job done and they are cheep to find. You might even find one at a salvation arm or thrift shop. I think we paid $5 for one at a yard sale and have used it for about 6 years and it still works great. Good luck.
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RE: Advice needed on home processing
ORIGINAL: dstubb Ok, so this year i decided that i am going to do all of my own processing. I have heard far to many horror stories and experienced a few myself with the local butcher shops here in Ohio. Plus i think that i will bring me a deeper feeling of achievement and a greater appreciation for the food on the table. So far i have watched a 2 hour DVD on the entire process and also numerous videos and articles online. So far i have installed a gambrel (deer hanger) in the garage, purchased a secondary garage refrigerator and purchased a set of boning knives and a cheap little hack saw. I have yet to purchase a meat grinder because i am not sure if i want a manual for around $25 or an electric for around $100. Is a manual all that much work? I figure that i will process 2-4 deer per season and will not be making and sausage only steaks, ground and jerky. Also, do you guy's mix in beef fat with your ground or do you just go with straight venison? Any other tips that you would like to share please feel free. Send me $20.00 and I'll tell ya ;) |
RE: Advice needed on home processing
Send me $20.00 and I'll tell ya |
RE: Advice needed on home processing
This season i'm thinking a hand grinder and some freezer paper. If i'm gonna still do it next season i will maybe invest in some better equipment.
Oh yeah, where do you guy's get the fat that you add to your ground? |
RE: Advice needed on home processing
You can get the fat at your local butcher shop or even at some grocery store meat departments.
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RE: Advice needed on home processing
Dstubb~~ I bought a el cheapo $70-$85 electric grinder(1/3rd HP i think..??) at my local Wally World last year and I absolutely love it so far!! Easy to move around, fast, will grind up as fast as I can shove it in, and just plain easy!! The only downfall I can find so far is the gear in the back is a hard poly plastic(it came with an extra gear)... I have done 3-4 deer so far and have not had a problem at all with it slipping or even bogging out so I am happy:)!!
Even if I would ONLY get another year out of the grinder I have got my moneys worth out of it!! A buddy of mine has one similiar that he got off EBAY(might wanna check em out) its a Made In China type of model and has been using it for probably 10yrs easy with no problems and they even stuff sausage and much more with it!!! IMO save yourself the aggravation and your back and spend the etra money and get an electric grinder!! Also I just use ZipLoc freezer quart bags to freeze EVERYTHING off of my deer and meat easily lasts up to a year without any freezer burn!! I also have a foodsaver vacuum sealer but it's more of an aggravation to me then its worth!! I only use it to wrap deer bologna!! Also the buddy that has the other el cheapo grinder uses freezer paper and I did a couple deer at his house one year and found myself trying to use up the meat very quickly because the paper was not preventing freezer burn!!! I guess to each his own, but I know I will never use that stuff again!! Hope this helps Good Luck!!! ohhhh and maybe you should have sold more avatars to help pay for this stuff...:DJK Good Luck buddy!! |
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