butchering tips
11-23-2005, 08:02 AM
#11
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,476
SHOULDER OPTION!!!! RE: butchering tips
I have also trimmed all shoulder meat and used it for stews and grind.
BUT......I don't know if any of you have cooked a shoulder whole or not....it is unbelieveable!!!!! It is by far the best stew / vegetable roast you can taste.
This works great no matter the size of the deer, but obviously as with all critters, smaller is most tender and tasty...but this will tenderize the toughest old buck in the swamp.
Start placing the frozen shoulder (complete with the blade and short upper arm bone in) in a large roaster....large is the key word. Then cover the shoulder 1/2 way up with stock/water/ wine. I like to use a mix that is 3/4's mixed beef and chicken broth and 1/4 part wine. Salt and pepper to taste with all the other seasonings you normally like...season it about 1/2 way of what you normally would. That way you can adjust the seasonings later. Smash a clove of garlic if you like (or 2)and toss it in and slice up a huge onion to be placed all over the shoulder.
Now.....cover it and place it in the oven, set the oven to BAKE and just turn the temperature dial up until the light goes on....this is normally around 170 degrees.
I know...I know, you say how can it cook well enough at such a low temp? Trust me. The slow covered cooking will turn the sinewy glutonous shoulder into a tender, juicy unbelievable treat.
Put this in the oven at 9 in the morning and every couple hours turn the meat over in the roaster, cover it back up, and put it back in the oven. Don't turn up the oven.
After about 7 hours the meat will begin to contract a bit and separate from the bone...DON'T pull it off!!! Leave just the way you see it and it will eventually FALL off the bones after about 9 hours (6 pm dinner time!).
At the point it falls of the bone you can now do anything you wish. You can pull the meat apart like jerk meat, you can serve it as is with potatoes and gravy.
I usually justadd smalldiced potatoes and peas and carrots from a fozen bag, thicken the juice, and let it cook until the potatoes are done making a wonderfully easy stew. Yes it takes a long time to let it cook, but you don't do anyting but turn it over a few times.
It WILL become one of your favorite cuts on the deer, and the butchering of this becomes even easier....just cut it into the shoulder cut and you're done.
You can even start this at night in the winter. Just let it go for about 5 hours or so, then before bed place it on the copncrete floor of the garage with the lid on. In the morning you can crack any tallow fat that has formed and just toss it out, making it grease free and improving the tast...then back itno the 170 degree oven to complete the rest of the 9 hours or so and finishing the stew for lunch.
BUT......I don't know if any of you have cooked a shoulder whole or not....it is unbelieveable!!!!! It is by far the best stew / vegetable roast you can taste.
This works great no matter the size of the deer, but obviously as with all critters, smaller is most tender and tasty...but this will tenderize the toughest old buck in the swamp.
Start placing the frozen shoulder (complete with the blade and short upper arm bone in) in a large roaster....large is the key word. Then cover the shoulder 1/2 way up with stock/water/ wine. I like to use a mix that is 3/4's mixed beef and chicken broth and 1/4 part wine. Salt and pepper to taste with all the other seasonings you normally like...season it about 1/2 way of what you normally would. That way you can adjust the seasonings later. Smash a clove of garlic if you like (or 2)and toss it in and slice up a huge onion to be placed all over the shoulder.
Now.....cover it and place it in the oven, set the oven to BAKE and just turn the temperature dial up until the light goes on....this is normally around 170 degrees.
I know...I know, you say how can it cook well enough at such a low temp? Trust me. The slow covered cooking will turn the sinewy glutonous shoulder into a tender, juicy unbelievable treat.
Put this in the oven at 9 in the morning and every couple hours turn the meat over in the roaster, cover it back up, and put it back in the oven. Don't turn up the oven.
After about 7 hours the meat will begin to contract a bit and separate from the bone...DON'T pull it off!!! Leave just the way you see it and it will eventually FALL off the bones after about 9 hours (6 pm dinner time!).
At the point it falls of the bone you can now do anything you wish. You can pull the meat apart like jerk meat, you can serve it as is with potatoes and gravy.
I usually justadd smalldiced potatoes and peas and carrots from a fozen bag, thicken the juice, and let it cook until the potatoes are done making a wonderfully easy stew. Yes it takes a long time to let it cook, but you don't do anyting but turn it over a few times.
It WILL become one of your favorite cuts on the deer, and the butchering of this becomes even easier....just cut it into the shoulder cut and you're done.
You can even start this at night in the winter. Just let it go for about 5 hours or so, then before bed place it on the copncrete floor of the garage with the lid on. In the morning you can crack any tallow fat that has formed and just toss it out, making it grease free and improving the tast...then back itno the 170 degree oven to complete the rest of the 9 hours or so and finishing the stew for lunch.
