Tips for Processing Big Game

Bringing home an entire big game animal to process yourself might seem daunt- ing, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips for cutting your own meat for the winter.

 There are just as many reasons to process an animal yourself as there are excuses to take it to the butcher. To each their own. If you’re a do-it-yourself kind of hunter, processing animals in your own garage or kitchen is part of the fun of hunting. If you’re new to home processing, we suggest you watch some processing videos or bribe a veteran DIYer with some beverages to come over and show you the ropes. In the meantime, here are a few ground rules to get started.

The first step to home processing is to have an area dedicated to processing your game. A well-lit work area with a large, hard surface is ideal. You’ll need access to a large sink, running water, and some bleach for cleanup.

If you have access to an exterior hose, it’s a good idea to rinse your game of any debris or contaminants it may have picked up in transport or while skinning. You should take particular care in cleaning the wound channel from your kill shot. Large-caliber and even small shot will drive hair, bone fragments, and bacteria into the flesh of your game. Thoroughly inspect the wound for any contaminants and rinse well. Always rinse your game from top to bottom under running water. That way, bacteria will wash down and off the meat. Never use a tub of water to rinse game. Standing water will only serve to increase the risk of cross-contamination. Once the flesh of your game is rinsed clean, you will want to pat it dry with clean disposable towels and place it under refrigeration until you are ready to process it.

Temperature

Keeping your freshly harvested meat as cold as possible is crucial. If your game meat constantly stays around 40°F, you will significantly reduce the growth of harmful bacteria and slow the transfer of poor-tasting fat into the flesh. Whenever possible, try to minimize the time any particular cut of meat is processed, and keep cuts of meat that are not being worked on stored in the refrigerator or in an ice chest.

Keeping any meat you plan to grind extremely cold, even partially frozen, is very important. If you run warm meat through a grinder, the mixing and cutting of the soft tissue will make for a very pasty, bright pink, and not-so-appetizing final product. Meat is best ground when it is partially frozen. Commercial grinders often add dry ice to their meat to keep the temperature from rising from the heat of the machine and the friction of the grinding process.

Exposure

Always keep the flesh covered tightly with plastic film when processing. Exposure to air is a surefire way to degrade the quality of your game meat. Air will draw moisture out of your game meat and can often dry out the exposed surfaces so much that they must be trimmed and discarded. Contact with air will also start the oxidation process, which heightens the unwanted metallic taste of wild meats, discolors the meat to an unappetizing reddish-brown shade, and can increase the development of rancidity in fat.

It is also essential to minimize exposure in the freezer. Using a high-quality vacuum-sealing machine is the most effective way to seal out air and freezer burn. However, plastic wrap and butcher’s paper do better than a cheap vacuum sealer. Always wrap your finished cuts tightly in plastic wrap, then wrap them again in butcher’s paper. The plastic wrap protects the meat from exposure to air and freezer burn, and the butcher’s wrap protects the integrity of the plastic wrap. To further reduce the possibility of freezer burn ruining more delicate meats like fish 
and fowl, I will often add 2 to 3 cups of lightly salted water to a heavy freezer bag along with the meat. When you remove the air from the bag and seal it, the brine will form an even better barrier between the flesh and the freezer.

Connective Tissue and Sinew

Connective tissue and sinew can easily be removed from each muscle before freezing or thawing. There simply isn’t enough fat or moisture in wild game to overcome the dry, rubbery texture of any sinew or connective tissue. Try to remove as much of this silvery skin as possible before cooking your game. Using a sharp boning or filet knife, slide the knife just under the white strings of sinew. Angle the blade of the knife slightly upward and push the blade forward. The sinew will cleanly separate from the muscle.

Muscle Grain

Muscles are comprised of long fibrous grains that run in the direction the muscle pulls or pushes.  These fibers are very similar to those found in a tree. Imagine a 2x4. Its strength comes from the long fibers of wood grain that run the length of the board. If we cut a quarter-inch strip length-wise (with the grain), it will not break in half easily, but if we cut a quarter inch off the end of the board (against the grain), it will break with ease. The same is true for muscle fibers and grain of meat. When carving roasts, you want to find the grain of the muscle and slice across it. The smaller the length of grain in your slice of meat, the more tender it will feel in the mouth. The same perfectly cooked piece of meat can be rendered unimaginably tough by cutting it with the grain because your teeth and jaw muscles will have to do the work the carving knife should have done.

I use this same concept when cutting raw meat for quick-cooking methods. Using slightly frozen, uniform-grained, whole-muscle sections, you can thinly slice raw game meat across the grain to produce very tender petite filets perfect or hot-searing recipes like stir fry. I even cut the meat for grilling and kabobs similarly thin; two or three of these delicate slices are much easier to chew than one three-quarter-inch cube.

Fat

Fat is extremely useful in the kitchen and should never be discarded. I am always amazed by the number of duck hunters who remove the breasts and discard the rest of their hard-won harvest. Not only is there a tremendous abundance of delicious meat being wasted, it is also a great deal of the best cooking fat you can find. Fat can be rendered very easily and can be stored in the freezer for up to six months. Small amounts can be broken off the frozen block of rendered fat for use in recipes.

To render fat, collect all fat from the carcass, especially that near the back- bone and ribs of the animal. It is okay if the fat has small amounts of meat still attached. Place the fat in a large sauté pan and add just enough water to cover the bottom of the fat. This will protect the fat from sticking and burning to the bottom. Over medium-low heat, warm the fat and liquefy its delicious contents. Be careful not to use too much heat, which will scald and potentially burn the fat. The large pieces of fat will shrink as they liquefy. Stop once the pieces have turned crisp and golden brown. To finish, filter the hot fat through a cheesecloth.

Attention Wild Game Chefs

As you know, sharing wild game recipes with the public helps deepen appreciation for wild-sourced foods and the benefits of responsible hunting. By showcasing how wild game can be both delicious and sustainable, we remind people of the value hunters bring to conservation and the sustainable food movement.

Your recipes can inspire others to view wild game as an incredible, natural food source, bridging the gap between field and table and building public support for our way of life. We’re crowdsourcing recipes for a new project and would love your contributions.

If you have recipes you’d like to share with the world, please let us know. Send us an email at [email protected].