Accessories for processing

[Sawfish]

SYSCO also has meat lugs.

 

[MTPipeliner]

One tip I’ll add is that I like to wear surgical type gloves when I cut meat, way less hand washing and you can switch them out if one get messy from cleaning up a bloodshot area. Makes it super easy to be able to do other things that take clean hands without having to go wash, I cut meat in my detached garage so a sink isn’t very handy for me. You can also put a thin cotton glove under them if you’re working with very cold meat.

different than most others above, I wrap mine with Saran Wrap and butcher paper, I get both in industrial size rolls from sams/costco. I find it to be faster than a food saver or bags and I don’t get freezer burn even on meat that gets a few years old.

 

[muddydogs]

Different than most others above, I wrap mine with Saran Wrap and butcher paper, I get both in industrial size rolls from sams/costco. I find it to be faster than a food saver or bags and I don’t get freezer burn even on meat that gets a few years old.

I do the same with paper and plastic. If your going to use the meat within a year or so there is no since wasting money on food saver bags when paper and plastic is way cheaper and faster. Save the food saver bags for specialty stuff that might hang around a while and fish.

 

[TomJoad]

You guys have nearly everything covered, great tips, especially the giant hdpe boards, and bins, indispensable imo.

I do have a very different technique on grinding, I mostly don’t do it during processing. yeah really, jokes aside I don’t. I make a bit of sausage when processing but everything planned for all other ground dishes I just large cube and vac seal, labeling cut type. I’m in this for the food and I find the quality of fresh ground far superior so I grind when I cook. This has a lot of benefits (time isn’t one of them). Firstly you can tune your fat additions based on each individual meal. Meatballs can run with veal and a super fatty cut of pork, burgers can be 30% pork belly, or an odd time or two I might run them with something smoked like bacon or guanciale. As important as tuning fat type & fat percentage is oxygen. The process of grinding oxygenates the hell out of your meat. If you've got a team and your freezing things pretty quickly as you go that helps on the front end but your still hosed when it’s time to thaw. Thawing wants to be done slowly and all of those micro air pockets you introduced in the grinding process are at work during the thaw making things not as good as they could be. The last benefit of the large cube is that these pieces are already right sized for the grinder and when grinding you ideally want your meat nearly frozen. This helps the grinder cut more cleanly and reduces the heat transfer to the meat from the plates and screw which build heat from friction during the grinding process. So when you pull your 1lb packages of cubed elk you can grind as soon as you can pull them apart, usually about 1/3 thawed.

Finally when you start processing don’t forget about hanging. There are a lot of opinions about duration but make no mistake hanging makes the difference between the $10 and $200 steak. If you live somewhere where your garage in season will moderate reliability around 40-45 for three plus weeks good for you. Otherwise you’d be wise to find a friend with a walk-in. In hanging, oxygen and airflow are essential. I go for 4 weeks for most animals. Worth the wait in flavor and texture as those stubborn complex proteins begin breaking down for your buttery steaks.

Ok now you guys can’t proceed to roast me for my strange proclivities

 

[2ski]

I'll make sure i talk to all my friends with walkins.....lol. good advice though

 

[TomJoad]

Yeah, restaurant owners, butchers and processors. I just moved back after a long hiatus and need to re-connect with a farmer on the eastern plains who had a refrigerated tractor trailer he kept running all season on his property. If he’s not doing that anymore I’m going to be negotiating with processors on a fee for shelf space.

 

[tdot]

Lots of good info here. About the only thing I'd add is that unless you are dialed with using a steel, you're just as likely to damage a knife. Personally I've added a couple extra blades to my equipment list, all basically 5 or 6" boning knives. I can now fully process an animal without sharpening a knife on a stone, but I will touch up a couple times on a leather strop loaded with diamond paste. Then at my leisure I take all my knives over 3 stones, which for me results on a sharper, longer lasting edge.

 

[5 shot group]

I love my semi-flex boning knife. Add in my havalon and then a 10" breaking knife and i am all set for cutting.

This is the sharpener I prefer. Fast and easy to use. If you have nice knives, I would use something else though.

https://www.amazon.com/AccuSharp-AC...arpener&qid=1598300420&sprefix=knife+&sr=8-21

 

[cravingame]

Where is everyone buying their meat trays? Looks like Cabela’s used to carry them but not anymore. Amazon are pretty expensive compared to what Cabela’s used to charge.

https://www.butcher-packer.com/

 

[def90]

Filet knife for removing silver skin

 

[MTPipeliner]

I got some meat totes from sams club that have been pretty decent. Just the right size for my garage fridge.

 

[Elkero]

Another vote for the Sams club tubs. Sturdy and a good price.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I bought tubs at cabelas. 7.99 for the 6” deep and 9.99 for the 9” deep. Worked great!

 

[loggerchas]

What it looked like in full practice last week. My two cheap fillet knives, larger knife for steaking. Various containers for different cuts, covered table and bags. And the big ceramic stick I've come to appreciate over my better/finer sticks for sharpening knives when cutting meat.

Only improvement in my corner would be plastic tubs as other have mentioned rather than the wife's favorite lasagna pans... (I didn't know she would be home this time when processing....)

 

[Austink47]

Figure out a work surface that is the right height to work comfortably, don’t work hunched over. We built a standing height table that has made a big difference.

 

[BoilerBowHunter]

I bought one of these this year for processing. Plan to use it on my truck tailgate or on the kitchen counter. Should be big enough to handle a whitetail quarter, and it’s easy to clean.

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[UtahJimmy]

Figure out a work surface that is the right height to work comfortably, don’t work hunched over. We built a standing height table that has made a big difference.

This is a KILLER tip!! I am always physically spent after processing on my kitchen countertop. I built a stand Saturday to put my large cutting board on that elevated it off the countertop and it made a GIANT difference. I processed half an elk by my self Saturday and then did the other half yesterday. I'm not nearly as tired as normal! Highly recommend! I also made the legs the same width as one of my meat tubs so I basically doubled my workable surface area.

 

[Desk Jockey]

- Tubs. I have a mix of cabelas and Weston. Get 3-4
- knives - I bought sets of Wu’s th off and victorinox. If I was doing it over I would buy 3-4 victorinox boning knives, a fillet knife and maybe a breaker knife.
- cutting board. I bought a pretty big poly one and use it for my main work space. I think it is 20 x 30 or something.
- sharpening - a steel is great for honing an edge but I love the worksharp mini belt sharpener (Ken onion version) for sharpening. I can have a dozen knives shaving sharp in a half hour, including set up and clean.

 

[SaltySailor]

I use a small (4") very flexible fillet knife and a large stiffer (8") fillet knife" for deboning and muscle group separation, and a 10" chef's knife (slicing steaks and cubing for grind/stew)) when processing. Last year I used a replaceable blade (Tyto style) knife in lieu of the small fillet and that worked well. For the fillet knives I've been using cheaper Rapala brands when WallyWorld has them on sale after fishing season is over. Used to insist on rubber handles but since I've started wearing the heavy black nitrile gloves am not as picky on that end but does make sanitation and clean-up easier.

With any knife - sharpness is often more important than the blade style itself. I find a ceramic "steel" to be the ticket when getting a quick new edge during the cutting and then hone when complete for the next critter that is invited to the processing party.

The large restaurant size white cutting boards from Sam's are great - I cut them in half with a skill-saw to make them a usable size. Process quarters on 1/3 the table, cut meat on other 1/3. bowls on final 1/3. Keep a trash can with a contractor's bag handy for disposing on bones and such. (Most of my critters come out whole on the game cart or quartered bone-in.)

I cover the entire kitchen table with a split contractor's bag for easy clean-up.

5 medium bowls on the edge of the table: loin, steaks, stew, jerky, grind, waste. Kid handles the grinding as we go and we package the other cuts at the end.

A fan in the cutting area seems to keep any flies that find their way into the house off the meat and is a welcome breeze during the job.

We pre-package all meat for our family of 3 with no leftovers. Typically get about 50 meals from an average mule deer and a couple packages of jerky cuts for later processing.

We mix pork fat or a fatty pork shoulder with our grind meat (20%ish). I pick it up year-round and vac seal and freeze ready for use. They are always out when you need it the most.

Double bag and seal contractor bags with zipties when done, keeps odor/flies down in the dumpster when cutting meat on Sunday and trash service comes on Friday.....

I wear out an entry model vac-seal about every 2 years but work them hard through the year. Sometimes it really helps to put meat in bags in the freezer to par-freeze before sealing if the meat is overly juicy. I always pay attention to flattening the packages of any cut/grind when sealing - makes stacking efficiently in the freezer much easier.

Kid pre-labels packages for each cut of meat with year-who-species-cut (e.g. 2019 CTC Deer Loin). Make sure the kid grabs a Sharpie and not black washable Crayola marker - mystery meat for the next year if you fail in that little experiment.

Filled tags get put into a Ziploc securely taped inside of the freezer.

Process 2 deer and usually a cow elk per year with that rig.

As others have said - the grinder is key. Have been too cheap to buy a high quality grinder so always pick up smaller $5 garage sale grinders (1970's Oster models seem the most durable) and have an extra in stock when one craps out. (Burnt up the wife's super-duper Kitchen-Aid mixer one year with the grinder attachment - replacing that cost more than my Kifaru...…)

THIS ^^^^^^^^ I have been using fillet knives for crust layer and silver skin removal for a while now. Minimal meat waste using a fillet knife, can take large chunks off at once.

 

[Sobrbiker]

Figure out a work surface that is the right height to work comfortably, don’t work hunched over. We built a standing height table that has made a big difference.

Huge tip! I just did my little Coues last month on a plastic 6’ buffet table and it killed my back. I went on a bike rally the following weekend and the group that cooked breakfast every day had PVC pipe extensions for the legs of theirs to put work surface at waist height-I’ll be adding that trick if I’m lucky enough to get an elk next month!