Question about butchering and dry aging dear/venison

[Supranatural]

So I have my first deer, it's been gutted, skinned and quartered, it is being dry aged in my refrigerator on racks for about 7 days now. I plan to freeze a lot of it (ate the tenderloin, liver and heart already), my question is before freezing to you remove the dry "rind" on it, or leave it on? Would you cut up the rear leg into steaks before freezing or leave it in larger pieces (say enough for 4 steaks as I would want to defrost meal size portions)? Or would you freeze it all into large pieces/quarters?

 

[mlob1one]

I always break it down and take off the rind before freezing.

When it comes to breaking down roasts, I'll leave them in roasts until it's time to cook. Then you can cut them into steaks, leave it as a roast, etc. This allows for less surface area exposed to air when frozen.

I will leave on the silver skin about half the time. Depends how much energy I have when I get down to it.

Try and let the meat sit for about 6 months. It tends to mellow as it ages in the freezer.


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[Sulfire145]

The first deer or two of the year I always breakdown into table cuts. Anything after that that may be in the freezer a little longer I typically leave in primal cuts and breakdown when we thaw them.


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[Titan_Bow]

Primal cuts is the way to go for freezing. I get the rind off and try get all the silverskin I can off at this time also. Keeping it in the main primal muscles allows you for more flexibility when thawing and cooking later. Maybe you want steaks, maybe you want to throw the whole piece on the grill, maybe you want to make a stew or jerky or whatever. I also think it will last way longer in the freezer this way.


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[crich]

Remove the rind and break down into the cuts that you want or leave larger pieces whole to give you more options once thawed. Dont freeze whole quarters unless you plan on cooking it whole (im not a fan personally) or you plan to break it down and make jerky etc... bearded butchers have great videos on breaking deer down into various cuts. Theyre professionals and move quickly so you may have to rewind a few times.

 

[Headwatermike]

You've really got to have a plan for how the cuts will be used as you break it down and package it. You will want to remove the rind and a lot of the crud between the individual muscles as you separate them. When complete, I typically have a top round, bottom round, eye of round, rump roast, sirloin roast, and shank from each rear and similar cuts from the fronts. Then you will have small cuts that end up being burger. There really is no way to avoid burger unless you want to bunch up the little trim pieces into fajita-type packages. As mentioned, I keep the whole muscle together because it keeps better in the freezer. Obviously, you need to package the meat the way you want to use it and in quantities that suit your use. You will end up with 30-40 lbs of finished meat depending on the shot, size of the deer, and how you did cutting. You will loose some yield due to the fact that you skinned, quartered, then aged as you will have to fillet that outside rind off. I age everything as we will take quality over quantity. Finally, label everything carefully with cut, year, and critter ID. There's nothing worse than setting up to make steak and having to work with a rump roast or, God forbid, a shank.

 

[Marble]

I leave stuff whole and leave the dark stuff on and whatever other tissues are on the outside. I frequently will pull these large cuts out, salt and then age for longer in the fridge prior to cooking. Doing this will usually create another rind that needs to be removed. So if I have a rind when I'm processing, I leave it. I also feel it adds another layer of protection against freezer burn should that happen.

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[Tod osier]

So I have my first deer, it's been gutted, skinned and quartered, it is being dry aged in my refrigerator on racks for about 7 days now. I plan to freeze a lot of it (ate the tenderloin, liver and heart already), my question is before freezing to you remove the dry "rind" on it, or leave it on? Would you cut up the rear leg into steaks before freezing or leave it in larger pieces (say enough for 4 steaks as I would want to defrost meal size portions)? Or would you freeze it all into large pieces/quarters?

I don't ever get much of a rind after dry aging in the fridge. In fact I just had a deer hanging in the barn for a few days (rare for me) and the rind softened right up after a couple days in the chiller. The dark meat from the dried portion tastes just the same. If grinding, it all goes in.