Kody Hanner
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There’s more than one way to skin a cat
(I mean butcher meat)
So many of us in homesteading either want to raise our own animals for butcher, hunt, or are even gifted or traded a butcher animal. We raise our own pork, beef, and chickens that we either have butchered or cut and wrap ourselves. We also hunt and will harvest a few deer and turkey every year. We have our meat cutting down pretty well. Then this year we were blessed with a huge cow elk! And our meat cutting skills and variety of cuts went through the roof.
We didn’t want to waste any of this animal, but we didn’t just want 600 lbs of steak! So, we headed to the local feed store and bought one of each curing kits to try a little of everything. I have to give the disclaimer that we have been lucky enough to find incredibly high-quality meat processing items. We have a Hobart meat grinder/bowl mixer, a meat slicer, and a band saw. So, we didn’t need any additional equipment except a sausage stuffer.
Getting Started with Butchering
I fully agree that it can be overwhelming and there are some great books that really outline how to butcher. One that my husband has found helpful was The Ultimate Guide to Home Butchering. Hopefully, I can take some of the stress out.
Have all your supplies ready to go:
- Plastic Cutting boards
- Sharp knives
- Butcher paper
- Freezer Tape (similar to masking tape)
- Sharpie
- Saran Wrap
- Chub bags for ground meat and packer
- Several bins or large bowls
- Bin inserts (these were life savers!)
- Beef or pork fat for wild game burger and sausage (you can usually purchase this from the meat department at a grocery store or local butcher shop)
- Food Scale that can handle several lbs of meat
- Any cures you want for jerky, summer sausage, or snack sticks
Our home butchering routine consists of:
I wish I had more pictures but this post was supposed to be about meat preservation, oops!
- Clean and sanitize your kitchen, surfaces, and all meat cutting equipment with a sanitizer of your choice. I use a 10:1 bleach mixture (the chlorine evaporates quickly)
- I like to cover my kitchen table with butcher paper and secure with tape
- We will take each quarter of the carcass and lay is out on the table
- Using knives and cutting board we will separate all the large muscles from the carcass and put in a bin
- Next, any small muscle pieces or anything with large amounts of tendons or silver skin I put in a separate bowl to make dog food later
- Any large cuts that that are ready to be frozen as roast or steaks will be wrapped in plastic wrap and then butcher paper and freezer tape (make sure everything is label with name of cut and year, you’ll thank me later!)
- I take all the odd ball cuts and cut them into long 2” wide strips for grinding
- Cold (partially frozen) meats grind better, and it really helps to also freeze the internal parts of the grinder
- If you’re butchering wild game, make sure to add in beef fat for burger and pork fat for sausage at approximately a 1:7 ratio (unless you have a recipe that states differently)
- Grind once coarsely and the then a second time with a finer grind
- Pack your ground meats into chubs at 1 lb each and label
- Freeze any scraps for dog food or broth along with any bones
- Clean and sanitize everything well with hot water and a sanitizer
More ideas for for home butchering
When I originally started this post, I had every intention of writing about all the different ways you can preserve meat. As I began to write, I realized that having a solid grasp on how to even get started are even more important.
That being said, I will give a list of several options for preserving along with some of the products we have used.
- Freezing
- Burger
- Sausage
- Summer Sausage
- Pepperoni Sticks
- Canning
- Bone Broth (click here for video)
- Dog Food (my daughter is working on the YouTube video as I write)
- Jerky
