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The
hunter's
meat map They say a good map is one of the most important pieces of equipment a hunter can have! The thought of getting lost in the wild can turn a wonderful experience into a disaster. If that were to happen it probably would have a lasting effect on your outlook for future ventures. It could be dramatic enough, that you might consider hanging it up all together? Well, this same scenario can be echoed when it comes to the misuse of game meat. Through my travels at various demonstrations, seminars and book signings I can attest that many hunters do just that, have a terrible experience with game meat and never go back. Most of the time they blame the animal, when in fact the poor critter has nothing to do with this negative experience. The fault lies in the hands of the operator. Let's face it, we all aren't professional butchers. Yes we try and do our best when it comes to butchering and preparing our game meat, and yes we have our secret recipes and techniques, but the point is, is our hard earned meat living up to its maximum potential. Here are a couple of charts that will assist you with different cuts of meat. They depict the major muscle groups, bone structure, best usage and the proper cooking technique for each cut of meat, which will present the opportunity for it to fulfill its potential. Big
Game Skeletal Chart Hunters
Meat Map If you've followed the proper field cleaning procedures (see article EASTMANS Aug. 99) you are now ready to breakdown the carcass of your animal. Basically all big game animals have the same skeletal structure so what goes for deer also goes for elk, antelope, moose (a little more elbow grease required), etc. First, you can break it down into quarters, or strip all the meat from the bones. This will depend on the way in which you plan to pack your meat from the field. On average you will have to deal with 45-50% of the live weight if you quarter your animal, (less the hide, entrails, head and lower shank bones). The Pro's of leaving the animal in quarters are- it will stay cleaner, easier to pack on an animal, the dry aging process will be nice and slow and you will retain a greater yield of meat. The Con's are obviously WEIGHT, a slow removal of the internal temperature, which could lead to bacterial growth and loss of spoiled meat, especially in warmer weather and did I mention WEIGHT. If you completely bone out the animal you will be left with approximately 30-35% of the live weight. Pro's - less weight. Con's - cumbersome pieces to carry, hard to pack on an animal. When you de-bone meat in the field you are exposing your edible treasure to foreign matter (dirt, leaves, twigs, internal juices, excrement, etc). This could result in fouled, damaged or tainted meat resulting in a lower yield. Obviously sometimes you have a choice and other times you don't. Just something to think about the next time you plan your yearly outing. Fabricating a carcass of meat is actually very simple. Nature has provided a, "connect the dots" type of drawing for us. If you follow the natural breaks between each muscle group you can't go wrong. Start at the place where the meat meets the bone; keep your knife as close to the bone as possible and with small cuts separate the meat from the bone, pulling the meat as you cut will help speed up the process. This process may seem intimidating but after a few tries you'll get the hang of it. Anyway, aren't you tired of spending $300.00 and blaming the butcher down at the plant for only giving you back half of your animal? When you come to another muscle simply separate that muscle from the original. Dissecting each muscle will give you a much better result than if, for example, the leg was sawed into steaks and you have multiple muscles in one piece of steak. (I'll get to that in a minute). Once you have separated all the muscle groups follow the Hunters Meat Map to identify each piece, wrap, trim any fat or debris (hair, twigs etc) label and freeze. I recommend leaving the silverskin on the meat during freezing. There is no sense removing this layer only to trim off another layer after you're done with the dry aging process. And I highly recommend drying your meat for at least 3-4 days after it defrosts. (See article EASTMANS Oct. 99). Back to the individual muscles, each muscle has what we call grain. Grain is the direction the fibrous tissues run. In order to get tender results from your meat you ALWAYS need to cut across the grain, otherwise you will get a stringy tough piece of meat. When you cook meat that has multiple grains only part of that meat is living to its potential. It may be faster and many butcher plants, for speed of production, simply saw whole legs, shoulders, etc. but the results are inferior. Dissect each piece of meat down to the individual muscle, then cut it appropriately (across the grain) and you will be very pleased with the results. *By John McGannon- Reprinted with permission of Wildeats.com |
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