Archive for December 8th, 2009

Processing Your Own Deer

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

This is passport to Texas

Jesse Griffiths, a hunter and professional chef in Austin, held a class where he taught folks how to efficiently process their own deer.

You know, there’s just a lot of reasons why doing it yourself is so much better… because, you don’t know what they’re mixing it with. Maybe you’re not even getting your own deer back. Maybe the people that they’re mixing your deer with –they didn’t take very good care of their deer. Maybe they did the whole, carry it around on the top of their Suburban in some hot weather for awhile. So, you don’t really know. And by putting it in your own hands, it’s really going to do everybody a little more good.

When you process your own animal you minimize waste and maximize flavor potential, because you can use every part of it. Nothing is wasted.

We’re going to use the liver and the kidneys and the bones, and the neck—everything today. I just want to show people how good that stuff is and if you’re taking the time to kill it, then take the time to enjoy every little bit of it, too.

In short order, this perfect protein was transformed into usable cuts of meat. Tomorrow the best cooking methods for game…

I want to get people beyond the bacon, jalapeno situation that most game cooking is in.

Find one of Chef Griffith’s venison recipes at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Venison Chorizo
Recipe by Chef Jesse Griffiths from Dai Due Supper Club in Austin, Texas

Ingredients

5 pounds of venison
-or-
3 pounds venison
2 pounds fatty pork

1 1/4 ounces Kosher salt
1 Tablespoon cumin seed
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon Mexican Oregano
3 Tablespoons dried chili powder (i.e. bolsa, chipotle, ancho, paprika, etc.)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Preparation

Season the venison (or venison and pork) with the salt and set aside. Grind the spices in a spice or coffee grinder and add to the meat with the vinegar. Toss well and grind through a medium plate. Use as bulk sausage.