Favorite Specialty Cuts

[Nelson87]

Do all my own processing. I do it all from jerky to summer sausage. Tough to choose favorite from those two. But my favorite food prep by far is braised shoulder roast. Simmered for hours in Dutch oven till it's falling off the bone. Then add potatoes carrots and onions last hour for thick stew. Oh man!

Emrah

I've never made a roast out of a shoulder, but what you're describing here sounds delicous. Excuse my ignorance, but what part of the shoulder are you using? The part with the shoulder blade? Got any more info on how you do this?

Yep. Shoulder blade. Brown it first, then summer in stock for approx 3 hrs. Then add potatoes carrots and onions last hour.

Emrah

Thanks, we do our own proccessing and like to try new things. We've made stew using meat from a hindquarter cut into small chunks, but using a shoulder would save the muscle meat and save me from trimming the shoulder for burger. Win win.

[Nelson87]

Do all my own processing. I do it all from jerky to summer sausage. Tough to choose favorite from those two. But my favorite food prep by far is braised shoulder roast. Simmered for hours in Dutch oven till it's falling off the bone. Then add potatoes carrots and onions last hour for thick stew. Oh man!

Emrah

I've never made a roast out of a shoulder, but what you're describing here sounds delicous. Excuse my ignorance, but what part of the shoulder are you using? The part with the shoulder blade? Got any more info on how you do this?

Yep. Shoulder blade. Brown it first, then summer in stock for approx 3 hrs. Then add potatoes carrots and onions last hour.

Emrah

I've done the same but instead of browining, smoke it fairly cool for a couple of hours to build a bark.smoke ring, then braise. I'll freeze portions of the pulled meat in quart ziplocs and pull them out for all kinds of stuff like tacos, sandwiches, nachos, fried rice, soups, oemelttes, really anything you can come up with.

I'm definetly going to try this. I was thinking I need 1 more deer to make snack sticks and summer sausage, but reading this and also Brads idea of brining and smoking a hindquarter I'm thinking it'll take 2!

[Kraftd]

Do all my own processing. I do it all from jerky to summer sausage. Tough to choose favorite from those two. But my favorite food prep by far is braised shoulder roast. Simmered for hours in Dutch oven till it's falling off the bone. Then add potatoes carrots and onions last hour for thick stew. Oh man!

Emrah

I've never made a roast out of a shoulder, but what you're describing here sounds delicous. Excuse my ignorance, but what part of the shoulder are you using? The part with the shoulder blade? Got any more info on how you do this?

Yep. Shoulder blade. Brown it first, then summer in stock for approx 3 hrs. Then add potatoes carrots and onions last hour.

Emrah

I've done the same but instead of browining, smoke it fairly cool for a couple of hours to build a bark.smoke ring, then braise. I'll freeze portions of the pulled meat in quart ziplocs and pull them out for all kinds of stuff like tacos, sandwiches, nachos, fried rice, soups, oemelttes, really anything you can come up with.

I'm definetly going to try this. I was thinking I need 1 more deer to make snack sticks and summer sausage, but reading this and also Brads idea of brining and smoking a hindquarter I'm thinking it'll take 2!

Every year I seem to do less and less sausage and sticks, just because stuff like this is so good. Been doing more small batch sausage. There is a little rundown on the last shoulder I did in one of my posts in my journal on the journals page.

[Dewey]

I do my own because I like pure venison with nothing extra added. Never could understand adding pork to deer meat I want to eat deer not pigs. I also stay away from all the processed stuff like brats, hot sticks and sausage with all the cancer causing nitrites that are added to that stuff. As long as I have my whole backstraps, tenderloins, steaks, roasts and pure burger I am happy.

[Nelson87]

Do all my own processing. I do it all from jerky to summer sausage. Tough to choose favorite from those two. But my favorite food prep by far is braised shoulder roast. Simmered for hours in Dutch oven till it's falling off the bone. Then add potatoes carrots and onions last hour for thick stew. Oh man!

Emrah

I've never made a roast out of a shoulder, but what you're describing here sounds delicous. Excuse my ignorance, but what part of the shoulder are you using? The part with the shoulder blade? Got any more info on how you do this?

Yep. Shoulder blade. Brown it first, then summer in stock for approx 3 hrs. Then add potatoes carrots and onions last hour.

Emrah

I've done the same but instead of browining, smoke it fairly cool for a couple of hours to build a bark.smoke ring, then braise. I'll freeze portions of the pulled meat in quart ziplocs and pull them out for all kinds of stuff like tacos, sandwiches, nachos, fried rice, soups, oemelttes, really anything you can come up with.

I'm definetly going to try this. I was thinking I need 1 more deer to make snack sticks and summer sausage, but reading this and also Brads idea of brining and smoking a hindquarter I'm thinking it'll take 2!

Every year I seem to do less and less sausage and sticks, just because stuff like this is so good. Been doing more small batch sausage. There is a little rundown on the last shoulder I did in one of my posts in my journal on the journals page.

I'll check it out.

I grew up with my Dad shooting a couple deer, keeping the backstraps, and grinding everything else up for burger. We didn't eat much beef in those days- in fact, my Mom thought beef was to greasy! When we boys started hunting and bringing home more deer we started branching out and trying different things. Thankfully my wife enjoys helping me with the deer I shoot even though she didn't grow up in a hunting family. So ya, we're constantly trying new things. We made weiners this year- taste a little like store bought weiners but there's no "mechanically seperated beef pork and chicken" in them. in a way its like a really mild sausage, and we like them as hot dogs or with pancakes.

[Catskills]

I do my own because I like pure venison with nothing extra added. Never could understand adding pork to deer meat I want to eat deer not pigs. I also stay away from all the processed stuff like brats, hot sticks and sausage with all the cancer causing nitrites that are added to that stuff. As long as I have my whole backstraps, tenderloins, steaks, roasts and pure burger I am happy.

Do you make sausages etc? How do they come out without the pork fat added? This is my first year hunting and making my own sausage. So I added pork fat I got from the local butcher because that is what most people recommend. If you make it without I am willing to try it

[Dewey]

I do my own because I like pure venison with nothing extra added. Never could understand adding pork to deer meat I want to eat deer not pigs. I also stay away from all the processed stuff like brats, hot sticks and sausage with all the cancer causing nitrites that are added to that stuff. As long as I have my whole backstraps, tenderloins, steaks, roasts and pure burger I am happy.

Do you make sausages etc? How do they come out without the pork fat added? This is my first year hunting and making my own sausage. So I added pork fat I got from the local butcher because that is what most people recommend. If you make it without I am willing to try it

I don’t make any sausage or anything like that but do make some jerky. My burger is pure venison with nothing added just the way I like it.

[Kraftd]

I usually don't add anything to my ground either. For other sausage, you just need fat or the texture and taste will be off, and deer fat is a no go because of the mouth feel.

[checkerfred]

I do my own because I like pure venison with nothing extra added. Never could understand adding pork to deer meat I want to eat deer not pigs. I also stay away from all the processed stuff like brats, hot sticks and sausage with all the cancer causing nitrites that are added to that stuff. As long as I have my whole backstraps, tenderloins, steaks, roasts and pure burger I am happy.

Do you make sausages etc? How do they come out without the pork fat added? This is my first year hunting and making my own sausage. So I added pork fat I got from the local butcher because that is what most people recommend. If you make it without I am willing to try it

you have to add fat when making sausage...there's no way around that unless you want bad sausage. if using ground for stuff like chili or spaghetti then no you don't need it...but even for burgers, you have to add something to make it bind together...I don't add more than 20% pork fat....you can probably get beef fat for making burger

[Dewey]

I do my own because I like pure venison with nothing extra added. Never could understand adding pork to deer meat I want to eat deer not pigs. I also stay away from all the processed stuff like brats, hot sticks and sausage with all the cancer causing nitrites that are added to that stuff. As long as I have my whole backstraps, tenderloins, steaks, roasts and pure burger I am happy.

Do you make sausages etc? How do they come out without the pork fat added? This is my first year hunting and making my own sausage. So I added pork fat I got from the local butcher because that is what most people recommend. If you make it without I am willing to try it

you have to add fat when making sausage...there's no way around that unless you want bad sausage. if using ground for stuff like chili or spaghetti then no you don't need it...but even for burgers, you have to add something to make it bind together...I don't add more than 20% pork fat....you can probably get beef fat for making burger

I grind all my burger twice and then press my patties with nothing added. Never have problems with the meat not binding together. I make my patties pretty thick so that helps to hold them together and retain the juices with no extra fat needed. I quickly grill it on high heat searing the juices in and making sure it’s still pink in the middle. Perfect pure venison burger every time.

[Catskills]

thanks for the responses guys! I will continue to add pork fat then to my sausages. I want to look into getting the pork belly straight from the farmer if possible for future sausages. Going to try burgers without the pork fat.

[Noreast10pt]

Hard to say what's favorite because it's all good. But probably would have to say summer sausage and snack sticks because you can just eat them whenever.
I just did a batch of snack sticks and it looks like I'll have to do another soon because they're disappearing fast!

[RidgeGhost]

I've been canning all of mine(everything except backstraps) the past two years and I'm loving it. It's hard to beat the ease of opening a can and heating it up, ready to eat. And tastes great too.

My last two batches I did pints instead of quarts so I can take them with me on traveling hunts and all I have to do is pop one open and heat it up and I have a meal in no time wherever I am.

[Mike32]

I do all my own processing myself, I usually make steak's, roast and burger. I also cube some for stew and make some jerky every now and then.

[checkerfred]

I do my own because I like pure venison with nothing extra added. Never could understand adding pork to deer meat I want to eat deer not pigs. I also stay away from all the processed stuff like brats, hot sticks and sausage with all the cancer causing nitrites that are added to that stuff. As long as I have my whole backstraps, tenderloins, steaks, roasts and pure burger I am happy.

Do you make sausages etc? How do they come out without the pork fat added? This is my first year hunting and making my own sausage. So I added pork fat I got from the local butcher because that is what most people recommend. If you make it without I am willing to try it

you have to add fat when making sausage...there's no way around that unless you want bad sausage. if using ground for stuff like chili or spaghetti then no you don't need it...but even for burgers, you have to add something to make it bind together...I don't add more than 20% pork fat....you can probably get beef fat for making burger

I grind all my burger twice and then press my patties with nothing added. Never have problems with the meat not binding together. I make my patties pretty thick so that helps to hold them together and retain the juices with no extra fat needed. I quickly grill it on high heat searing the juices in and making sure it’s still pink in the middle. Perfect pure venison burger every time.

I've never been able to make straight up ground stick together....esp on the grill...even with pork fat added they some times won't stay together. maybe the thickness helps...I do know for sausages there's no way to avoid it