Usually it takes me a couple of days until I am home and can start processing the meat. If I come home the same day I leave the meat in the cooler till the next day to make sure that rigor mortis has ended before I start processing the meat.

I love processing the meat myself, making the finer cuts of the meat, grinding some and making sausages for the family. I often invite hunter friends over to show them how fun and easy it is to process the meat myself. It is a great learning experience to butcher the animal yourself: being in charge of the quality, the cuts and the end result.



Why take the meat to the butcher when it is expensive and completely removes your control over the results. When you take the animal to the butcher, do you know the process, if the meat is aged or not?



DIY: Easy steps that will not fail you

1. Use a clean surface to work on. I prefer to use a disposable, clean thick plastic cover on my kitchen table. This makes the cleanup afterwards easy and my wife stays happy which makes preparing for the next hunting trip easier :)



2. Just as you used good hygiene when you dressed the animal, hygiene is important for the final butchering. Disposable gloves, clean knives and frequent cleaning of cutting boards and knives makes sure the end result is up to expectations. Boiling water can help to quickly sterilize heat tolerant knives and cutting boards.



3. In case of a large animal: focus on the finer cuts first, since you are more prone to make mistakes the more tired you become. Wait with grinding the meat until you are done with the finer cuts. Until it is time to grind the meat it should be kept in a bowl in the fridge.

5. It is important that the meat put in the vacuum sealed bags are trimmed and clean. Any contaminants such as hair, dirt, grass must be removed.

As a general rule using water for cleaning the meat is not a great idea. Water will make contaminants spread. It is better to use clean paper towels and wipe the meat clean.



Any gray meat should be trimmed away. Gray could be a sign of that the part is contaminated. Smell and stickiness of these areas are also good indications of that the gray "corners" of the meat needs to be trimmed out and pitched.



When the meat is trimmed it should look neat and clean. I personally keep the "silver skin" or fascia if it is on the outside of the cut. Some people prefer to trim it away. My reasoning is that the membrane acts as a barrier that reduces the fluid loss during aging and later defrosting.

6. Make sure you have a food vacuum sealer, a kitchen scale and a sharpie pen to put down the date, type of meat and weight. Use this to package the whole muscle meat according to your preference.