One Shot, One Kill? Not This Time!

[Because I (Jim) was the only one on this next mission, I'll write in the first rather than the third person for most of this post.]

In addition to the doe that I got recently in Lovell, WY, I got another deer near Meeteetse and skinned and quartered it, for the first time, on the back of the tailgate on a hill while some girl and her grandpa shot a huge rifle nearby. I just finished processing yesterday since I made:

• Bratwurst
• Sweet Italian sausage
  
• Some sort of Moroccan sausage
• Steaks
• Burger
• Venison demi-glace
• Top round sauerbraten

The bratwurst recipe was mainly from this youtube video from Working Class Foodies, where a brother and sister make great food for less than $8 a person. That's a regular occurrence around these parts! I mostly followed the recipe, but added some ground caraway seeds and allspice. I had over-salted big time, but added another pound of ground venison and got the save. [I added 10% pork fat to all of the ground venison used in these recipes.]

For the sweet Italian, I just added salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic and fennel. The Moroccan sausage was made with a Moroccan spice rub that we got for free from the "spice man" in Napa, where we buy our whole spices in bulk. It's a mixture of kosher salt, black pepper, garlic, rosemary, sun-dried tomatoes, California chili, parsley, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, basil and oregano. Not very Moroccan if you ask me. Should have gone with the rub that Joanne Weir uses on her Pork with Moroccan spices in From Tapas to Meze. It's always a crowd pleaser

The demi-glace was made by chopping up the deer leg and shoulder bones, adding the usual carrots, onions and celery and cooking as though you would a stock (oops, just remembered that I forgot to add parsley to the bouquet garni) and then reducing for a good long time. I skimmed off the fat because deer fat is often quite gamey.

For the sauerbraten, I didn't want to bother Peter "the German", but I did remember that he always used juniper berries. So I googled "sauerbraten" and "juniper" and what should I find but our old pal, Alton Brown's recipe. I followed it to the letter so far, but it's only been day two, so I'll let you know how it comes out this weekend.

Cooked a burger last night with the fresh ground and it was super good. Here are some essential learning tips that I found out the hard way during processing:

• I left my new blow torch in Page's truck and, as it turns out, it's essential for burning off hairs.
• The best site for processing a deer is at williescountrymeats on youtube. Excellent video, but I still effed up a lot of stuff.
• Buy a caping knife, a boning knife, a skinning knife and a butcher knife and steel them often. Just do it.
• A gambrel for skinning and quartering would be key. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambrel
• You don't need a hacksaw/bone saw, but it could help.
• A waist-high cutting board is a must for avoiding back strain.
• Natural sausage casing is &*%& expensive and you only need one intestine or two at the most.
• Toasting the fennel for the sweet Italian sausage is a good idea.
• $100 is totally worth getting your deer processed by a pro.

[End "Jim only" section]

We have a bunch of chanterelles drying on the kitchen table and plan to make a Farro "risotto" tonight, an idea that we got from a foraging website called Fat of the Land. We've been using homemade crème fraîche rather than marscapone for the sauce since we haven't motivated to get tartaric acid to make it ourselves.

Jim and Peta