Fresh Meat in the Kitchen!

Fresh meat--really fresh!

Days from the hunt.

Jonathan and Anna wrestle a quarter of an elk out of the bag and onto the table.

The bandsaw Jonathan brought in from the garage did not work for cutting meat. The blade kept slipping off. Giving up, we called the butcher, but it was going to cost 74 cents a pound for him to process the meat. He said he never saws elk meat anyway, because the bone leaves wild flavor in. He cuts all the meat away from the bones. 

 

In that case, we decided we could do the work ourselves. It is entirely possible for anyone who knows how to operate a sharp knife to cut meat off of bones. 

We worked for hours that day, while the girls wrapped and marked the meat.

What a blessing to have fresh red meat to put in the freezer!  We made some delicious stir fry that day, sauteing thinly sliced elk with mushrooms, onions, and pepper. 

A couple days later, the children and Anna chopped up all the scrap meat that we were going to make into burger...

and put it through a meat grinder.  We have already made chili with some of the elk burger, and it was some of the best tasting chili I have ever tasted--right on a level with the chili Iva made with bear meat!