Elk processing ?

[Jaker_cc]

You guys that get your elk processed somewhere or do it yourself, what do you get made out of what parts. Two years ago I got so much burger I was going nuts looking at it in the freezer. Backs and tenders are steaks, neck into roasts, sausages, snack sticks, brats, ground.... I need some more options. What have you made or gotten made that I should try.

 

[Whitetail Ridge Runner]

My favorite thing to do with venison or beef is keeping it in fairly large chunks of meat and cover it in salt for 4 days and cold smoking it for 7 days.This can only be done in late fall or early winter to keep the meat from spoiling while it preserves. Takes awhile to master the salting but when you do it is the best snack with an ice cold beer!

 

[muddydogs]

I make all my own products, once I have enough burger and breakfast sausage I'll branch out into summer sausage, my own creation of a dinner sausage, ground and formed bacon, ground and formed pastrami or anything else I decide I need to try. When I get an animal i usually grind what I want for burger and breakfast sausage right away and cut the rest into long strips which are then frozen in 5 pound packages to be ground later when I have more time, have decided on what I want to make and or get the spices and casing I need.

Sometimes I cruise around a web site like The Sausage Maker site looking at the spices or kits until I find something that strikes my fancy then I might do some googling to see if I can find a home made spice list instead of purchasing a kit.

3 years ago I shot a cow and 6x bull within a minute of each other, needles to say I had a bunch of elk meat and I sure had fun making stuff through the winter with all that meat. It carried over to the next couple years as I still had plenty of burger and breakfast so I was able to branch out and make other items out of the other animals I harvested. Things are looking grim in my freezer as of late, most of the elk is gone and I'm down to deer burger and breakfast with a few elk summer sausages and dinner sausages left. Come on elk season I need to fill the freezer again.

 

[Jsunkler]

Here is what I would do:

Get enough burger to last my family a year plus some extra.
Steaks from top sirlion and backstrap (innerloins left whole)
Cut shanks into bone in chunks for slow cooking recipes
Roasts from neck
The rest be kept in large muscle groups (5-10lbs packs) for self processing back home. I like to make a bunch of different sausages, snack sticks, jerky, and sometimes even more burger if we burn thru the supply quickly.

I really enjoy the processing at home, and it drastically reduces the cost of the processing if you are not getting specialty items made.

 

[NJDiverDan]

I take some of the smaller roasts and put them on the slicer. Slice really thin and use it for Cheese Steak sandwiches.

Also make the usual snack sticks, sausage, etc.