Anyways, my "meat room" is still not totally setup to my liking, but it is functional. My freezer was FULL of game from 2013, and it was time to get 'atter. Three year old meat may gross some folks out, but I'm not one to waste, and if stored properly, there's nothing wrong with it. I had two vacuum sealed bags of duck that had lost their seal and found their way to the trash, but other than that, there was not a piece of freezer burn on any of the meat I had packaged myself. Some was vacuum sealed, and some was wrapped in butcher paper. You do it right, and it's good for years.
Onto the meat processing. I started out with 2 pairs of wild turkey breasts I shot in 2015. This was my first go at wild turkey jerky, and the results were outstanding. I chose ground jerky, rather then whole muscle, as I prefer it this way. The 4 breasts gave me 11 lbs, which I split into two batches. The first batch I created I called it "mild maple". It was loaded with maple syrup we made from my property and just enough heat to know it's there. Second batch was your standard teryaki.
Ready for grinding:
Mixed and pumped out into strips:
Into the smoker
Cut and ready for packaging:
Next up was goose breast pastrami. This is one of my absolute favourites, as well as most people who have tried my products. I took all 22 breasts from my previous two hunts this year and put the cure to them. Into the fridge for 4-5-days, two 30 minute soaks in fresh water to draw some salt content out, dried off, pastrami rub applied and back in the fridge for 24-48 hours.
Cured breasts ready to be rubbed:
Rubbed:
Into the smoker and cooked to an internal temp of 155, out to cool, then back in the fridge for 24-48 hours.
Smoked/cooked:
Onto the slicer:
(Note: remove denture before eating waterfowl. lol)
Just look at the goodness in this fine piece of meat:
Packaged and ready for the freezer:
It is a very long process, but well worth it in the end. I like to eat this stuff by it self, cold on a sandwich, hot on a sandwich, basically I just like to eat it.
Now onto the 2013 venison. This past weekend I committed to processing 60lbs. Some of my time tested and proven recipes, and something new to me. I decided on 30lbs of pepperettes, 15lbs of salami, and 15 lbs of corned venison. I have refined my perepperette and salami recipes to perfection over the last 10 years or so of doing this so I knew these would turn out good. My new experiment is the corned venison. Some lads I hunt with have their butcher corn some of their game, and it's to die for. I figured if I can get my meat anywhere close to the way they had theirs done, I would be in good shape.
Here I have two 15lb batches of pepperettes, and 1 15lb batch of salami ready to mix and regrind. (I have to do 15lbs batches as that is all my smoker can handle at once. I use 10lbs of game, 3.5lbs of pork shoulder, and 1.5lbs of pure pork fat. I find this makes the perfect ratio of meat to fat content.)
Salami stuffed and headed to the fridge for a couple days before the smoker.
15lbs of pepperettes smoked to an internal temp of 145, and hung to bloom at room temperature for 8-12 hours.
30lbs of pepperettes cut and ready for packing. I will package half right away, and leave the other half in a paper bag in the fridge for a week or so, to let them dry and harden more. It adds a different dimension as opposed to soft and moist peperettes. Whether you make your own, or have them made at the butcher, I would suggest giving this a try. Just ensure it's a paper bag so they can breath and dry. They will just sweat and mold in a plastic bag.
Two days after being stuffed, the salami hit the smoker and was brought to an internal temp of 152. Straight from the smoker into a water bath to stop from cooking any further.
Once cooled to under 100 degrees, hung to bloom for 8-12 hours
Now they are resting in the fridge. I also prefer to dry these out in the fridge. I will leave them for 3-4 weeks to dry. This part sucks, having all this deliciousness just sitting there and looking at you every day. lol. but it's well worth the wait. I will sample the small piece very shortly.
Last but not least is the corned venison. It's been in the brine since Sunday, and I'm guessing it will need 7-10 days, based on the thickness.... More to come on the outcome of this, once it's finished and I get a sample cooked up.
It is so great to have a good stash of prepared goodies on hand. I've missed the hunting and meat processing over the last two years, but I'm back with a vengeance.
That is great that you're into that. That's gonna be some damn fine eating. I've always had custom sausages made locally since I moved out here, and before that they came from a butcher in Cheneville QC, through a guy at work, so I got spoiled early. Always in summer, after wild garlic season 
With game around here Jack wasn't busy anymore and he had a real nice smoker he had made so the quality of his sausages was very good.
