For those of you who process your own deer, I'm curious if any of you take the ribs and neck. Also, if you do, what do you do with them?
I did not care for the ribs when I made them last year. I followed Steve Rinella's method of cooking them in the crockpot first then finishing them off on the grill. Nothing wrong with the method, I just wasnt a fan of deer ribs in general. Neck roast is fantastic though. Low and slow and pick it clean.
I take the ribs whole, nail to a tree for the birds. Neck usually just gets ground and mixed for processed stuff.
Ribs are not very good IMO, deer fat doesn't render like beef and pork. Leaves a waxy coating in your mouth. Truthfully, I don't even like to grind the rib meat with trimmings, sure looks like a waste not carcass but just not worthwhile for me. The neck I will grind, but I've never been a big fan of neck roasts, or roasts in general. I cut both the round and tip roast into steaks, hell, I'll cut steaks out of anything that is an inch or more thick. I don't grind much when I process myself, definitely do not end up with 40 pounds of burger like a processor does, but that's just me.
Deer tallow is terrible. So much time to trim rib fat is one of the reasons I don't do the ribs. Takes a lot of time to trim all that fat in general. I've heard that if you take the time those cuts like ribs and neck can be really good. There are other cuts that have glands in them that are just as nasty tasting. Sent from my SM-G960U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
If I took my time to do that I'd never get back to hunting when I do my own It takes me in the 5 1/2 to 7 hour range to process an adult deer, take off an hour and a half for a fawn. I'm just too meticulous and really hate grinding, or cleaning the grinder rather, and I'll cut steaks where most won't. Use the grain right and you can have a steak every bit as good from the front shoulder as the rear quarter. Might not always get that medium rare with a good sear, but the thinner steaks I'll marinate and cook up or cube up and make a small stew batch so doneness isn't really a concern. To your point, yeah, deer just weren't meant to be slow cooked without some serious trimming and cleaning up.
I tried deer ribs on the pellet grill/smoker not too long ago and they were wonderful, but only right off the grill. I cooked them just like I do baby back ribs and they were awesome. Once they start to cool down though, they leave that greasy coating in your mouth. I've always found that a neck or shoulder roast did the same thing.
Normally, rib meat goes into the dog grind pile. Below is one side of ribs of that pesky doe Monica. I got 3.8 pounds of dog grind out of that one side. It takes a little time and effort but we don’t waste anything. When I toss out what’s left after I skin, quarter and put a deer on ice or in the fridge the vultures are most likely going WTH? Even the leg bones get baked for 45 minutes and become dog treats. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yes it is. A Shun Ken Onion. I'm actually surprised that someone would recognize the brand from a pic. It was given to me as a gift from the nurse managers in the Ambulatory Care Unit at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital when I worked there. It's a hell of a boning knife.
My Ken Onion boning knife. Kind of kidding but was the main knife that cut up my last doe. Sent from my SM-G960U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
When I got my boning knife I had to look up who Ken Onion was. I figured he was a chef or something but it turned out he was a designer for Kershaw knives. I've often wondered how Ken Onion managed to collaborate with Shun on this knife.
. You can just tell, knives are not equal when it comes to tools for the job. You do not grasp a good knife, you hold it between your index finger and thumb and and the rest of your fingers just glide it along while the blade does the work. even with @Ridgerunner3 's knife, you can see the sweeping motion of the blade design even though it is a folder with a short blade. I almost bought a good Shun set last week, just couldn't justify the price on my end even though it was a hell of a good price.
Zero tolerance owns Kershaw. Or vice versa and that 350 is my favorite all around knife ever by far. Sent from my SM-G960U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
I don't remember how much the Nurse Managers paid for that knife. I just spent 15 minutes trying to find a price on it, but it's been discontinued. I know that the husband of one of the nurses was a manger at Bed, Bath and Beyond. He got them a discount and it was still around the $300 mark. They are insanely expensive knives. I've babied that thing since I got it and it holds an edge like no other knife I've ever used.
Good to be in good knife knowledge company. Sent from my SM-G960U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Dug it up from last year. Those two were the main knives I used last year and you can see the fat still on the blades. The Benchmade is solid too. Was a prototype limited run and I think they have a couple knives based on it now. Sent from my SM-G960U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
That's a good knife you have there. I've never owned a Kershaw or a Zero Tolerance knife but I know they make good ones. I went through quite a few field dressing/skinning knives before I finally stumbled across my Buck Zipper 191 CPM 154 Black Custom. That thing has gutted and skinned a lot of deer since I bought it.
