I don't like the word butcher. It sounds so gory.
Speaking of gory, the first thing Todd pulled out of the bed of the truck was the elk head. Rigby does not like, or doesn't know what to make of animal parts or animals that have been stuffed. It's super funny how leery he is of them.
I mean, check out his eyes in this photo! They are so big they almost look like cartoon eyes!
No dad!!! Don't make me come near it!!
Ok, if you are right there I will come by you...
I wasn't sure what to expect when Todd said butcher. How far along, exactly, was the elk in this butchering process? Were we going to lay a full elk out on the kitchen counter and hack it into steaks?
Turns out it was pretty well taken care of. It was just like getting a hunk of meat from the store. This is an elk shoulder. Notice the new food saver Todd bought last night on the left. It vacuum packs and seals whatever we want! We didn't quite get to that though...
This is an elk leg... (I think we should have just left this leg whole. I imagine pulling it out at a dinner party, wearing crowns, of course, and glugging wine that is sloshing out of a goblet while we rip into the meat. Could you imagine the look on our guests faces?)
And this is us grinding our own meat! How cool, huh? I like the idea of pulling our own fresh meat from the freezer...
Look at how much burger we got! That's a huge savings at the grocery store! I always aim for the super lean hamburger or turkey burger at the store, which runs roughly around $3.80 per pound. We got a little over nine pounds out of those two cuts. You do the math!
So, here is the elk before...
And here is the elk after...
I enlarged that first picture of Rigby, then magnified it and laughed. He looks petrified! Poor Rigby. :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I have to admit it... this post made me a little bit squeamish.
ReplyDeleteThough honestly, I have a WHOLE new appreciation for eating meat that you hunt after watching Food Inc.
I actually thought of you, Anna, as I was writing this thinking, there are folks who aren't big meat people who might be grossed out. But I had to post it. Todd was excited about his elk and processing it has taken up a lot of our time!
ReplyDeleteha! I like that you guys eat what he hunts. It's a LOT better than getting your meat at a grocery store. It's more humane and it's healthier. It honestly makes me a little bit squeamish... but I still respect it!!!
ReplyDelete