Preserving the bounty
Jan. 24th, 2023 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenstormYesterday was butcher day. 8 pigs, by far the most I've ever handled at once, and it helps to clear out the high numbers I've had since a missed butcher last spring, which rolled into a missed one last fall, which rolled into the missed January one. So it's lots lots lots of meat, and because they're older (and largely sows) it's pretty high quality-- dark and marbled.
There's no way to handle that much meat without a professional setup (cooler, blast freezers) or perfect weather. I have perfect weather. It was maybe up to 5C yesterday, snow on the ground, and then dropped to zero overnight and will flirt with 1-2 degrees this week, then drop to -27. So basically, I could chill the meat in totes in the snow, put the totes into the animal-proof shipping container (which is made out of metal so it really chills down at night), and I have a week to process it and then it will freeze.
So I'm going through at a strong but reasonable pace. I'm alternating between the shoulders (1-2 coppa roasts per shoulder, chunking the rest for canning and grinding) and loins (debone, loin into boneless chops, tenderloin left whole). That leaves me with a good balance of very meaty bones for stock: rib and spine which are cut across to reveal the marrow, shoulderblade and forearm bones.
The first canner load is going right now: it's "heathy canning" (healthy as opposed to pathogenic, not healthy as opposed to having calories, thank goodness) beef stroganoff recipe. I have made the following alterations: 1tsp voatsiperifery instead of 2tsp thyme, 1c runny tomato sauce instead of 4tbsp tomato paste, 1 scant tbsp garlic powder instead of onion and garlic, and I used better than bouillon beef stock instead of "broth". A canner will take about 5kg of meat this way. So far it smells good. It also uses a tremendous amount of worcestershire sauce: more than a cup per full canner's worth. We'll see how it goes.
Lotta work ahead and behind but I'm happy. This is the kind of thing I like. Tucker is here, being companionable and snuggly and lending a hand but not co-planning the butchery project with me, which is the way I like it.
Now I just need to figure out how to get stuff to the folks that need it.
There's no way to handle that much meat without a professional setup (cooler, blast freezers) or perfect weather. I have perfect weather. It was maybe up to 5C yesterday, snow on the ground, and then dropped to zero overnight and will flirt with 1-2 degrees this week, then drop to -27. So basically, I could chill the meat in totes in the snow, put the totes into the animal-proof shipping container (which is made out of metal so it really chills down at night), and I have a week to process it and then it will freeze.
So I'm going through at a strong but reasonable pace. I'm alternating between the shoulders (1-2 coppa roasts per shoulder, chunking the rest for canning and grinding) and loins (debone, loin into boneless chops, tenderloin left whole). That leaves me with a good balance of very meaty bones for stock: rib and spine which are cut across to reveal the marrow, shoulderblade and forearm bones.
The first canner load is going right now: it's "heathy canning" (healthy as opposed to pathogenic, not healthy as opposed to having calories, thank goodness) beef stroganoff recipe. I have made the following alterations: 1tsp voatsiperifery instead of 2tsp thyme, 1c runny tomato sauce instead of 4tbsp tomato paste, 1 scant tbsp garlic powder instead of onion and garlic, and I used better than bouillon beef stock instead of "broth". A canner will take about 5kg of meat this way. So far it smells good. It also uses a tremendous amount of worcestershire sauce: more than a cup per full canner's worth. We'll see how it goes.
Lotta work ahead and behind but I'm happy. This is the kind of thing I like. Tucker is here, being companionable and snuggly and lending a hand but not co-planning the butchery project with me, which is the way I like it.
Now I just need to figure out how to get stuff to the folks that need it.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-26 04:39 pm (UTC)And congratulations on finally being able to get the butchering done. :-D