And if you ever happen through Laplace, Louisiana...
Actually Jacob's will ship; I even had anduille and tasso sent to my son in Afghanistan.
I make my own. There is plenty of meat in a deer that too small to make a decent roast, yet still not great for steaks. I grind that meat. I buy a pork shoulder and mix 1/3 pork and 2/3 deer. That is enough fatty pork for it to fry without adding cooking oil. For seasoning High Mountain sausage kits purchased at Walmart or Bass Pro Shops works great. This is pretty affordable too, once you have a grinder (at least 1/2 horse power).
I do not case it though. I fry the loose sausage with potatoes and make hash. Very tasty!
P.S. I agree with the others......grinding tenderloin is sinful!:-P
Lets be clear on terminology here.
I say that because I hear many people interchange the terms "back strap" and "tenderloin".
The tenderloins, sometimes referred to as the fillet mignon are located on the inside of the rib cage, directly under the last 1/3 of the back strap. They terminate at the end of the rib cage. They are so tender, you can usually simply remove them by hand. They are small on most deer, so if you leave them in place while hanging a deer, they shrink up pretty good.
I'm sure you already knew this, but as I said before, a lot of people confuse the two cuts of meat. It is a great cut to eat right away in buck camp for dinner or breakfast. You can usually cut it with a fork. It often gets over looked.
Around these parts, we call the back strap tenderloin. The inner loin is known as "the best piece" or "sweet meat". But I advise people NOT to grind any of this including back straps. They are the second most tender sections of the deer. Grind the tough stuff, like meat from the front shoulder or scraps from cutting roasts from a hind quarter.
But you make a good point. I didn't even consider the different usage of terminology here. That one got by me as my mouth was watering thinking about sausage.
As I know it, another name for the backstrap is loin, and tenderloin is as you described in the inside of the rib cage. When guiding hunters and cleaning their deer I alway show them the tenderloin and ask do you want to keep this gland meat and I usually make a face like it doesn't smell good?
Those who know say yes and those who don't quickly with their own expression say no and later I take it.
Now THAT IS a sin. Stealing another man's tenderloin. That's funny though...gland meat. I'll have to remember that one. Sounds like it would work most of the time.
I have switched over to a method of field dressing that does not involve gutting, so I have to carefully make an opening behind the last rib to reach in there and remove the tenderloin without anything going poof. In the past, it was the last thing I did. But the more I think about it, it should be the first piece of meat removed.
After learning this field dressing method on ELK, I found it worked just as well for deer. Ya - no more dragging deer up a steep hillside!! I do miss skinning a hanging deer though.
I don't gut anymore either. I hang the deer upside down and skin it. Then make a cut in the inside between the legs bringing the cut down to about the top or middle of the tenderloin. I am careful to only cut the outer tissue and not any organs then remove tenderloin. The guts stay contained in the front chest cavity section of the deer.
I remove the back strap, front shoulders then separate the hind quarters from the front section of the deer. The deer drops into a bucket and the hind quarters stay hanging on a rack. Trim the quarters and done.
Pretty tough to hang an elk, so I learned to do it on the ground. Start at the belly and skin 1/2 to the spine, take out 1 tenderloin, 1 backstrap, front shoulder/roast, then rear quarter. If you are careful not getting hair and trigs on the hide, you can use it as a clean place to set your meat. I then hang that stuff in a tree and bag it.
Roll deer over and repeat. I usually cut the horns off there, even though I think your supposed to keep the head with the carcass for the fish and game to look at.
The only thing wasted would be the rib meat and some of those edible guts. Bears have to eat too you know.
It is quite the workout for one guy to do an elk. In hot weather you have to be quick so the legs don't start spreading and make it a PIA.
I'm getting too old for the gut/drag routine.
jerky
address please. I can send some I made recently out of beef but not as good as deer. I am out of the deer and will have to wait until next Jan.
email me please! 😀
