/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>16609809
I've only done poultry and yes I find it worth the time and effort.
I would love to do a large animal someday. A days worth of work for a years worth of meat...

>>16609809
I've seen classes for breaking down a hog/cow. I think some of them even let ya keep some of the meat.

a pig cutting a pig, far out

If you have land and can afford raising the animals, I don't see why not.

>>16609809
I butcher one or two pigs with my parents each year. We buy the pig from a local farmer when it's still a little piglet and get to follow his progress getting nice and plump. I take my niece to visit once in a while so she can rub his snout and I can feed him some foodscraps. It's nice to know that your meat had a good life.

The butchering takes a whole day what with the cutting and grinding and packing and smoking etc.
Some parts are cooked the same day, such as the liver, which is turned into pate, and the tongue, which is boiled, peeled, and eaten in slices on rye with mustard.
Sausages are made the same day too.

I never thought of it as an effort but rather as a nice fun day hanging out with family and drinking a few beers. The different smells of things cooking certainly don't feel like a chore either.

Try to have fun when you make food instead of thinking of it as work.

I would have shared a pic from last time but they all have family members in them and I'm not posting something like that here.

>>16609816
trial and error anon, hook up with a hunter friend and if you have no hunter friend you actively look up people who hunt and then when an animal is killed you INSIST on doing it, this is a grumpy process because you will be shit and they will be impatient, probably, but do that a couple three times and you will know how to do it, takes atleast 10-20 times before you get good but it is a timeless skill, anyone can aim and pewpew but few can butcher with skill.

>>16609809
>osb cutting board

>>16609864
I grew up in a big hunting family, we kinda stopped when CWD became more prevalent in the area though.
but this is a good recommendation for anyone interested in learning to break down an animal

>>16609809
On the rare occasion that I hunt yeah. I process my own fish all the time.
It's a pain in the ass and takes a lot of practice to get even decent at it (which is why it's a whole profession), but it's rewarding in its own way.

>>16609886
you could just skip deer and go for smaller game unaffected and start from there?

>>16609809
Small animals like chickens or rabbit may be worth it, but tall animals like pigs or cows will leave you with endless amounts of meat many understimate so be sure you can gift or sell some parts to friends, have a big dinner with you family or friends, make lots of differents sausages, have a huge freezer or cook lots of fonds.

>>16609809

>>16610273

>>16610273

>>16610277
not accurate, there are never weights and it's always single malt scotch

>>16609809
Ya, I hunt and kill 90% of all the meat consumed in this house. Processing your own game, from elk to chickens, takes a few years practice but you get good at it.

>>16610279
based mullah

no, but my parents would purchase a cow every year from a friend of a friend and pre-pay to have it processed. they wouldn't have done it if it wasn't a deal. it's simply a situation where you need lots of cash upfront

it arrived in several boxes and everything was portioned, flash frozen and vacuum packed

we had a deep freeze in the garage and used that to store it

in the mornings my mom would have me grab whatever we needed and put it in the fridge to thaw for a few days in advance

we kept a constant rotation going

if she wanted to make a stew for sunday, we'd put a roast in the fridge on thursday or friday -- that extra day was often advantageous for big chunks of meat

it was a treasure trove of every cut of meat you ever wished for including bacon-wrapped filets and beef sausages

sirloin, ribeye, t-bones, porterhouse, filet mignon, ribs, tripe, ground beef, chuck roast, lengua, flank, brisket, oxtail, heart...

t-bone and porterhouse are basically the same cut, but the porterhouse is slightly beefier, pun intended

after i moved out, they gifted me some of it for christmas one year. i ate like a king for about a month. one of the happiest periods in my life. day after day i had steak with eggs or baked potato, chili, burgers, hamburger helper, tacos, pot roast, barbacoa, smoked ribs and brisket (that i did in a $40 weber grill i bought on craigslist).

>>16609809
>anyone here butcher their own meat?
yes
>is it worth the time and effort?
no

>>16610282
the gun is also missing

>>16610413
My parents started going in with other family members and buying a cow and splitting it and have it processed, but I don't know who they were buying their beef from because sadly it was always shit.

>>16609859
that sounds pretty based

>>16610941
>because sadly it was always shit
that's so funny and disappointing.
Lots of people are used to grain finished cattle since it's generally what people grew up eating. It's a bit fattier and you're already used to the flavor
If you switch to 100% pasture-raised or even grass-finished it can be quite a big difference, in addition to the cattle usually being leaner.
I'm not saying one is better flavor-wise than the other, just that grass-raised/finished can seem shitty if you're not used to it.

Anything bigger than a chicken it's basically worthless as you'd need to freeze 80% of the carcass, therefore defeating the bonuses of butchering your own animal. If you have access to a good butcher there's really no point unless you live innawoods or on a farm or something off the grid.

>>16609809
>tfw no butcher gf

>>16611714
There's nothing wrong with freezing. Ive had never frozen and frozen meat and I dont taste any difference. If anything I like frozen because the freezing and thawing seems to tenderize the meat more.

>>16609809
Imagine believing all these anons who claim they kill/process their own meat on /ck/. Most of them haven’t left their parent’s basement yet, much less used a firearm to kill an edible animal.

>>16613555
Taking apart a dead animal isn't some amazing skill that takes years of practice to learn.
That other guy who said you have to do at least 10-20 before you get it right is full of shit.
Just because you don't know where you dinner comes from doesn't mean everybody else is like that too.

>>16613578
Ah yes. From posting about his favorite McDonald’s dollar menu item, to how his way of pan searing steak with butter and fresh herbs is the only way to properly cook a steak, to butchering his neighbor’s best friend on his undersized cutting board. This guy is the ultimate /ck/ chad.

When I worked in a slaughterhouse I would buy a box of rump's(usually 2-3) and cut them up, but I've never butchered a full animal asides from chickens.

>>16611714
>He doesn't know how to store meat

>>16609859
>and the tongue, which is boiled, peeled, and eaten in slices on rye with mustard.
man how i miss such food. though we used horseradish instead of mustard.

>no hair net

>>16609809
it's fairly simple if you have a basic knowledge of anatomy. As for whether or not it's worth it, only if you have the space to store a couple hundred pounds of meat