How to Remove Venison Shanks with Ryan Callaghan

Video: How to Remove Venison Shanks

Shanks—the four forelegs on any four-legged animal—are among the most under-appreciated cuts. They’re so packed with sinew and silverskin that they’d be nearly impossible to grind for burger or chew through if cooked under high heat, but if you go low and slow all that tough stuff breaks down into delicious gelatin and leaves behind savory, flaky meat. With smaller big game, like the whitetail deer I’m working with in this video, I like to leave...

Video: How to Remove a Venison Hindquarter

The hindquarters of a deer, also known as hams, contain a large proportion of the total meat and some of the choicest cuts. It’s here where you’ll find the sirloin, round roasts, eye of round, and others. The more attention you can pay to your technique as you’re removing the back legs, the more meat will wind up in pretty little white packages in your freezer. In this video, I’m showing how you’d remove the hindquarter from a deer that was taken...

Video: How to Remove Silverskin

Getting rid of tendons, ligaments, and sinew—known collectively as silverskin—is a fact of life for those of us who like to process and cook our own wild game. It’s usually pretty obvious where and how to cut off these white and/or silver portions, but good technique and attention to detail will leave you with more meat and in better shape than if you just hack away at it. Silverskin is fine to eat, but it will cause the meat to contract when it...