How Do You Want Your Cow Cut Up?

How Do You Want Your Cow Cut Up?

That is what your butcher will need you to work out when you have a whole animal to be processed.  Our butcher provided a form to fill in that outlined all of the different cuts of meat and we had to select what we wanted from each side of the carcass and what thickness we wanted it cut - Thing, Medium or Thick.  
There is also a section where you can nominate if you prefer mince or sausages or happy with a 50/50 mix.

We really wanted to pay respect to Freezer 2 by using as much of her as possible.  So this means that we asked for things that many customers may not request including:

All the fat that would normally be trimmed off and discarded - Minced.
All of the bones  - split into: meaty bones for stock, marrow bones for extracting the bone marrow and all the other bones cut into hand sized pieces for our dog.
The Beef Cheeks - my favourite cut of meat on the animal for slow cooking.
Liver, Kidneys, Heart, Tail and Tongue.

Then it is a matter of deciding on the cuts of meat you want, keeping in mind that if you choose one cut you may not be able to have another as they both use the same parts.  
A good example of this is the T-Bone, the Sirloin (Porterhouse) and the Eye Fillet.  If you want to have Sirloins then you can't have T-Bones as they both use the same part of the animal. If you want the whole Eye Fillet then you are also dealing with the same are of the body and will have to forgo the T-Bone.
Of course when you are dealing with a whole animal you can opt for T-Bones from Side 1 and Sirloin and Eye Fillet from Side 2.  We always choose Sirloins and Eye Fillet as we love these cuts and find T- Bones just too big.

So what did we choose?
We asked for packs for 2 people which means the different types of steaks had 2 steaks (all medium thickness) per pack, mince was packed in 1 Kg packs and sausages in packs of 8.
Where we requested roasts and corned beef these were also between 1- 2kg.

Well here is what we went with and the number of packs (not weight specific) of each that we ended up with.  

Sirloin Steaks - 19 Packs
Eye Fillet - 4 Packs
Rumps - 1 Left Whole and given to friends as payment for helping us with a job
           - 7 Packs and 1 Roast
Round Steak - 22 Packs
Topside - 4 Roasts
            - 5 Packs of Steak
            - One left whole to make beef Jerky
Silverside - 15 Packs Corned
Gravy Beef - 9 Packs
Osso Bucco - 8 Packs Bone In
Blade - 8 Roasts
Oyster Blade Steak - 11 Packs
Chuck - 7 Packs of Steak
          - 36 packs of Mince
Ribs - 3 Rib Roasts
       - 6 Packs of Spare Ribs
Rib - 10 Packs Rib Fillet Steak
      - 8 packs of OP Rib (Rib on the bone) steak
Brisket - 3 Roasts
           - Sausages
Off Cuts - Sausages - We ended up with 70 Packs of thick and 70 Packs of Thin sausages
Cheeks - 1 Pack
Marrow Bones
Stock Bones
Ox Tail - 1 Pack
Heart - 4 Packs
Liver - 8 packs
Kidney - 2 Packs
Tongue - 1 Pack
Dog Bones
Minced Fat - 8 packs

We are not fans of offal and so the liver will all go to our dog Jessie as will the heart.  The kidneys I am not sure yet and I would like to try the tongue but Hubby is dead set against it.  I might cook it and not tell him and see if I get away with it.
One of the things I decided was to get all of the Blade cut into roasts.  Later on if I am out of stewing cuts of steak I can dice this up, or if I run out of mince I can mince it.  
I also asked for the OP Rib (Rib on the bone) to be cut in thick slices as I have a plan to try something different with them and since we have so much meat I can afford to experiment.         

Have I listed any cuts of meat that you have never cooked with?

Thanks Freezer 2 - We Appreciate The Meat You Give To Us

Today we say farewell to our beef cow "Freezer 2".

Freezer 2

It is a sad day on the farm because even though she has been raised for the purpose of filling our freezer (and our bellies) we have enjoyed her antics and personality for the past few years and we will notice her absence.
We really are very thankful that her life is given to provide for ours.  Today I will feed her her last handful of hay and watch her enjoy it.  I will look her in the eye for the last time and give her a rub behind the ear then I will say goodbye and leave her in peace.
The first cow we raised "Freezer 1" went into the freezer in December 2012 and you can read about that here.
The local guy we use to do our home kill is very good and last time our cow was sitting down chewing her cud when the lights went out.  Hopefully it will be just as calm for Freezer 2.

Freezer 2 is a Murray Grey and we hope that she will produce tasty beef that is well marbled and has a good layer of fat.  You can see from the photo below(taken April 2013) how much weight she has put on in the last 12 months so it will be interesting to see what her dressed weight will be.  Freezer 1 was just over 250 kg but it is really hard to tell what they will weigh while they are still walking around.

Once killed her carcass will be cut into the 4 quarters and hung for a week in a cool room.  Then next week we will have the job of bagging up all the different cuts.

April 2013

May 2014

We will not be replacing Freezer 2 as it will take us a long time to eat that much been even if we give some to the family.  And with our planned move to New Zealand in the future we do not need the added complication of livestock to get rid of.  Freezer 2 currently has a little friend that belongs to one of our neighbours and we have been told we can keep him to keep the grass down or we can borrow a mare that is in foal.  

We have not decided what we will do yet and we might just give the paddocks a rest and borrow an animal again later, but there is no rush to make that decision.

Do you kill your own animals?

How do you say goodbye and thank you?

Into The Freezer For Freezer 1

Things have been busy here, really busy.  I had my work Christmas Party, we had a birthday lunch a few days in Brisbane catching up with friends and the general bustle that is the festive season.
We have also taken the next step in our farming journey and gone through the process of having Freezer 1 (that is the name of one of our cows the other is called Freezer 2.  This way we remember that they are not pets) killed and butchered for our use.

We have had some fun learning to be farmers and dealing with our 2 cows which you can read about here.  But for the most part they ate the grass in the paddock and other than making sure they had grass, hay, water and mineral supplements we have not done anything else to interfere with them being cows.  They were cows and we watched them being cows.

Before you read further I will warn you that there are photos of a dead cow (it is a distance photo so not gory) and the carcass as it was processed.  I will also be talking about the process.  If this is not for you pop back tomorrow for the last installment of A Home Made Christmas.

Freezer 1 spent the morning eating grass and doing what cows do.  This was what she was doing when she died.  She did not even get up.  The guy who did our home kill shot her from his car so she had no stress before she died.  If we had sent her away to be processed she would have been rounded into a pen. loaded on a truck, driven to an abattoir, unloaded with other animals and sent into a noisy factory to meet her fate.  For us having it all done at home was the best option.

Her last morning spent eating grass.

Once she was dead the butcher proceeded to remove the feet and hide.  We decided not to keep the hide as we were not sure we had the time or inclination to process it, or if we would be able to take it to NZ when we move.

Freezer 1 upside down feet removed and the butcher beginning to
remove the hide.

Once the hide had been removed from the belly and legs the carcass was strung up and hoisted into the air.  At this stage the hide was pulled off the carcass entirely and the head and innards were removed.  We we were left with what your local butcher would buy in to cut into all the different cuts of meat you see in the shop.  I also requested the tongue and the inner and outer cheeks before the head was discarded.  I am not sure about tongue but I am sure there are some good recipes out there.  If you have one let me know.

 The carcass was divided in half and then into quarters and then hung in the cool room that the butcher left with us for 5 days.

Cut in half

Hoisting them higher so they can be
swung into the back of the cool room.

In go the 4 pieces

 Freezer 1 weighed in at 232 kg which is the dressed carcass as you see above.

Five days later the butcher cam back to cut it into all of the portions we wanted.  As he cut it up I took it inside and used our cryovac machine to pack it all and put it in the freezer.  We asked to keep all of the bones and kept a lot for our selves for Jessie and to make stock with, and we gave some to our neighbors.

The butcher charges $1.75 kg plus $25 to get rid of the intestines, head and hide.  It is a lot of meat to get through so the family will be getting some too.  The butcher made us our sausages, mince rolled roasts and corned meats all on the spot too so we have a good variety in the freezer.

We have sampled some sausages and steak so far and both were a hit.  Over the Christmas break I want to do a cost comparison to take into account the cost of the cow and any hay purchased etc to see what the real cost is.

Overall we are happy with how things went and are looking forward to some eye fillet over Christmas.

Moorish Meatloaf

Now for many people the thought of meatloaf may not conjure up thoughts of a delicious meal but this recipe is extremely tasty, goes a long way and makes great leftovers including sliced as a sandwich filling.

The meatloaf is soft, yet does not crumble and is covered in a sticky sweet glaze.

Moorish Meatloaf

500 gm Beef Mince           500 gm Sausage Meat (I just squeeze out some cheap sausages)

1 Cup of Bread Crumbs    1 finely diced Brown Onion

1 1/2 tsp Curry Powder     2 Tbs Chopped Flat Leaf Parsley

1 Egg                                Salt and Pepper

1/2 Cup Milk                    1/4 Cup of Water

1/2 Red Onion and Bay Leaves to Garnish

Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees.

Oil a large roasting pan and set aside.

In a large bowl  mix all of the first set of ingredients.  This is best done with your hands and once thoroughly mixed shape into a log approx 10 x 25 cm and place in your oiled roasting pan.

Top with the red onion and bay leaves.

Bake for 30 minutes and during this time make your glaze.

Glaze

1 Cup Stock (Beef or Vegetable)   1/4 Cup Tomato Paste

2 Tbs white Vinegar                      2 Tbs Honey or Golden Syrup or Maple Syrup

2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce          1/2 tsp Mustard Powder

Heat all glaze ingredients together in a saucepan.  Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes then turn off the heat.

When the first 30 minutes of cooking the meatloaf is finished remove from the oven and ladle over about 1/3 of the glaze. Return to the oven and cook for another 30 - 40 minutes.  During this time remove the meatloaf twice more and ladle over the other 2/3 of the glaze.

Serve hot or cold.