I'd Never Make It As A Cave Woman

God knew what He was doin' when he put me in this day and age. Well, at least as opposed to having me being one of the first human beings on the planet. I had this brilliant idea to make venison stew today. It's nice and chilly, especially for this part of Texas. I've made venison stew a couple other times, but none were this much "fun." Warning: If you're somewhat squeemish about dissection, this post may not be the read for you, but come back again another time, and hopefully I'll have less meaty material for you. ;)

Daddy bagged himself a deer a coupla years ago, and he himself got the pieces cut and processed. I've opened my other few packages of deer meat and could immediately get to work. Today was an entirely different story. I'm still in the process....maybe....of dissecting this piece of meat. Oh, why, oh why, did I get the leg portion out? For some of you, this is absolutely no big hairy deal...er...leggy deal. It's a part of your life, you tackle the job (or get the man in your life to do it) and you move on to presenting a sumptuously mouthwatering dinner that any hunter would be proud to eat. :) Please, just for future references, can you tell me how it's REALLY done?? Thanks in advance!

I'm not a hunter's wife. I'm not really even a hunter's daugher, if I get ugly and technical about it. I think I was a teen before I realized that meat actually came from animals. And here I thought they came from those styrofoam and Saran wrap packages. No wonder I was experiencing the good life of ease and comfort. Talk 'bout a reality check.

Okay, back to my dilemma.....
I unwrapped this package, thinking that I'll just trim a little membrane here and there, and then treat the meat w/ some Kosher salt bath, and toss it in the slow cooker and go on about my day. I couldn't have been more wrong. I opened that package and discovered I was in a college biology course, I'm sure of it. If I had a medical book on my counter, I'd swear that the muscle illustration came alive. I expected a little silver membrane here and there, but Daddy didn't trim A-N-Y of it. I'm tellin' ya, it was the perfectly defined illustration of leg meat muscle, like you find in a medical book, complete with each little muscle wrapped in its own membrane. Okay, okay, I feel a little daunted, but I try to proceed, all the while saying to myself, "Rachael Ray would SO NOT do this!!"

I try to rewind my brain to a couple of nights ago, remembering a Good Eats episode about butchering meat....funny, the timing of this, eh? Okay, "Take the knife, break the membrane a little bit, then slide the knife against the membrane to separate the muscle from this membrane." Uh, on this piece of meat, the theory was much better than the practice. I managed to get a couple of the "larger" muscles, decided I don't have patience NOR time for this, and it's back in the fridge for hubby to play with, if he wants something to do. I strongly suspect it will end up in the trash. Maybe I oughtta try to make venison stock out of it? We'll see. In the meantime, I think I know why Esau gave up his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup. He just got tired of butchering his hunt and wanted a (very costly) change of pace. Maybe I'll just make some Texas chili and call it a day.