The best is yet to come

Jon Snowden delights in what to do with the haunch of your deer carcase, its prime cuts and the expectation of family feasts ahead with a larder full to brimming

There is something deeply satisfying about going off to the woods to hunt deer. If successful, then the best bit is yet to come. Dragging the carcase back to your vehicle and arriving home to supply a veritable meat feast once the carcase is butchered vacuum-packed and in the freezer. It completes the whole rewarding venture.

There are many ways to butcher a deer carcase and many of us will have our own way of doing so.

Bottom up

I will deal with the haunch this month. The haunches are separated from the carcase by cutting across the back of the carcase just at the end of the pelvis. Once done, there will be two haunches attached to the pelvis. The species of deer will determine what may be done with the haunches. A muntjac haunch is tiny compared with the red deer and often a whole haunch will be kept to roast without too much butchering. A red haunch can be huge, even on a young deer, and unless you have a very large family or a special celebration with friends joining you then my choice would always be to separate each muscle in the haunch for different uses. It is worth remembering that each muscle in a haunch is of a different size and texture and will cook at a different rate. For this reason, when cutting steaks ensure that they are the same width so that they cook evenly.

The H-bone

To access the muscles, first the haunch has to be removed from the pelvis or H-bone. This is done by cutting around the H-bone, using the bone as a guide keeping on the bone and using the tip of the knife as much as possible. The ball joint has to be separated from the socket in the pelvis and this can be done by careful separation of the socket using a knife. Bone blunts blades very quickly and I would advise that you have a different knife that you use for this purpose only.

Once the haunch is removed from the H- bone, then it should look like Fig 1, right.

Then remove the shank by cutting through the knee joint to separate from the haunch and also remove the ligament and hock joint. This can be used for a very slowcooked shank or strip the meat from the shank and use that for sausage or burger meat (Fig 2, above).

You now have the haunch. There are six muscles within it and the names can be different depending what country you live in. These are the names common to the UK: • Rump • Silverside • Topside • Thick flank • Shank • Salmon cut

Apart from the shank, all of the other cuts are prime meat and they can be cut into steaks. Some of the cuts are better for steak than others and I would not cut thick flank or the salmon cut into a steak. I would use the thick flank as a roast or dice it and the salmon cut into pieces for high quality casserole, stroganoff or similar dish. The salmon cut can be cut part way through and flattened as a steak.

Prime steaks

The rump or top sirloin is, of course, a prime steak and is taken from the meat that lies above the top of the femur ball. Cut it off just past the socket ball and then cut into tasty and tender rump steaks (Fig 3, 4)

Looking at the haunch, you will see the Rump and sirloin are the prime haunch cuts and make the most succulent steaks

lines that separate the muscles. Gently cut on these lines and you can often separate the muscles by hand; use the tip of the knife to help if some are proving stubborn to remove (Fig 5). After splitting a couple you can remove the bone, cutting as close to the bone as possible (Fig 5).

Once separated, you will see the silverside; this has a silver skin on one edge,

edge of the silverside and any other skin on the other joints. Any meat trimmings that you remove in the process can go to make sausages or burgers. • The silverside muscle can be used as a

roast or cut across the grain for steaks. • The top sirloin is high quality steak. • The thick flank is high quality steak or a

small roasting joint. • The topside I would always use as a roast

or casserole meat. • The salmon cut can be cut half through and flattened for steak. I find it better as casserole. • The shank is an excellent very slow roast.

I think this is the best use of a haunch. The result can be used for several meals rather than one roast haunch. If you are new to this, get stuck in and don’t worry about the odd mistake. Sharpen your knife regularly and when trimming the cuts, take off anything you wouldn’t want to eat. You will end up with good looking, low in fat, tender succulent meat every time.