In the field The shoulder and your blade

Jon Snowdon continues his series of articles on butchering venison with the choices you have for the shoulder of the animal and the best techniques to employ for it

When I am demonstrating butchery, for many the shoulder seems to be a bit of a hurdle. Believe me, it is not. I have found and been advised by those that know more than I do that the golden rule about butchery is that if you use the bone as a guide for your knife, you can’t go wrong. By keeping the knife on the bone you won’t lose meat. A sharp knife is essential and regular sharpening keeps it in condition. There are all sorts of gadgets around but there is nothing better than a steel. For those not used to one, take your time and keep the angle on each stroke as even as possible. It will be slow at first but once you get used to

of the outer muscles that are ideal for good casserole meat or to mince for sausages and burgers.

The shoulder blade then needs to be removed (Fig 4, over). Cut the meat along the middle of the shoulder bone on the inner side and then use your blade to pare the meat off the blade to the edge and then cut around the edge of the shoulder blade. This is a very shallow cutting action using the upper bone as a guide. Once you have done that and now using the underneath of the blade as a guide, remove the meat from the under part of the shoulder blade. There is a ridge on this bone, so cut to the ridge and stop there.

Cut around the shoulder joint to free it and by gripping the joint you should be able to pull the blade up and away from the meat. If it seems that you need too much pressure, especially on the larger species, just ease