It's Official - Deer Season is Over!
On Saturday, February 21, RePhil, Davey, and I took Alex on his inaugural deer grinding at Rob Vincent's in Montezuma, IN (small town just N of Terre Haute on SR 63). It took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to get there due to the 6" of snow we received. The roads were covered, but not impassible.
We arrived at 8:30 am and were greeted by a Vincent breakfast of hash browns, biscuits & gravy, homemade bacon, scrambled eggs, coffee, and tomato juice. This was the fuel to get us through the grinding process.
Rob already had everything set up, so we retired to the garage. Alex and I were the grinders. We mix 20# of deer with 5# of pork butt, season it with Pepper Stick or Jalapeno (prepacked mixes), and send it all through a rough grind. We then regrind it to fine. At which point, we put 25# of mixed and seasoned meat into the stuffer, where it got turned into salami, brats, and sausage by the other three. Trust me on this, stuffing does not take 3 people. Two people can keep ahead of the grinders. Thus, those three had PLENTY of time to sample Rob's home brewing concoctions.
And I must say, Rob has a BEAUTIFUL set up in his garage - a four tap kegger that he hand built. And the libations that were in there? They were epic - especially the Caribou Slobber. We had to use a whole lot of self restraint to keep us from not being able to make it home. Yes, they were that good. Well done, Rob, well done!
We ground and stuffed 5 batches (roughly 125#, but more likely 135-140# as they were not exact). We made some seasoned and unseasoned sausage (Kathy wanted some unseasoned), a boat load of salami, and 52 brats. You have to understand have Davey makes brats - these suckers are footlong style. Just one is an entire meal. The left-over brats we kept in a long string that Rob is going to smoke - turning them into smoked brats / sausage. Those ought to be fabulous.
It's too cold to smoke things right now. Thus, Rob is going to wait until the weather breaks to smoke the salami and the brats. The rest of the meat, we brought home.
We were done grinding by 12:30 - a little over 3 hours of not very hard work. It took another 90 minutes to clean everything up and put it away. Of course the entire time we were hacking on each other, telling old stories, and drinking home brew - all while making venison to sustain us until next year. That's a pretty good day no matter how you look at it.
By the time we left, the roads were clear and some were even dry. We made it back to Mulberry in 1.5 hours. That's about right. Showers immediately followed, then naps.
We arrived at 8:30 am and were greeted by a Vincent breakfast of hash browns, biscuits & gravy, homemade bacon, scrambled eggs, coffee, and tomato juice. This was the fuel to get us through the grinding process.
Rob already had everything set up, so we retired to the garage. Alex and I were the grinders. We mix 20# of deer with 5# of pork butt, season it with Pepper Stick or Jalapeno (prepacked mixes), and send it all through a rough grind. We then regrind it to fine. At which point, we put 25# of mixed and seasoned meat into the stuffer, where it got turned into salami, brats, and sausage by the other three. Trust me on this, stuffing does not take 3 people. Two people can keep ahead of the grinders. Thus, those three had PLENTY of time to sample Rob's home brewing concoctions.
And I must say, Rob has a BEAUTIFUL set up in his garage - a four tap kegger that he hand built. And the libations that were in there? They were epic - especially the Caribou Slobber. We had to use a whole lot of self restraint to keep us from not being able to make it home. Yes, they were that good. Well done, Rob, well done!
We ground and stuffed 5 batches (roughly 125#, but more likely 135-140# as they were not exact). We made some seasoned and unseasoned sausage (Kathy wanted some unseasoned), a boat load of salami, and 52 brats. You have to understand have Davey makes brats - these suckers are footlong style. Just one is an entire meal. The left-over brats we kept in a long string that Rob is going to smoke - turning them into smoked brats / sausage. Those ought to be fabulous.
It's too cold to smoke things right now. Thus, Rob is going to wait until the weather breaks to smoke the salami and the brats. The rest of the meat, we brought home.
We were done grinding by 12:30 - a little over 3 hours of not very hard work. It took another 90 minutes to clean everything up and put it away. Of course the entire time we were hacking on each other, telling old stories, and drinking home brew - all while making venison to sustain us until next year. That's a pretty good day no matter how you look at it.
By the time we left, the roads were clear and some were even dry. We made it back to Mulberry in 1.5 hours. That's about right. Showers immediately followed, then naps.
Grinding is done - stuffing last bit into LONG brats for smoking.
From L to R: Rob, Alex, Davey.
Please note the absence of RePhil. Where could he be?
Outside recycling home brew.
This is our pile of salami in 2# tubes - ready to be smoked. Yum!
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