Processing a moose is one of the biggest jobs we do each year! Even though it takes so much time and effort it is so worth it because it fills our freezer with red meat for the year!
This is the 10,000 ft view of what it takes to process a large animal. Obviously this is our method, others have different ways I’m sure!
*If you are here for the tools or bulk sausage recipes, those are at the end of the article!
The process
1. Aging the meat
Once we get the moose home from the field, we hang the quarters to age. We have an unheated garage that works perfectly for this. We cover the window with a black garbage bag so no light gets in. And we hang all the pieces so they aren’t touching and put a fan or two on them to ensure the meat stays completely dry.
The temperatures are usually very agreeable this time of year for this process. Our goal is to keep the garage below 50 degrees, or even better below 45 degrees. At night when temperatures are sub 40* outside I will open the garage door a few feet to let the cold air in. Each morning I shut the door to keep it cool. If the weather didn’t cooperate, we would invest in a cooling system for this process because we really think it makes a huge difference in taste and tenderness!
We age our meat for 2-3 weeks, depending on our schedule. The science behind aging shows that there is benefit up to 21 days. After 21 days there aren’t additional benefits until the meat ages beyond 3 months.
2. Remove the ‘bark’ (pellicle)
Once the meat is aged, the outside of the meat dries and creates a layer of what we call ‘bark’. It’s actually called pellicle and it’s just a dry and hardened outside layer. This is what keeps pests and bad bacteria out of the meat.
It’s not enjoyable to eat so carefully cutting that off with as little waste as possible is the first step of processing.
3. Remove the meat from the bone
After the pellicle is removed, the next step is to remove the meat from the bone. The goal is to follow the bone as close as possible to avoid any waste. As we remove the meat from the bone we also try to cut large chunks of meat out according to the muscle groups.
We like to keep large hunks of meat intact at first so we can decide how many roasts we want, how much to keep as steaks, etc.
4. Remove any sinew, silverskin, tendons, etc.
As we are removing large chunks of muscle groups from the bones, there will be sinew (fiberous tissue, tendons) to remove. Tendons are the more obvious large white areas that connect muscle to bones.
There is also silverskin, which is a shiny white membrane that can be between muscles. We remove as much of this as possible as well.
As you do this, we place any small good chunks of meat into the ‘grind’ tote. This will turn into burger or sausage later.
5. Determine and sort cuts of meat
At this point we have large cuts of meat that we can decide what to do with. We have a conversation about how many roasts we need, how many packages of steaks to we want, and how many pounds of sausage do we want?
First we cut the roasts and steaks. As this is done, there will be trimmings that can be added to the grind tote.
6. Package roasts and steaks
When the roasts and steaks have been cut, we package those right away. See the tool list below for all the details on our packaging.
7. Grind burger, sausage, etc.
After all the large cuts are processed and we are left with the grind meat. We determine how much fat we need for each recipe.
For burger, we do 7% beef fat (93lbs meat + 7lbs beef fat). I found that this is the perfect amount of fat to not have to drain much off when making spaghetti or tacos.
For our sausage, we have our own recipes for breakfast sausage and Italian sausage. I detail the process for the sausages in those blog posts!
8. Packaging the meat
We prefer to weigh out 1lb packages for our burger and sausage. I simply put a stainless steel bowl on a scale, and add meat until I have 1lb. Then I add it to a chamber seal bag and use our Vacmaster chamber sealer to seal the bag.
After sealing, we use a custom made press to smash our bags into flat packages. This allows us to fit so many more packages into the freezer!
Tools for processing a moose (or any large game animal)
Here is a list of our favorite tools:
- Chamber Sealer: VacMaster VP215, we’ve had this for over 6 years and it has been great! Now I work with them and you can use HAPPYHOME to save 15%!
- Meat Grinder: Cabelas 1 horse grinder, we’ve also had this over 6 years and it’s been great!
- Meat Tenderizer: We use this to create ‘cube steak’. Its great for stir fry, fajitas, Chinese style beef, etc.
- Meat Totes: These are food grade totes, great for sorting & storing.
- Seasonings: I get our bulk salt from Redmond Real Salt – use code HAPPYHOME to save! All of our bulk seasonings from Azure Standard, they are high quality & great prices!
- Knives: We use a variety of knives we’ve collected over the years, here are a few of our favorite styles.
- Field butchering knife (replaceable blades) – my husband love this one so much we’ve gifted it to every hunter in our life!
- Boning knife
- Butcher knife
- Slicing knife
- Breaking knife
- Risers: These furniture risers SAVE YOUR BACK for any type of processing! Highly recommend them!
- Stainless steel bowls: I love having a set of bowls with covers, great for sorting or mixing seasonings.
Bulk sausage recipes for Moose processing (or any wild game)
Our breakfast sausage and italian sausage recipes are loved by all! Let us know if you try them!
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