Steven Rinella Shows How to Break Down a Deer’s Hind Leg
OutdoorHub Editor: Keenan Crow 12.11.20
If you have never butchered your own deer before, your first time can be a little overwhelming – especially if you don’t have any guidance or somebody standing next to you showing where to cut. In this video, Steven Rinella walks through the process of breaking down a deer’s hind leg, and shows all the different cuts of meat you can expect to yield from your quarry. This is good stuff right here!
After watching this video, you should walk away with a much better understanding of how to break down a deer’s hind leg, and all the major muscles that make it up. Of course, with years of experience under his belt, Rinella has a knack for making this sort of blade work look effortless.
Although the video doesn’t show every meticulous detail of Steve’s knife work, it’s easy to follow along with what Steve is doing. If it truly is your first time taking on this task, this is probably a good place to start, but you may want to seek out more in depth video of how to attack the deer as a whole first.
The thing I like most about this video, is how Steve lays out each muscle and goes through each one naming it off and how he might use it later in the kitchen.
For example, off one hind leg you will get an eye round, top round, bottom round, a little triangle roast that comes off the top round, the sirloin, the rump and all the shanks – which Steve says you can also leave on the bone to make Osso Bucco. Yum!
He also hands out some advice on freezing and storing the meat, so it doesn’t get freezer burned and comes out fresh when you’re ready to eat it.
