The Deerslayer's Wife
Embracing the Hunting Lifestyle
Is Rib Meat Worth Saving?
As most of my readers know, Deerslayer and I were blessed with a harvest of South Texas nilgai back in January. Other than elk, it provided more meat than anything I’ve ever encountered. With careful packaging (and three freezers) we were able to accommodate ALL of it. I’ve always felt very strongly about using as much of a harvested animal as possible which is why we grind our own meat, cut our own steaks, roasts, and scrap that can be cooked all day until it falls apart into deliciousness that can be used in countless recipes.
We’ve never bothered with venison rib meat, though. So little meat, so much work. With nilgai, however, it was a different matter. Clearly, there was enough meat between the ribs that I didn’t want to waste it. Fifteen pounds, to be exact. Deerslayer was happy to cut the meat from the ribs so that I could package it up into three 5-lb. packages. The amount of connective tissue surrounding the muscle prevented it from being used for anything other than “cook-all-day” applications.
There is a distinct difference between venison and nilgai meat and the processing thereof. Of course, quantity is the most obvious difference. But we were surprised by the difference in the amount of connective tissue. From skinning the critters to separating the muscle, nilgai is MUCH more difficult than venison because of the amount of fascia, silver skin, etc. It just seems to adhere more than venison. There was no pulling the skin from the muscle during field dressing. It required cutting with a very sharp knife every inch of the way. The preparation of backstrap has required more labor-intensive removal of fascia and silver skin, as well. Don’t get me wrong! The extra work involved has definitely been worth it! The meat is delicious and worth every minute of extra labor required in prep time.
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The Deerslayer's Wife 
That reads WONDERFUL!!!
Thank you. I hope you found it helpful.
I loved reading it , font know if I can ever use it living over here in suburban England! Great to read though
15 pounds of RIB meat. Sign me up? I just slayed my first blacktail here in california. The ribs were the first piece of meat I cooked. I could not believe how melt in your mouth tender it was. I left it to cook all day with wine butter garlic and fresh herbs. Thank you for recipes, I can’t wait to try the pabalno chowder tonight!
Wine, butter, garlic and herbs! That sounds great! Let me know how the chowder turns out. Thanks for checking out the Deerslayer’s wife.