My custom Damascus steel ULU still works flawlessly for skinning, I'm super happy with this beautiful handcrafted custom knife from Georgecraft in Conception Harbour.

After skinning we get to trimming. We don't use moose fat as it's sour and generally unpleasant so it was trimmed and tossed at this time. A very small amount of blood shot meat around the bullet hole was also trimmed and tossed at this time as well.

Next the quarters were washed down with a strong mix of Vinegar and salt. Approximately 3 gallons cold water, 1-1.5L vinegar and about 1/4 box of salt. This helps remove dried blood but importantly kills bacteria that may be present after field dressing and/or from flies and really helps seal the surface. After a 2nd wash the quarters were brought over to Mark's and hung in his commercial cooler for a couple weeks.

A couple weeks later the quarters were aged nicely so it was time to begin final processing and packaging.

Bassan and Roger took care of the first two quarters while I was taking part in a Billiards CPA championship tournament.

The boys followed our standard process of separating muscle groups to cut out beautiful roasts and placing the rest in a separate bin to be ground.

Over the next couple evenings we finished cutting and packaging placing all the roasts & ground in vacuum sealed bags. These provide the very best freshness and are by far the least prone to leaking out.

A month or so later, Bassan and I got together and made some moose sausages. The flavour this time was his families traditional Alce Salsaccia Italian sausages consisting of ground moose & pork, salt, black pepper and red wine.

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2011 Michael Smith