Hunting

While I was in the sewing room the DH was out hunting. He spent the first week of July looking for animals and freezing. To be fair I was originally supposed to go, but we decided there wouldn’t be enough to keep me occupied while they were out stalking dinner, (just a euphemism). The hunting place was primitive and the only heat would have been from a campfire, and it would have been too cold to do handwork or just sit and read and in the winter… not much to photograph (possibly). We checked out the surrounding area for other distractions… but sadly not many.

So was DH lucky? Yes, he got a beast (DH is the Smurf in the picture with our friend Faan [Farnie]). An Nyala (En ya la). As, Lana E. recently commented on one of the groups I belong to, of a picture I posted on Flickr.   …”I have to say that my favorite is the Nyala. What a strange looking creature! He's my favorite because he is such a curiosity. So many strange body features in one creature”.  And she is right! The Nyala looks like someone made a beast from leftover parts: yellow socks, shoulder hump with fringe, long horns, white stripes, dots, big ears, thin nose, etc.

In case you are going to be up in arms… about killing a creature… the Nyala is a long way from being endangered here and we will consume a considerable amount of this guy. Of course the skin will become part of our possessions, as will the skull and horns, (not a stuffed and mounted head).  So far we have packaged and frozen much of the meat.

In addition to the meat we have in the freezer we will have some boerwors (farmer sausage); ground, seasoned meat in tubes that you can eat as is as sausage, braii (bbq) or put in casserole being made. And the best is Biltong, South Africas version of Jerky. Here you use salt to remove moisture, rinse and then season, refrigerate, and then hang in the air for 3-5 days depending on how dry the air is. In winter the air is dry here. Very very dry. Biltong is one of South Africas favorite snacks, and is available in most grocery stores and malls. The meat found most often in the stores of course is beef, but we have seen several other animals too.

So far we have tried the fillet and some ground meat that we made using the grinding attachment to the Kitchen Aid mixer . DH likes my big mixer now too. The meat is sweet, similar to venison (US deer) here it’s also called venison, but it encompasses most of the deer-like creatures. The texture was similar to beef, but a little chewier. The ground meat was dry… very dry. So, it won’t make hamburgers…. but it will make some interesting packet meals or Bobotie, a South African main dish . If, DH gets another deer-like creature… we will season and add some fat or oil to the ground meat, so it will cook up a bit more edible.

Our first batch of Biltong is done… and it is a bit salty and a little too dry, but since this is really a guessing game… we’ll do better on the next batch. I found us a Biltong slicer, and it really makes short work of slicing the meat… and it is so much easier than a knife! The piece of biltong on the slicer is from our second batch an while still salty, it is much more moist and tender.

Hopefully the next hunting trip will be some place I can go and find something to do… If not, I am saving all these opportunities up for a special vacation for myself! Can you say Bali? Wanna go?

As usual, more later.

Beth