Meats

Last Friday we picked up the Wildebeest from the butcher. Don’t let anyone tell you they are small creatures!!! We have 308 pounds of Blouwildebeest packaged to eat. Between the Wildebeest and the Nyala, we had to get a freezer. Fortunately, we are able to borrow. So I took it home on Friday… and plugged it in, thinking we would have more meat than the freezer (side by side) could possibly hold.

We didn’t get home until after 7 so we spent an hour writing on the vacuum packaged freezer bags of meat what they were and put them in the freezer, we had 187 pounds of meat -fillets, steaks and roasts. We put the meat for Biltong and Droewors in the refrigerator to finish on Saturday.

Saturday morning we cleaned the clothes lines (that we’ve never used for clothes) and prepared to hang the droewors (dry sausage). This is a very thin sausage that you dry to preserve and eat. We had 77 pounds, and did it drag down the lines!!! For more info go here. 

We also hung a few pieces of the Biltong. It was pre-seasoned by the butcher, not something we wanted, it seems that most of our instructions were not relayed to the butcher -but what do you do about it?

I had purchased some tulle for the previous experiments in Biltong but we discovered that we didn’t have any flies so we didn’t need to cover it. I didn’t feel really good about leaving all the meat in the open… so we covered it. Haven’t really seen any flies except for may the first hour… It has to hang and dry until it is snap dry. I tested it last night and we still need to leave it for a few more days. It does have some really good flavor.

One of the other items we received is Boerwors (Farmer Sausage). It is ground meat and spices and is more of a dinner sausage, than a breakfast sausage, but it could be breakfast too. It has a good flavor and we have lots of it!!! It is packed in long unbroken tubes and coiled. It is cooked in the coil as well, especially on the barbeque

We tasted the Biltong tonight and the seasoning is a little lack luster, might even could call it tasteless. Fortunately we froze much of it, so now we have a bit of time to find our own spices and make our own seasoning. The stuff we used on the Nyala was too salty…

So that was my weekend… what did you do?

More later-Beth

Beasts Part II

Ok, so I have been a bit lax on the blogging side of things, but judging from the lack of comments….. I’m thinking everyone is as busy or otherwise occupied as I have been. Having the DH home has really affected my allotment of free time!!!

Once again the sewing room has been bereft and left to idle and I am so far behind …. that the light at the end of the tunnel appears to have been extinguished! I’ll do better in the coming week.

So what have I been doing that has kept me away…. We went hunting again. I surprised DH with a trip to a local Bow Hunting only place. Since I got him the Bow for Christmas…. Anyway it was a very nice and relaxing long weekend. -This is the entrance. The name comes from the region, (where there are huge granite rock formations, which are mined/quarried). There is a lodge, with a common room, and 2 sleeping quarters on each end, 2 freestanding buildings with bed, bath and kitchenette,

a recreation building that has a bar, pool table and eating areas, (as you can see a granite rock pile), and 2 Safari Tents.

 

We stayed in a Safari Tent, which are luxurious as tents go!!!! The tents are really soft sided buildings, and have electricity and running water. They come complete furnished with beds, tables, chairs, linens, etc. just like any hotel room.

One of the more interesting features is the shower. It is outside. In the summer it would be wonderful, but in the winter …. even with hot water…. not for me. The room did have a tub in the bathroom, with a handheld shower…. so you could bathe in relative warmth.

All the facilities are ‘self catering’ meaning you cook your own food, they supply the kitchen and a simple assortment of utensils.

It is winter here, and like home, hunting season is in the winter… So the temps were chilly, but compared to winter in Chicago… balmy! The nights were cool and days were nice. I was able to take walks and see some of the local creatures… and there was even a horse I could ride. I did get a few pictures, but not too many. I did see a bird or two (I’ll post those later), a few deerlike creatures with horns; but the winner was the sunsets. Because of the smoke in the air, sunsets in winter are spectacular!!!

And of course the question… everyone is asking… Did DH bag a beast? Yes, a Wildebeest. So we are going to find out how they taste too.

Well thanks for reading and I post again soon… I promise.

More Later- Beth