Thread: Getting back to living off the land.....

Maybe I've missed seeing the info somewhere.... so forgive me. But how will you cook the hams? Will you boil or roast them whole?

eels are neat critters....still give me the heebee geebees if encounter them while in water fishing.....used to gut rabbits at same wee bridge and after a week the eels would be waiting when I came back from shooting.... Ive pulled eels in on line and they were longer than fence post,not stressed at all so I cut line happily...no way was I putting hand near that mouth. Ive tried some smoked and its good...but I just cant get past the slimey eel thing...same with possum...

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

eels are neat critters....still give me the heebee geebees if encounter them while in water fishing.....used to gut rabbits at same wee bridge and after a week the eels would be waiting when I came back from shooting.... Ive pulled eels in on line and they were longer than fence post,not stressed at all so I cut line happily...no way was I putting hand near that mouth. Ive tried some smoked and its good...but I just cant get past the slimey eel thing...same with possum...

Unfortunately as a youngster me and my mate decimated them with line and spear and gay abandon. I console myself that we did no where near as much damage as the blokes who trapped the waterways clean to send containers of live NZ eels to Asia. We did occasionally eat them. Over a camp fire wrapped in wild mint or skinned and pan fried at home. We should have filleted them for pan frying but instead steaked them with bone in. Too much bone . Over the camp fire the slime simply cooks off with the crackled skin. The meat was a bit earthy tasting but delicious. I learned as an adult fly-fisherman cooking brown trout in particular that to avoid the muddy taste you either fillet before cooking or you dry bake. If you wet cook them with the skin on that is where the muddy taste comes from and it pervades the flesh.

Originally Posted by Jhon

Unfortunately as a youngster me and my mate decimated them with line and spear and gay abandon. I console myself that we did no where near as much damage as the blokes who trapped the waterways clean to send containers of live NZ eels to Asia. We did occasionally eat them. Over a camp fire wrapped in wild mint or skinned and pan fried at home. We should have filleted them for pan frying but instead steaked them with bone in. Too much bone . Over the camp fire the slime simply cooks off with the crackled skin. The meat was a bit earthy tasting but delicious. I learned as an adult fly-fisherman cooking brown trout in particular that to avoid the muddy taste you either fillet before cooking or you dry bake. If you wet cook them with the skin on that is where the muddy taste comes from and it pervades the flesh.

also with browns (one of my favourite table fish) bleed,gut n gill ASAP and dont forget to remove all of the blood/kidney line along sharpside of gut cavity...the black bit up in against spine.....and I mean all of it,teaspoon works well,blade of spinner at a pinch,or a knife if really have nothing else.... same goes for kawhawai ...

Just a slow simmer; just below boiling

Wild goat leg just going into the oven to be slow-roasted at 140°C. Salt, pepper, dried thyme and coated with olive oil with butter on top to baste the leg

3-hour slow roasted goat leg...

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

3-hour slow roasted goat leg...

Attachment 179526

I bet you had to be quick with the camera to get that snap.
GPM

@grandpamac It was pretty bloody good! Even if that does sound a tad immodest....

Food security is: a wild goat chilling in the shade of a tree, a garden of veges, and fresh chook and duck eggs.

Yesterday's goat hanging in the cool shade of the big horse chestnut. The trick in summer is to go on afternoon hunts. That way you hang the goat, wrapped in a sheet to keep flies out, and it gets chilled quickly during the evening/night. There is a constant breeze under this tree so after cooling quickly overnight, the breeze keeps it cool in the heavy shade. It acts as an old time meat safe.

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

Food security is: a wild goat chilling in the shade of a tree, a garden of veges, and fresh chook and duck eggs.

Yesterday's goat hanging in the cool shade of the big horse chestnut. The trick in summer is to go on afternoon hunts. That way you hang the goat, wrapped in a sheet to keep flies out, and it gets chilled quickly during the evening/night. There is a constant breeze under this tree so after cooling quickly overnight, the breeze keeps it cool in the heavy shade. It acts as an old time meat safe.

Attachment 185597

Nice, but it's been around 20 degrees overnight here in the last week. Don't think that's ideal chilling temperature

It's down to about 10C here at night. But the shade and wind cools it down to around 7-ish which is about the max temp you want a fridge at. If i shot it earlier in the day I'd skin it, and take of the forequarters, legs and loins and put them in the fridge overnight

Yeah that's what I found with hanging lambs in summer too MB. My trick ( although only really doable at home of course) is to freeze a few 2L coke bottles full of water and hang them in the body cavity before I wrap it in a sheet.
Or you can wet the sheet to add to the evaporative cooling as well

Last summer was really strange here. Really hot days but the nights were autumnal chilly and usually down to about 8C! First time I've seen it like that. But it did make chilling afternoon/evening shot game simple. Once the night had dragged the temp down; the shade and wind kept it low. I suppose because the thermal mass of cooled carcase took longer to warm up. One goat I shot was hanging for 2 days and nights and was still fine. Leaving the skin on seems to help too, maybe it also helps keep the cool "in the carcase" through its insulation preventing it warming up so fast?

100% organic and the most sustainable meat available! And one less feral goat eating the native bush. Now safely chilling in the fridge for a few days. The little 10cm, NZ-made Victory drop point hunter is a cracking wee knife