D & R Processing
Glossary of Terms

Baraga Roast:
A boneless roast seasoned with a blend of salt, pepper, spices, and MSG. Made out of pork or beef in the supermarkets found in the Baraga and L'Anse area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We have found this to be a superior flavor for venison, and like to use the Top Sirloin for making this roast.

Black Forest Roast:
A boneless rolled and tied roast made from the loin (backstrap), Sirloin Tip, or
Round. The meat is unrolled, sprayed with olive oil, seasoned, and stuffed with bacon, mushrooms, and Swiss Cheese. Furnished with a Pop-up Timer, it is roasted at 350° or grilled over medium heat until the timer pops. After timer pops, remove from heat and add a slice of Swiss Cheese to the top of the roast, tent with foil for 5 minutes before serving.

Backstrap:
A common term used to refer to the whole loin. Consists of the muscle found on either side of the backbone from the front shoulders to the hind. In terms used for beef it would consist of the Chuck Eye, Rib Eye, New York Strip, and the Top Sirloin.

Brat - Sheyboygan:
A mild sausage originating in Germany and popular in Wisconsin, Available in
many flavor variations, the Sheyboygan Style originated in city of that name. We make it either bulk or in patty (steakette) form. Use the bulk in any of your hamburger recipes.

Breakfast Sausage:
This is a mild but very flavorful sausage. We make it either bulk or in patty (steakette) form. To form skinless links, use a "Jerky Shooter" with the round nozzle attachment.

Buffalo Chips:
Venison's answer to "Buffalo Wings"! Extra lean cubes of venison are vacuum tumbled with our Buffalo Chip Seasoning. Excellent for snacks or hors d' oeuvres, it is quick to prepare by deep-frying or sautéing in oil. Could also be used for a spicy Noodles and Tips.

Choppees:
Lean venison and bacon ground together, seasoned with Smokehouse Seasoning, shaped like a pork chop, and breaded. Can be fried, baked, or grilled.

Cordon Bleu Roast:
A boneless rolled and tied roast made from the loin (backstrap), Sirloin Tip, or Round. The meat is unrolled, sprayed with olive oil, seasoned, and stuffed with deli ham and Swiss Cheese. Furnished with a Pop-up Timer, it is roasted at 350° or grilled over medium heat until the timer pops. After timer pops, remove from heat and add a slice of Swiss Cheese to the top of the roast, tent with foil for 5 minutes before serving.

Country Style Ribs:
We make these by cutting the boneless Top Sirloin Butt lengthwise, into 1" strips, and seasoning with our special Smokehouse BBQ Seasoning. Excellent when grilled to medium, broiled, or baked.

Cube Steak:
Using a ratio of approximately 80/20, we run lean chunks of venison and pork together through our cuber (tenderizer). The secret to the flavor and tenderness of our Cube Steaks is that we run them through the cuber a minimum of 15-18 times, until we reach a consistent color and texture.
While excellent just as they are, Cube Steaks are unsurpassed for stuffing. We will be happy to provide you with a list of stuffing ideas from Asparagus to Yooper!

Cube Steak: Seasoned
Made like plain Cube Steaks except that we sprinkle both sides with seasoning after the third or fourth run through the cuber. We then continue with another 12-15 runs through the cuber, thoroughly blending in the seasoning.

D & R:
An acronym standing for Dave and Ruth (Firnett) owners and operators.
Not to be confused with: D.N.R. - Department of Natural Resources

Double Wrapping:
The system we use which consists of wrapping first with a meat stretch film to eliminate air and then overwrapping with waxed freezer paper to provide a further barrier against freezer burn. We believe this to be the best possible packaging for long-term storage, and have personally eaten venison stored over 2 years with this method and had no noticeable loss of quality.

Filet Mignon:
Tenderloins cut 1" - 1¼" thick, wrapped with bacon, and seasoned with olive oil and our special Canadian Seasoning. We normally skewer two filets together for grilling.

Fresh Sausage:
Normally made in 11# batches using 9# of venison and 2# of lean pork. We offer 15 varieties of fresh sausages with other flavors available on request. We offer our fresh sausage in two forms: bulk or steakettes. Bulk may be used in any of your hamburger recipes with each variety giving you a unique flavor. Steakettes are pre-formed rectangular patties ready for grilling, broiling, or frying.
Note: We offer fresh venison sausage in natural casings during the off season from Jan.1 to Oct.1.

Gourmet Roasts:
Our terminology for boneless oven ready roasts that are pre-seasoned, stuffed, and provided with a Pop-up timer.

Honey - Garlic Sausage:
Made buy adding honey and garlic to either our bratwurst or Italian Sausage. Excellent when made into steakettes and cooked on the grill. This sausage is very popular among children.

Imperial Roast:
Originally named an accordion roast because of it's appearance, it's made by thinly slicing the Sirloin Tip (without cutting all the way through), seasoning with Italian Seasoning, and then rolling String Cheese and hard salami into each slice. Because of the multiple surfaces this roast cooks much faster than a traditional roast. Furnished with a Pop-up Timer, it is roasted at 350° or grilled over medium heat until the timer pops. After timer pops, remove from heat and sprinklewith shredded mozzarella cheese. Tent with foil for five minutes before serving.

Italian Sausage:
A basic ethnic sausage often characterized by salt, pepper, garlic, and fennel seed. Available in mild and sweet, it is excellent in Italian dishes, burgers, chili, or Sloppy Joes. One camp browns hot Italian, adds salsa, and uses for dipping with Tortilla chips.

Meatloaf:
A blend of dehydrated vegetables, spices, and soy protein it is reconstituted with water. After setting for 20 minutes it is mixed with 9# of Ground Venison and 2# of Ground Pork and then ground a second time into foil pans.
This formula holds together especially well and is popular for eating both hot and cold. If thawed a loaf will cook in 90 minutes at 350º, frozen you should allow at least an extra ½ hour. A batch normally yields 13-14 pans.

Medallions:
Thick cut, butterflied loin chops that are basted with Olive Oil, seasoned, and wrapped with bacon. These come ready to grill!

Minute Steaks: Plain or Seasoned:
Either plain or seasoned ground venison, with or without pork added, is shaped into a patty and run once through the cuber (tenderizer). Because of the exposed surfaces formed by the cuber, a minute steak will cook much faster than a solid patty. Currently we offer minute steaks in plain, onion, lemon pepper, or Smokehouse BBQ flavors.

Mock Chicken Legs:
9# of venison and 2# pork are ground together and mixed with Mock Chicken Leg Seasoning (a chicken bouillon based seasoning) and Chicken and Rice Soup. Patties are formed and then rolled to resemble a drumstick, coated with a mix of Corn Flake Crumbs and corn meal, and placed on a skewer. This is a favorite with kids and quickly prepared by frying in oil or baking. [We also offer these in breaded patty form.]

Mock Tenders:
Located on the outside of the front shoulder next to the blade bone, it is also known as the "chuck tender'. Works well for grilling when left whole and vacuum tumbled and marinated. We recommend slicing very thin into medallions when serving. This muscle also works well for cube steaks, stirfry, chopsuey meat, stew meat, or buffalo chips.

Monte Cristo Roast:
Inspired by the Monte Cristo sandwich, it is a boneless rolled and tied roast made from the loin (backstrap), Sirloin Tip, or Round. The meat is unrolled, seasoned and stuffed with thin sliced pork, deli ham, smoked turkey, and Swiss cheese. Because it contains pork it should be cooked slightly longer than our other roasts. Roast at 350º or grill over medium coals until the internal temperature reaches 155º on a meat thermometer, remove from heat and add another slice of Swiss cheese to the top, tent with foil for five minutes before serving.

Montreal Roast:
A boneless rolled and tied roast made from the loin (backstrap), Sirloin Tip, or Round. The meat is unrolled, seasoned with olive oil and Canadian Seasoning, and stuffed with bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and mozzarella. Furnished with a Pop-up Timer, it is roasted at 350° or grilled over medium heat until the timer pops. After timer pops, remove from heat, top with additional cheese and tent with foil for five minutes before serving.

Muscle Boning:
Separating the muscles of the animal into their individual components by following the bone structure or connective tissue. [Example: the Whole Round consists of Sirloin Tip, Top Round, Bottom Round, Eye of Round and Heel of Round.]

Natural Casing Sausage:
Ground meat that is seasoned and stuffed into real hog casings that are 32mm - 35mm in diameter. We recommend par-boiling [beer is often used], and then grilling or frying.

Pizza Sausage:
A mild Italian Style sausage excellent for Italian dishes or as a Pizza topping. Used for making "Pizza Steaks"- form into patties, top with: tomato paste, shredded mozzarella, chopped green peppers, chopped ripe olives, mushrooms, and pepperoni. Bake covered at 350º approximately 25-35 minutes.

Polish:
A mild ethnic sausage that uses Marjoram as a key ingredient, works well in any recipe the uses hamburger. Buck LaVasseur uses Polish to make breakfast egg muffins with cheese and claims they're excellent!

Pop-up Timer:
A spring loaded plastic timer that is heat activated. The timers we use are pre-set for 144º which will produce a medium-rare roast.

Porketta:
An Italian roast that we normally make from a boneless rolled and tied neck roast. We offer it either normal (spicy) or mild. It is easily prepared by placing in a crock-pot set on low and allowed to slow cook all day.

Potato:
A mild "fluffy" type sausage, which we make using instant potatoes, dried onion, mustard seed, and spices. Great for breakfast or made into burgers. The texture of this sausage sets it apart from all the others.

Precise Labeling:
Some people believe wild game comes in only three varieties: steaks, roasts, and burger. We know that there is much more to the animal than that! We label each cut what it really is, such as Top Round, Sirloin Tip, and Mock Tender. We also date each package so you can be sure to use your meat up in the order it was harvested. In addition to all that we furnish cooking instructions for any of the varieties that you may not be familiar with preparing.

Primals:
The main sections of the animal, normally in venison consisting of the neck, shoulder, rib cage, backstrap, and round. The front shoulders and hind legs (round) are not true quarters but are primals. We charge less to cut a primal than we would for a true quarter.

Prime Rib Roast:
A boneless seasoned roast made by rolling together the rib ends of both backstraps. Furnished with a Pop-up Timer, it is roasted at 350° or grilled over medium heat until the timer pops.

Q.D.E.
An acronym we use for "Quality Deer Eating" - Meant to satirize Q.D.M. (Quality Deer Management) - What good is the QDM if you don't have QDE?

 

Salisbury Steak:
A beef bullion base with dehydrated vegetables that depict its superb flavor. We suggest browning on both sides, then adding a brown gravy and simmering for 15 - 20 minutes.

Sandwich Steak - Marinated:
Thin boneless slices taken from the loin or round, are vacuum tumbled with the marinade of your choice. [We recommend the Mesquite BBQ.] Placed in a slow cooker with a Sauce of your choice they will virtually melt in your mouth served as a BBQ sandwich.

Special Recipe Burger:
After several years of experimentation I developed a venison hamburger mix that I've been using and recommending for over twenty-five years. Time and again we've had customers comment that they can't believe they're eating venison when they use this mix. The formula we use is: venison trim x 25% = lean pork trim + venison trim x 12½% = lean beef trim Example: 20# venison x .25 = 5# lean pork + 20# venison x .125= 2½# lean beef

Steakettes:
Burger or seasoned sausage run through our "Steakette" machine, which flattens it into strips approximately ¼" - ½" thick and 4" wide. We them cut them 4" long forming square patties. Each patty is on paper, which simplifies separating after thawing. The advantage to Steakettes is the fact that they cook extremely fast when grilled or fried.

Stew Meat - Marinated:
Cubes of venison cut no larger than 3/4" square and trimmed of all silver skin, fat, and/or tendons. We then vacuum tumble them in the marinade of your choice which flavors and tenderizes at the same time. [Could also be used for Ka-bobs.]

Stirfry Strips:
Lean strips of venison taken from the loin or round and cut 1/8" - 1/4" thick and approximately 2" - 3" long. We then vacuum tumble them in the marinade of your choice which flavors and tenderizes at the same time. Works well in your favorite oriental recipe or could also be used in Fajitas.

Straight Grinding:
Grinding trim without any added meats or ingredients. This is only recommended if the burger is to be used for jerky. We do not endorse or recommend straight grinding if being used as regular hamburger, and we accept no responsibility for appearance or taste if made in this manner.

Tenderloin:
Found inside the carcass on either side of the backbone along the hindquarters extending into the pelvic cavity. Comprising only about 2% of the total meat on the animal, it is prized as being the tenderest muscle. Care must be exercised when field dressing your animal to avoid cutting into or accidentally discarding the tenderloins. The white kidney suet should be left in place over the tenderloins when field dressing, as this provides a barrier that prevents the tenderloins from drying out. If you do not remove the tenderloins yourself, we recommend covering them with plastic wrap after field dressing to prevent moisture loss.

Top Blade Steak:
Located on the outside of the front shoulder next to the blade bone, on the side opposite the mock tender. Works well for grilling when left whole and vacuum tumbled and marinated. We recommend slicing very thin into medallions when serving. This muscle also works well for cube steaks, stirfry, chopsuey meat, stew meat, or buffalo chips. In beef this cut may also be known as on of the following: Finger Steak, Butter Steak, Charcoal Steak, Chicken Steak, Patio Steak, or boneless Short Ribs.

Vacuum Tumbled:
A process of marinating that tenderizes the meat at the same time. Meat and liquid marinade are placed in a stainless steel drum that has two "fins" protruding on the inside, the air is removed creating a vacuum inside the drum, the drum is then rotated. During rotation the meat rises and falls which helps to breakdown the cells allowing the marinade to penetrate, while tenderizing at the same time. Marinated cuts are more flavorful, moister, and cook faster than plain cuts.