Muskox meets UluGirl

Somebody dropped off a hind quarter of a muskox a few weeks ago. Yep, we are very, lucky monkeys.

Over the weekend, I figured I’d butcher it up before it got too warm and I got too lazy.  

I pulled out my patent-pending fancy-schmancy cardboard butchering platform and my handy-dandy butchering ulu and went at it. Quite frankly, it was just an excuse to ulu something. Yes, that was me sending 'ulu' through the Verbification Transmogrifier.

The goal was to end up with proper cuts of beast and not just a pile of stew and ground meat fodder. The ulu was perfect for separating the muscles. The curved blade made processing the carcass so much easier than a regular knife.  I love my ulus. I will use any excuse to wield them. 

My new motto is 'Have ulu, will travel.' In fact, I have a quiver of ulus. Yep, I am UluGirl, mild-mannered dog walker by day, ferocious beast filleting crime fighter at night. I am a walking graphic novel in so many ways.....sheesh.

So here's the chunk of muskox that we got:

And the ulu that I used for this job.

Getting down with the muskox:

 

 What I ended up within less than an hour of uluing...

The sirloin tip got cut into steaks and a small roast. The inside and outside round were kept whole so I could either use them for steak or roasts.

Then I tackled the lower leg and separated the shank muscles for stew meat or ground. All the trimmings went into a general ‘stew meat’ pile.

Everything got vacuum packed and tossed into the freezer for this summer’s BBQ and crockpot season. 

Normally, I would roast up the leg bones for marrow (because it's all about the marrow) but I was rendered helpless against the formidable forces of Lyra, the mind controlling muttwitch of Tuma Drive.

I had no choice but to hand over the tasty osteological remains to the girls.

LouLou goes for the pelvic bone

Lyra dragging the tibia away

Nomnomnomnomnom