1. The Tub System
Set up four receptacles: One for tenderloin meat, one for steaks, one for chunks or stew meat, and one for scraps.

2. Tenderloins A
Using a sharp knife and cutting board, trim the fat from the edges of the tenderloin. Don’t get too carried away with small particles of fat, they’ll get cleaned up further in the next steps.

3. Tenderloins B
Next, cut your steaks to thickness. We like ours about 2 inches thick. Just cut through them as if you were slicing a loaf of bread.

4. Tenderloins C
With the steaks cut and separated, each steak is trimmed of bits of fat and connective tissue.

5. Tenderloins D
Be very meticulous at this point. Remove all fat, particles of silverskin and connective tissue. It’s best to take your time here to get these as nice as you can.

6. Tenderloins E
Here’s a perfect tenderloin, no fat, no silverskin and ready for the grill!

7. Hind Quarter A
This image shows the cuts of meat as they come away from the leg bone. These will be illustrated in the next few steps.

8. Hind Quarter B
To make the terminating cut, slice downward along the back of the hind quarter, just above the joint.

9. Hind Quarter C
Remove the large portion of meat as you cut along the top of the leg bone.

10. Hind Quarter D
This shows the sections coming apart from the leg bone on the hind quarter.

11. Hind Quarter E
Make a terminating cut near the joint on the fore part of the hind quarter.

12. Hind Quarter F
Slide your knife along the top of the leg bone, continuing to the terminating cut you made at the small end of the quarter and remove those muscle groups.

13. Making Steaks A
Now we’re making steaks! Set the quarter down on its flat side and crosscut your steaks to the thickness you like.

14. Making Steaks B
Here’s where the mystery unravels. This is a good cross section view of all the muscle groups in a hind quarter. You can identify each small steak that will emerge after silver skin is removed. Removing silverskin at this point is the most efficient way to get at it.

15. Making Steaks C
Separate those muscle groups, making small individual steaks of each. As you get down to smaller cuts, we recommend tossing those small nuggets of meat into the chunks bin. Remove silverskin from each piece with your sharpest knife.

16. Shoulder A
Most of the meat from the front shoulders end up in chunks for stew meat or grinding. Here we are removing damaged tissue from a bullet. This will go all into the scrap bin. Don’t use any meat that has congealed or looks less than perfect.

17. Shoulder B
Here we are boning out the front shoulder. All these bits of meat will be used for chunks. Finding the ridge of the shoulder bone, run your blade along the bone, and then remove.

18. Shoulder C
On the outside of the front shoulder is the scapula. It’s a dish-shaped bone, and by running your knife blade along it, you can peel the meat from this area to remove it. Again, these cuts go in the chunks bin. Remember to remove any fat and connective tissue.

19. Shoulder D
More chunks are removed from the opposite side of the foreleg. These can get pretty small, and end up in the chunks bin, too.

Freezer Time
With our three bins of meat full, it’s time to start packaging for the freezer. Now is the time to determine how much meat goes into each package of steaks and chunks. A family of three might want to put four small steaks into a freezer bag, and keep bags containing chunks to a predetermined amount. Either way, it’s a good practice to clearly label them with the date, cut and amount.