Article Library
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Tri Town Packing, owned by the Liberty family, produces quality venison products.
My sister-in-law just loves this time of year. It's not the cool, crisp, refreshing air that stirs her heart, nor is it the colorful pallet of fall colors. Instead, it's the anticipation of my phone call informing her that a fresh batch of venison sticks from Liberty's are awaiting her.
She joins countless others from St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Franklin counties, as well as southern New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, who flock to the small northern St. Lawrence County town of Brasher to order products made from their tagged venison.
Tri-Town Packing, owned by the Liberty family, is well-known in this neck of the country for its outstanding venison products. Their most popular venison product — venison sticks consists of ground venison mixed with spices that is fermented, smoked and cooked. Vacuum-packaged and shelf-stable, venison sticks are similar to Slim Jims.
One of my favorites is their venison summer sausage. Mixed with pork and spices, fermented, smoked and cooked, this summer sausage is a favorite at the office or at home during parties even with people who don't necessarily enjoy wild game. Topped with hickory-smoked mustard and a fine cracker, this venison treat never gets old.
Venison hot dogs are fast becoming a popular item Liberty produces. Mixed with pork, spiced and fully cooked, these hot dogs can be ordered regular or with jalapeno and cheese. The jalapeno-and-cheese hot dogs are spectacular and will yield 200 percent.
Other popular venison products are: venison pepperoni, sausage (breakfast, sweet and hot) and jerky.
According to Jeffrey Liberty, a second-generation employee at Tri-Town Packing, the processing plant uses USDA inspection guidelines for making its venison products.
"The main reason people choose to come here, besides the fact there are award-winning-level products, is that we chart our products for internal temperatures and use pathogen inhibitors in them," said Liberty.
One of the most important factors for anyone interested in any venison preparation is how your downed deer is treated prior to packaging the meat for your freezer or for future processing. Liberty's mantra "garbage in; garbage out," highlights the importance of caring for your game.
Liberty, the 23-year-old Syracuse ESF graduate stressed the importance of bringing in venison for processing "boneless, lean and clean."
While Liberty's will accept frozen venison, the preferred product is fresh. Again, old, frozen meat shouldn't be used and the folks at Liberty's will discourage using old meat. In fact, the Libertys — Tom, John and Jeffrey — are the only ones who make the decision on what venison goes through the grinder.
If you shoot a deer on Friday and the weekend is warm, it is better to cut it up and freeze it fresh rather than letting the animal deteriorate over the weekend, said Jeff Liberty.
If you have any question if your venison is spoiled or tainted, it is relatively easy to tell. A simple smell test can quickly inform you the freshness of your product. Fresh venison has no foul odor, whatsoever. Bad venison will emanate a sour odor and will exhibit a darker color. Most hunters who have been around a number of butchered deer are quick to realize this.
If you are not accustomed to butchering your own deer and you want to turn your lesser cuts into any one of Liberty's products, I would highly recommend the assistance of a local butcher shop. For a slight fee, he or she will prepare certain cuts for further processing. And, I believe many local processors do just that for the vast majority of their clients.
The average amount of venison brought in by each hunter for processing is 10 to 30 pounds. But, it is not unusual for hunting groups to pool their supply of fresh frozen venison for the season and make one large delivery to Liberty's for processing.
And, for the record, the Libertys do not like Ziploc-type storage bags. Instead, they prefer first wrapping meat with Saran Wrap and then with butcher paper. Saran Wrap will keep the air from the meat. Food-processing vacuum machines also do a good job and are recommended.
Hunters who have never had venison products made from their deer should definitely give Liberty's a try. According to Liberty's, many hunters will have the entire deer, sans the backstraps, made into jerky, sausage, sticks and hot dogs. It is simply that good.
Liberty's can be contacted by phoning 389-5101.
