ageing your venison for table fare?

[FEENIX]

I asked my uncle (he was a butcher his entire adult life) about aging game years ago.

His response was "you age beef to allow the fat in the muscle fibers to break down, biggame does not have that fat in the muscle fibers so all you are doing when you age game is letting it rot". "Get it in the freezer asap, don't worry about cutting your steaks just leave them in 1 big chunk, you can cut them when you thaw it, and game cared for this way can keep for up to a year or more IF your careful about keeping it clean"

I'm not going to question anything this uncle says about processing meat. What I can tell you is that I haven't had any gamey meat in years after following his advice. Infact I cooked some deer roasts last week (think pulled pork) from last fall, when I thawed them you would have never known they had been frozen for 11 months.

Joe,

But you already live in a freezer!

Ed

 

[JP100]

Who's doing it and for how long?

Do you have a controlled enviorment, semi-controled, or out in the tree?

Do you have an ageing horror story?

I grew up on farm and have allways killed our own meat(beef,lamb,pork and wild deer,goats and pigs)
Depends on the weather in winter we will hang whole carcass in a meat safe/or in a tree for 7-14days or maybe more. in the summer we dont get that option so maybe only one day.

Ageing meat is very important it does not break down 'fat' . enzymes help break down connective fibers making it more tender(my understanding). Most meat exported from NZ (nearly all the meat we produce) is left to hang for 2weeks plus in a chiller as it is sent to Europe via boat and ages on the way.

You can age meat in the fridge if its too hot. just quarter the animal and leave it in the fridge for a couple of days.

One thing i find very interesting is alot of people say the 'wash' their carcass?? we never wash the carcass. I have seen it done once and the whole thing went slimy as. was pretty disgusting.

I have found what meat tastes like depends a huge amount on the animal. Having killed most of the animals ive eaten you can definitely taste the difference when you go to a restaurant and have meat that is commercially processed(most animals are in less than ideal condition as apposed to picking the best of the best to eat ourselves)

 

[kytrapper]

My method seems to be pretty common among self processors. If Temp is cool enough hang for 2-3 days. I f not, I at least keep it quartered in a cooler for 2 days in warm weather- draining the water every 6- 12 hours and adding more ice. This may not let the enzymes to break down but does draw a lot of blood out of the meat. I also butcher the butchering process by separating muscle groups and slice each muscle after it has been trimmed.

never had a complaint about any we processed ourselves.gun)

 

[mightyman]

I have been doing this for years, and everyone that says they have had bad venison, tastes mine, and love it..many dont even know they are eating venison.

First and foremost is to field dress it immediately. I see many hunting shows where they shoot a deer, decide to look for it in the am....not good..find it, clean it thoroughly and then hang in coold temps.

So, once it is field dressed, I hang in our barn in VA and let it hang the entire 2 weeks we hunt, or what is left of the two weeks... SOmetimes in the day it gets up to 55-60 by mid day, although the nights are in the 20's and 30's and I have never had a problem.

Next when I take to processer I ask that they let it hang for at least two more weeks to age it.
Think about it...some of the best and most expensive steaks are aged 21-29 days...and deer meat is very similar.
Rigor mortis sets in immediately and leaves the meat stiff if cut up immediately, or the next day..
However it departs the body in about 3 days and the muscles relax...then the aging begins...and after 21-29 days you do nothing to it but cook it like you would any other meat. Soaking it in things to remove the "game taste"" or suck out the blood all affects the taste negatively.
Just clean, age, and cook normally...

Field and stream did a great article on this topic awhile back, and echoed these suggestions
Mighty Man

 

[etisll40]

Awesome post, great idea, soaking in soda before cooking.

 

[nw elkman]

we do the same i have a walkin cooler we skin and wash then hang for 10 days.then cut and vaccum pack last yeari left vaccum pack in fridge for 6 more days was nice and .tender

 

[nw elkman]

we do the same i have a walkin cooler we skin and wash then hang for 10 days @ 34 then cut and vaccum pack last year i left vaccum pack in fridge for 6 more days was nice and tender.

 

[kytrapper]

I have ben following this and will defiantly have to try vacuum packing this year. It is good to see that most of us are doing it the same. I guess we all are graduates of the "Old School".