Eating Aoudad

[mnoland30]

Dwight Schuh talks about curing meat in "Hunting Open-Country Mule Deer". He says: "Commercial meat plants generally age beef for two weeks at 35 degrees, and they also quick-age meat for 3 days at 65 degrees." I estimate that at 95 degrees, you have a few hours.

My dad talked about hanging it in the barn back when hunting season was November, and temps were a bit cooler then. It never made sense to me because it freezes at night anywhere the temps are cool enough during the day, and barns are full of flys. Here in NM, the meat turns to jerky on the outside if you hang it after it is skinned. The humidity is too low. I cure mine in the ice chest with frozen milk jugs. I refreeze them every night if it is cold. We've kept deer and elk 5 days in the cooler many times. It stays clean, fly free, and cold. My 150 qt. cooler will hold an elk if it is boned out. I sometimes place the boned meat (in plastic bags) in the bed of the pickup to cool it down at night, and then put it in the cooler during the day. I let an antelope turn a bit green once, and didn't find it appetizing to look at, but it was fine eating. I've hunted gemsbok when it was 95 degrees, and just hustled. I was only a mile from the truck. Best game meat there is.

 

[Goldengun]

Dwight Schuh talks about curing meat in "Hunting Open-Country Mule Deer". He says: "Commercial meat plants generally age beef for two weeks at 35 degrees, and they also quick-age meat for 3 days at 65 degrees." I estimate that at 95 degrees, you have a few hours.

My dad talked about hanging it in the barn back when hunting season was November, and temps were a bit cooler then. It never made sense to me because it freezes at night anywhere the temps are cool enough during the day, and barns are full of flys. Here in NM, the meat turns to jerky on the outside if you hang it after it is skinned. The humidity is too low. I cure mine in the ice chest with frozen milk jugs. I refreeze them every night if it is cold. We've kept deer and elk 5 days in the cooler many times. It stays clean, fly free, and cold. My 150 qt. cooler will hold an elk if it is boned out. I sometimes place the boned meat (in plastic bags) in the bed of the pickup to cool it down at night, and then put it in the cooler during the day. I let an antelope turn a bit green once, and didn't find it appetizing to look at, but it was fine eating. I've hunted gemsbok when it was 95 degrees, and just hustled. I was only a mile from the truck. Best game meat there is.

i doubt most game butchers age venison for 2 weeks, Its been my experience that they don't have room for extra carcasses. Opening weekend they are getting bombarded with deer, and the more they butcher the more they earn and space is limited so I think many of them push them through to fast, but i am sure there are some that don't.

 

[smokinf15]

Love all wild game, thanks for all the great posts Elkeater, gets me even more excited for our Aoudad hunt next February

 

[bluegrassdan]

So far I've only eaten 3 steaks from my sheep. The first one was a "control" steak. I cut it, put salt, pepper and garlic on it and seared it to a medium rare.


The flavor was good. I would say its comparable to elk. It was kind of tough. It was far from inedible but anyone that's shot and ate a 10 year old cow elk would probably recognize the flavor and texture.


This was not unexpected. Our guide said all 3 of our sheep were likely 10-12 years old.



The next two steaks, I seasoned and cooked the same way. I did however try a new tenderizing method.


I was browsing YouTube and stumled across a channel called Guga Foods. The guy is a grill master. I saw one video where he was using pureed pineapple to tenderize tough cuts. He said it worked and I gave it a shot.


The first steak I marinated in the pineapple for 2.5 hours and then rinsed off the all the pineapple. The second steak I let marinate for 12 full hours.


The 2.5 hour steak turned out great. Nice and tender and once again with a flavor I thought was comparable to elk. The 12 hour steak was actually mushy. It had a good flavor with a slight pineapple sweetness to it but the texture was off. It was too soft for my personal preference but still good.


Like most wild game, the auodad is very lean. Its definitely easy to overcook and dry them out. In most wild game I prefer a quick, hard sear. The auodad is no different. I look forward to eating more of it.

Below is a picture of the marinated steaks. The one on the left is the 2.5 hour and the one on the right is the 12. View attachment 173312

Fresh pineapple has the enzyme used for meat tenderizors, like Papaya does. Cooking de natures it, so only fresh pineapple works in this manor. A few hours is all it takes or you get meat that feels like toothpaste in your mouth- especially chicken or game birds.

 

[the blur]

I've been to 3 fancy restaurants recently. They have 'dry aging' coolers where they store meat next to salt blocks. They dry age meat for a month just above freezing. I don't know much about the process, but it seems popular.

 

[kytrapper]

Forty years ago when I started hunting black bears in Canada virtually no one ate bear. Bear meat wasn't even used for bait because the outfitters said "even bears won't eat bear meat". Today a very high percentage of bear hunters take their meat home.

A few years ago I was in Utah hunting mountain lions. A really nice tom was taken and my buddy was committed to taking some meat home to try. I generally don't eat predators so I passed. But .... my friend marinated and grilled up some of the meat and said it was excellent, kind of tasted like pork.

You just never know until you try.

mountain cat and bobcat is good eats!!!!

 

[Carlos88]

Last year I discovered slap your mama seasoning for myself it's great I like it spicy

Slap your mama HOT is the only way to fly. Tony Chachere's is way too salty. Slap is not.

 

[the blur]

My guide wouldn't let me take the meat. He was showing me the puss pockets....

 

[Elkeater]

My guide wouldn't let me take the meat. He was showing me the puss pockets....

That's gross. Ya I wouldn't have taken the meat either.

 

[30378wbymag]

My guide wouldn't let me take the meat. He was showing me the puss pockets....

Did the guide say what causes the PP?