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Aging deer meat

lead lobberlead lobber Member Posts: 195 ✭✭✭
edited October 2002 in General Discussion
I have watched 3 videos on deer processing. One said a month of aging was OK-Now that's wrong, another said 2 weeks for young deer and 3 for old. And yet another said 2 days. They were all hide on. Now I put mine in a cooler skinned for a week at 36 degrees. Now if two weeks would make it taster I might go for that. I cant get why you would leave the hide on-one piece of hair with the meat will make it taste bad. Not to mention how hard the hide comes off after 2 or 3 weeks.

What do other folks do?

Comments

  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Two days skinned and cold. "Aging" is nothing more than letting the meat start to slowly decay. I am not real interested in much of that.
  • nelchrisnelchris Member Posts: 557 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    HEY,BY ALL MEANS 2WEEKS IS FINE.I HAVE DONE IT THE LAST 5 YEARS I WOULDNT THINK MUCH LONGER THOUGH .A MONTH SEEM TOO LONG I ALSO GO SKIN OFF
  • pickenuppickenup Member Posts: 22,844 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Skin off, the longer I hung it the more tender it seemed to be for me.

    The gene pool needs chlorine.
  • muleymuley Member Posts: 1,583 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Get the skin off ASAP and into a good quality deer bag. I usually hang my deer according to the temperature. Not having access to a walk-in cooler, I have to hang my deer in the garage or in the shade in the back yard. I've always found that a maximum of three days at no more then 50 to 60 degrees is just right. Above that, I don't let them hang. This year, the temps have been in the 70's and the two deer I shot hung just overnight and then I cut them up. Works for me.

    muley

    ****VOTE****VOTE****VOTE****VOTE****VOTE****VOTE****VOTE****
  • Judge DreadJudge Dread Member Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Try Salting, is better ,can last 50 years in dry storage will taste like a fresh kill after re-hydrating and cooking...

    Will taste better if you skin and take all usefull stuff meat and whatever you want and burry the rest giving thanks to GOD spirit residing in the animal for its life giving energy......

    Even an atheist can feel the difference .....
    The Indians indeed were wise in the spirit....

    JD

    Donate to free energy R&D Just Paypall $$$ to:
    arkresearch@hotmail.com
    Intelligence is not measured in paper but in the ability of adaptation and analysis performance in multy-tasking problem solving work....
  • anderskandersk Member Posts: 3,627 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I understand from my meat cutting "trainer" (he took the course and worked several years as a butcher) that ALL red meat is aged and it is to enhance the flavour.

    For deer he suggested to me: aging it with hide on for 10 days at a temperature of 40 oF, and that is what I've done for years. works fine for me and my family! (Unless it gets to cold in the carport, which happens if I get my deer late in the season.)

    Bonne Chasse!

    Ken
  • chris_cechris_ce Member Posts: 1,608 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    last one i got was a young deer didn't let it set took it to get prossesed had it back in two days so it coundn'y of aged that long. it was the best deer i ever had. i don't let beef sit in my fridge for two weeks and i won't let a deer.

    chris
  • salzosalzo Member Posts: 6,396 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Back in my poaching days, we would have the deer shot, dragged, hung, skinned and butchered within 5 hours. Didnt want no game warden coming by to see an illegal deer hanging in the barn. The venison was ALWAYS excellent. Since we have gone legit, we have tried several different durations before processing the deer. I still think it is best to butcher it soon after it has cooled off-cool enough so that the skin comes off easy.

    "Sometimes the people have to give up some individual rights for the safety of society."
    -Bill Clinton(MTV interview)
  • KnifecollectorKnifecollector Member Posts: 3,270 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've tried it with the hide on, with the hide off, hang one day or a week. I can't tell a bit of difference either way. I just cut it up when it's convenient for me. Sometimes the same day. It all taste good to me. I pressure can most of the meat and make some sausage and jerky with the rest. Aging would probably not be a benefit to me. If you were going to cut alot of steaks, aging might come into play.
  • buddybbuddyb Member Posts: 5,235 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The best way I have found is skin the deer and hang it in a cooler at 35 to 40 degrees about 10 days or till the large tendons on the back legs(the ones the deer is hanging by) start to take on a transprent color,its ready to cut.
  • kgnovumkgnovum Member Posts: 594 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've been aging deer for years using the procedure that a local (and very good) butcher recommended. Hide "on" in the cooler (35 to 40 degrees) minimum 2 weeks and up to 4 weeks. The process does several things - and all ARE actually part of the decaying process.

    1st thing to breakdown is the "blood" that remains in the tiny vessels and capillaries. Even if you bleed a deer, there is still a lot of blood in them. When the blood breaks down, which it does in the first few days, the "gamey" flavor (liver taste) which is the blood, goes away. Thus, the flavor of the meat is "enhanced". Even venison haters often change their tune when they try venison that has been aged.

    2nd thing to breakdown is the flesh which takes around 2 weeks. This makes the meat more tender.

    3rd thing to go is the sinew and tendons which takes 3 weeks or longer, and which makes it even more tender.

    After 3-4 weeks you don't gain anything and the meat can get "too" soft and ruined.

    The basic difference between choice beef and prime beef is how long they are aged. Prime is aged longer, time is money, and prime cost more, tastes better and is more tender.
  • daddodaddo Member Posts: 3,408
    edited November -1
    I have a four step technique-
    *shoot it.
    *skin it.
    *cook it.
    *eat it.
    Done this many times and by golly- it works..
  • TrinityScrimshawTrinityScrimshaw Member Posts: 9,350 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Aging is just another word for "Spoiled or Rotten", because that is what the meat is starting to do. A Lion or an aligator likes their meat aged too. They will not eat it fresh if they don't have to. Personaly I skin, cut & wrap as soon as possible, and the taste has never been a problem.

    Trinity+++

    "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it."(Proverbs 22:6)
  • HAIRYHAIRY Member Posts: 23,606
    edited November -1
    Well, given the differences of opinion, I'm willing to undergo a taste test for you. Let me know if you are interested and I'll even pay postage!

    It's not what you know that gets you in trouble, it's what you know that just ain't so!
  • SunraySunray Member Posts: 773 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    50 to 60 degrees is prime temp for bacteria to prosper. Aging does not mean rotting. The best beef is aged 21 days at less than 40F, 35F, I think it was. It's been a while. Game animals don't need that long. A week at most. Take the friggin hide off. On, it retards cooling.
    A lion or gator will take their meat anyway they can get it. Nelcris, shut off you caps lock. Dread, taking to good bits and burying the rest is illegal and unethical. Use the whole thing or stop calling yourself a hunter. Anyone who hates venison is, well, odd to say the least. Gamey tasting meat means it wasn't handled properly in the field.
  • agloreaglore Member Posts: 6,012
    edited November -1
    I've had Moose, Caribou and such hanging on meat poles for 10 days or more before we even get it home. Another day to get home, and then start cutting it up the next. Of course my hunting tempratures may be just a little different than some peoples. Aging is the bacterial process of breaking down the meat. Meat starts to rot from the bone out because that is where it stays the warmest the longest. I always make a slice to the bones in hind quarters and front quarters before it goes on the meat pole just for the purpose of letting it cool down near the bones.

    AlleninAlaska

    http://www.outdoor-o-rama.com

    He who dares not offend cannot be honest.
    -- Thomas Paine



    Edited by - aglore on 11/01/2002 13:41:16
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sunray, aging is decay any way you cut it. Cold it proceeds very slowly and does not build metabolic by products which can be toxic. If it is not frozen it will proceed slowly to rot. The question is how rotten do you personally like it.

    Animals do not eat decayed meat in preference to fresh, they eat it in preference to not eating.
  • anderskandersk Member Posts: 3,627 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm still going to stay with the folks that are aging our deer ... except for the liver. I like it the day of the kill! Especially over at the home of a hunting buddy ... swapping hunting stories goes good with the liver & onions!

    Ken
  • lead lobberlead lobber Member Posts: 195 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    OK Now if I can just get on to give me a shot from on of my 5 tree stands-bow season here and its been my worst since 98. Nothing yet but we have no apples. Also need to kill a doe first before a buck-as per land owner-guess what's be giving me a shot almost every time.

    Anyway I think I will go with the two weeks- I have done a week to 10 days no problem so far.

    Can I bone out the hind legs and then age it? What else can I bone out before aging?
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