After the hunt...aging vension
Whitetail Deer
Contributors to this thread:
I have read a couple articles about using a cooler to age your meat. The process includes layering ice and then meat while keeping the drain open on the cooler and replenishing ice when needed. Process is 3-4 days. I haven't had a chance to try this yet. Has anyone used this method, how did it work for you?
I live in Oklahoma where the days are still up in the mid to low 50's so looking for options.
I have a friend who uses this method, and swears by it. (I have also heard people say, keep the water in the cooler, and let the meat soak in it). If I can't hang a deer, I will quarter it and age it in the garage fridge for a week or so.
I've been doing it for years. Really drains a lot of the blood out of the meat. I didn't do it for aging, but it still works that way I guess. I did it to transport the meat back home and keep it fresh until I could get it cut and wrapped. Never have I had bad meat when doing this.
"I have also heard people say, keep the water in the cooler, and let the meat soak in it"
I would consult with someone who processes meat for a living before attempting to do this. I have always heard this is bad news if you want quality meat.
I put ice down then put the quarters on top. Pull the drain plug and prop the opposite end up a few inches to get positive drainage. I keep it in my garage so it's shaded and cooler then outside temps. Position near the door so water drains under it . I've it done for up to 5 days in 70 degree weather with no problems. Once the meat has cooled very little ice is needed to maintain. Results have been great.
I freeze 2 liter soda bottles ( water filled) and just switch them out as they melt. No worries about water. Meat stays nice and red unlike with melted ice water which makes it gray.
frozen soda bottles is the best way IF you have access to a freezer to re-freeze them. Get the benefit of the ice without the need to drain!
I am passionate about what I serve and how it tastes on the plate. My family eats venison 4x+ a week. I serve many friends as well.
When animals are aged in the meat industry animals are 2 yo or less with the majority under 18 months. There's a reason for this is because any older and the force it takes to chew the meat is just not what consumers find acceptable/enjoyable.
You are really only aging an animal for steaks. So if you aren't cutting steaks from anything but tenderloin/backstraps I don't think aging is worth the effort.
Understand the age of your animal. It doesn't need to be exact but if you shot a 5 1/2 yo animal no aging whatsoever is going to make that animal become any more tender. So don't waste time aging that animal. This animal is a roast, braise and burger animal.
Anything 2 1/2 yo or younger is what you want to age (if you are into aging). I don't age my meat because I just don't think the work adds much to wild game. Kobe/Wagyu beef and other high-end, fatty meats I will eat a 30/60/90 day aged steak.
Animals in that 3 1/2-4 1/2 are your call. The Top Round can be enjoyable if the animal is younger and aging could help. Eye of round should be delicious.
We get a lot of tags so every year I shoot animals that range from yearlings to mature animals.
Some will swear aging helps a lot but I just haven't found aging an older animal to do much when you compare it against a "Prime" eating animal.
The cooler approach works if you don't have a large controlled walk-in/or extra fridge.
I do this anytime it is too warm to let the deer hang. I simply bone out the meat place it in a cooler and cover it with ice and add additional ice as needed.. I do open the drain. I have left meat like this for 4 or 5 days and imagine it could be left longer. As said by others it does pull a lot of blood out of the meat. I probably prefer this method to hanging. I shot a doe on October 1st this year. The daytime highs were in the 80s at that time. I boned her and placed her in a cooler covered with ice. I added ice as needed over the next few days. I had time to process the meat four days later. I can tell the meat is excellent as there is very little of the meat left in my freezer.
I have friends back east that let the deer hang with the hide on for 3 or 4 days, does this count? LOL granted it is in 40 degree and sometime less but still! YUCK! Sage Buffalo has some very sound advice, I rarely if ever age deer or elk meat. I get the hide off ASAP, de-bone it, remove all silver, process it the way I like, freeze, cook and enjoy.
"Sage Buffalo has some very sound advice..."
Yep, unless you eat it with a knife and fork, the grinder makes it super tender...
no way I don't want funky tasting meat , I like the way god intended . I have got meat back from butcher who aged it with out asking me , nearly a fight occurred when I opened the fisrt pack of steaks
Water introduces bacteria, you should also never rinse a deer out unless you get fecal matter or stomach contents on the meat. I understand bacteria actually is what helps break down the meat and make it tender but I know several butchers and all would say just to hang for a week or so with temps above freezing but below 38 degrees. Shawn
I am lucky enough to have a walk in cooler at my house. Most of the animals I take are boned out in the field. The meat in then hung in the cooler for 4-6 days at 36 degrees. I have not had a bad tasting elk or deer yet with this method.
I'm not sure it can be called "aging" but it is a safe enough way to keep meat until you can cut it up. 3-4 days is no problem. Keep it cold.
Aging low fat, fast twitch muscle is a figment. It doesn't age like a piece of meat that contains fat. The key to good wild meat is getting it cooled quickly and, getting the blood out of it. Doing it this way accomplishes that. No amount of "age" is going to tenderize or meld flavor into wild game. You got what you got once you get the blood out of it. So, if it was cooled decent then you are going to have good eats. Aging won't enhance that unless it gets more blood out.
I prefer not to do it this way but will if I have too. Cooler tems or a frige is my choice. As long as I can put the meat in a garbage bag to keep it from drying out. I simply it it on cooling racks inside the bag when using the fridge. God Bless
I agree aging wild game is unnecessary & unless you really, really know what you are doing just wrecking it.
I typically do this with every deer/elk I shoot.
Thank you all for the input, very informative. Sage Buffalo thank you for the descriptive breakdown. I called a couple processors and asked their input as well. Neither of them recommended it they said just get it there as fast as you can.
Hang a deer with the skin on or quarter and put in the fridge a few days. Bacteria DOES NOT tenderize the meat, it rots the meat. Enzymes break down the meat and make it more tender. I've hung deer for 3 weeks with the hide on and it's been the best venison anyone ever ate. The temps were kept in the low 40's the entire time. Water soaked meat is not the way to tenderize or improve flavor in any way.
If an animal died in a vacuum and there was no microbial contamination, the body would eventually liquefy due to enzyme action breaking down the muscles and tissues.
If your high temps are only mid 50's, and your lows are in the 30's you can age meat without worries. Simply wrap the carcass with an old sleeping bag, then a tarp each morning. Keep it in the shade. It will keep just fine for 2-3 days, even longer.
I didn't find it, but I believe there is information that aging deer doesn't work. Something about not having the right enzymes.
Fan of the open stopper. Wish I'd remember to freeze the soda pop bottles.
Backpack Hunter's Link
The link is worth a read.
I pretty much follow the same recommendations as the chef in Backpack Hunter's link. Enzymes break down the connective tissue between the muscle fibers. That connective tissue is what makes meat chewy. One of the worst things you can do is to cut, wrap and package while rigor mortis is still in effect (usually within 24-36 hours of killing it) Taking it straight from the field to a high-production butcher may leave you with chewy meat if they process it immediately. There's plenty of scientific documentation on all of this with a little research.
If it's warm, my local processor will hang it for me for a small daily fee if they don't cut it up. If it's cool, we do what LKH suggests, which is to hang it in dark timber on a north facing slope near the bottom of a drainage where the cold air pools at night. Or in the garage. In the morning we wrap the quarters in a couple old sleeping bags to hold the chill in. I've kept elk like this for a week in September and it was great, same with deer at home at lower elevation in October and early November. I've done it in a couple coolers too, with ice packs of various types, but make sure it's up off the bottom so air can circulate and it's not ossifying in a pool of coagulating blood.
This year, as usual, I killed a mature muley buck during the peak of the rut. Aged him for 10 days in the garage (wrapped during the day to hold in the chill), and that meat is almost as tender as veal, tastes wonderful.
People tend to freak out if it gets a little warm on the outside during the day. It's the interior temp that matters, and it will hold chill much longer than most people realize.
What lawboytom said . Bacteria rots meat and water is bad news . Enzymes are what breaks down the meat to make it tast better and more tender . All Red meat benefits from aging . The older the animal the more it will benefit from aging . The ideal temperature to age meat is 38-42 degrees any cooler and it will not age . Most butchers know nothing about aging because they are required to keep there coolers below the temp meat will age . Does not matter if hide is on or off both will work . It is better to age the animal whole or in quarters .( to much moisture lost if it is boned out . Meat must hang min of 7 days to start to see any benfit , but you do not see a great benfit till day 14 . If you really want a great pice of meat age it for 21 days . Lean meat befits more from aging than meat with a lot of fat . Lows in 30's and highs in low 50's meat will age fine if kept in cool dark area . (No sun ) . Even if you are grinding ever ounce of your animal it will benfit from aging . I prefer to age mine with hide off more moisture comes out of outside and it seems to me to a bit more tinder . Old refrigerator' work well to age meat if you are limited on space . Just be sure to sterilize the racks and you will have to age it in quarters . I am 57 and this info was learned from people who are dead and gone now , but they learned this before there were refrigerators and passed it down for generations.
O and one more thing all areas that are damaged from your shot must be cut away . Especially if it was shot with a gun . It will rot.
Seems to be lots of opposing views of aging or not aging. I was always of the opinion that hanging a deer for a couple 3 weeks in cold weather was ideal, but I know it gets a hard crust on the outside doing so. I will never forget when I was a kid, my stepdad hung a deer outside on our basketball pole for 2 weeks with no bag or anything covering it. It was getting up to around 70 degrees and we had to eat that rotten deer! Yuck! I shot a little buck the other day and hung it in my garage. Temps getting down to about 15 at night. My buddy who is a meat cutter said I should cut it up right away as aging it would do nothing but crust up the meat, so I got it all prossesed in a couple days. Jury's still out but I know it's some of the best hamburger of any species I've ever eaten and tenderloins melted in my mouth.
Let the aging begin . 12/19/16
I will take hide off in couple days . Weather is looking good to get a 14 day age on this deer. If it starts to warm up in a few days I will quarter him and put in a old refrigerator to finish him up on aging .
ACB, Ill second your thoughts. My grandfather used to skin his deer and leave it hanging in his barn all winter. The outside of the carcass would dry out but my dad says he could go out, cut off a piece of meat and no matter that age of the deer, it was ways tender inside.
I was always told, when you pay for an expensive steak and a fancy restaurant you are paying for the electricity of the cooler it was aged in.
I have one (white tail) hanging hide off now in the shed. It's low teens its to low 30's through the foreseeable future. I will break the carcass and butcher in 2 weeks from kill OR whenever the daytime temps are predicted to go over 50 for more than just at mid day.