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HMMM GOOD, HMMM GOOD, My grandfather taught me to age my venison and I have always done so. Many of us don't realize at fine restaurants we are eating aged beef. How long do all of you age your venison,if at all? Temperature is important and most of us don't have a walk - in cooler. Is ideal temp 36 to 50 degrees. You need to promote tenderization.
Question by buckmasry. Uploaded on June 17, 2010
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Answers (15)
I typically don't age my deer. Early bow season is usually too hot to hang and sometimes even the gun seasons are too hot in west-central Illinois. I have young kids and typically have sausage, hot sticks, hambugers, etc. that they like to eat made with my deer so aging the venison is not something I typically do.
I age mine in a walk in cooler for 7-10 days at 38 degrees with the hide on. I have gone up to 14 days. Never cut up meat in rigor or the result will be tough and chewy. When no walk in cooler is available I have broken the carcass down into the primals before rigor and placed them in a large cooler on ice for 7 days, making sure to keep the water drained off.
One of the best practical resources I've seen lately on butchering, aging, storing and cooking wildgame meat is by Eileen Clarke, wife of outdoor writer John Barsness. Slice of the Wild is available through their website at the link below. Eileen did a great job at sorting through the "muck" in putting the book together.
http://www.riflesandrecipes.com/
Temperature is the key. Between 33 and 35 degrees, never over 40. It must be constant as in my walk-in.
After rigor, 24 hours since the kill, hang time as follows:
*young deer, 3 to 8 days
*mature buck, 7 to 10
BE THE BUTCHER, don't farm out your deer to the locals. It's easy. In the past, I wondered if the meat I got back from the butcher was actually from my kill or someone else's.
All great comments ... countitandone, it has great probabilty that it may have been in part, or whole of someone elses harvest.
countitandone- Are you a Basketball Ref or a player?
I have to say a huge thank you to you guys. Beekeeper I will look up that website. Great comments fellas. Thx
always age at least 3 days. i hang mine with the hide off and wrap it with a sheet.
2Poppa..Yes, Varsity HS, NCAA and Semi-Pro basketball referee, the guy in the stripes with the whistle. All my calls are good ones...it's just that on any one call, 50% like it and 50% don't!
I'm in Florida & I don't have a walk-in. I usually use Beekeeper's cooler method. I set the cooler on an angle, drain down & keep adding ice. But I get nervious about the temperature getting too high, so I usually finish processing the meat after 4 or 5 days.
my meat processor asks us how long we want it to hang for in his walk in. He garantees your meat back and my uncles worked for him so its no bluf. We usually let it hang hide on for a week and off for one more.
I have never, for many years, let venison hang more than the day after the shooting. I remove the hide and spread the rim cage and let the carcass cool over night.The next evening all of the fat,every single bit, is cut away and the meat is cut and wrapped and quick frozen. We have never had a single poor tasting cut of venison. Every bit is delicious. All of our hunting family uses this same method and none of us would ever return to the old beef hanging and aging days. If you process your own meat try this method. You will not be disappointed.
I do not age my deer meat at all. The sooner it is in the freezer the better. I often skin and quarter the deer on the spot and hang it in game bags until I fly it out. Often it is frozen before I get it home.
I have a refrig in the garage for drinks (beer mostly) and we keep it cold. After shooting a deer we quarter it out and leave it in the frig for a week. We then prosses it and it is more tender than if we prosses it that day. You can really tell more on the older deer.
The ideal aging temp is actually 34-45 degrees. 50 degrees is the MAXIMUM temp that is acceptable for any meat to remain for a given amount of time. Anything much above that and the growth capabilities of microorganisms begins to significantly increase. In regulatory control of meat processing, 50 degrees is often set as the maximum allowable temp that the product can reach before the production facilitly has to take action and bring the product temp down to a safer level.
countitandone-
I thought so!
I had a buddy who was a basketball ref, and he once told me, " there is usually one call, that as a ref, you wish you could take back.!"
I thought that to be profound at the time.
I'm an AAU coach and I try to stay as close as I can to the game that I love!
I have seen deer aged as much as 20 days hanging in a makeshift refrigerator. The outside of the meat will turn almost black, cut off the black and underneath is some of the most tender meat I've ever had. I've seen beef aged the same way in fine restaurants. In one restaurant on tv they left the dark/black stuff on the meat grilled it and served it. I guess its all preference.
Post an Answer
I age mine in a walk in cooler for 7-10 days at 38 degrees with the hide on. I have gone up to 14 days. Never cut up meat in rigor or the result will be tough and chewy. When no walk in cooler is available I have broken the carcass down into the primals before rigor and placed them in a large cooler on ice for 7 days, making sure to keep the water drained off.
One of the best practical resources I've seen lately on butchering, aging, storing and cooking wildgame meat is by Eileen Clarke, wife of outdoor writer John Barsness. Slice of the Wild is available through their website at the link below. Eileen did a great job at sorting through the "muck" in putting the book together.
http://www.riflesandrecipes.com/
always age at least 3 days. i hang mine with the hide off and wrap it with a sheet.
2Poppa..Yes, Varsity HS, NCAA and Semi-Pro basketball referee, the guy in the stripes with the whistle. All my calls are good ones...it's just that on any one call, 50% like it and 50% don't!
I typically don't age my deer. Early bow season is usually too hot to hang and sometimes even the gun seasons are too hot in west-central Illinois. I have young kids and typically have sausage, hot sticks, hambugers, etc. that they like to eat made with my deer so aging the venison is not something I typically do.
Temperature is the key. Between 33 and 35 degrees, never over 40. It must be constant as in my walk-in.
After rigor, 24 hours since the kill, hang time as follows:
*young deer, 3 to 8 days
*mature buck, 7 to 10
BE THE BUTCHER, don't farm out your deer to the locals. It's easy. In the past, I wondered if the meat I got back from the butcher was actually from my kill or someone else's.
All great comments ... countitandone, it has great probabilty that it may have been in part, or whole of someone elses harvest.
countitandone- Are you a Basketball Ref or a player?
I have to say a huge thank you to you guys. Beekeeper I will look up that website. Great comments fellas. Thx
I'm in Florida & I don't have a walk-in. I usually use Beekeeper's cooler method. I set the cooler on an angle, drain down & keep adding ice. But I get nervious about the temperature getting too high, so I usually finish processing the meat after 4 or 5 days.
my meat processor asks us how long we want it to hang for in his walk in. He garantees your meat back and my uncles worked for him so its no bluf. We usually let it hang hide on for a week and off for one more.
I have never, for many years, let venison hang more than the day after the shooting. I remove the hide and spread the rim cage and let the carcass cool over night.The next evening all of the fat,every single bit, is cut away and the meat is cut and wrapped and quick frozen. We have never had a single poor tasting cut of venison. Every bit is delicious. All of our hunting family uses this same method and none of us would ever return to the old beef hanging and aging days. If you process your own meat try this method. You will not be disappointed.
I do not age my deer meat at all. The sooner it is in the freezer the better. I often skin and quarter the deer on the spot and hang it in game bags until I fly it out. Often it is frozen before I get it home.
I have a refrig in the garage for drinks (beer mostly) and we keep it cold. After shooting a deer we quarter it out and leave it in the frig for a week. We then prosses it and it is more tender than if we prosses it that day. You can really tell more on the older deer.
countitandone-
I thought so!
I had a buddy who was a basketball ref, and he once told me, " there is usually one call, that as a ref, you wish you could take back.!"
I thought that to be profound at the time.
I'm an AAU coach and I try to stay as close as I can to the game that I love!
I have seen deer aged as much as 20 days hanging in a makeshift refrigerator. The outside of the meat will turn almost black, cut off the black and underneath is some of the most tender meat I've ever had. I've seen beef aged the same way in fine restaurants. In one restaurant on tv they left the dark/black stuff on the meat grilled it and served it. I guess its all preference.
The ideal aging temp is actually 34-45 degrees. 50 degrees is the MAXIMUM temp that is acceptable for any meat to remain for a given amount of time. Anything much above that and the growth capabilities of microorganisms begins to significantly increase. In regulatory control of meat processing, 50 degrees is often set as the maximum allowable temp that the product can reach before the production facilitly has to take action and bring the product temp down to a safer level.
Post an Answer