How To Age A Deer Meat

January 6, 2021

We hang our deer in a walk in cooler with a concrete floor. The results may surprise you.

Updates to our almost famous aging deer on the hoof poster

The rest i grind into sausage.

How to age a deer meat. So if your deer weighs about 200 pounds, you need about six days of aging. A general rule of thumb is, the older the deer, the longer the hang time. Essentially all you do is vacuum seal your meat and leave in the fridge for 7 to 28 days.

During the first 24 hours of death, the deer goes through rigor mortis, which causes the muscles to stiffen. I don’t age deer and it tastes amazing. Boy oh boy, this is a very good and a very controversial question, so i have to answer it according to the book.

A young doe might need to age for only three to five days, while a large, older buck might need to age for eight to ten days. Whitetail deer are separated into different age groups in increments of one year as soon as they hit six months and are done being fawns. Being able to determine a deer's age when you're hunting is a major factor in controlling deer populations and promoting a diverse spectrum of ages among the deer.

If you skin a deer and then try to age it , your meat will dry out and it exposes the meat, allowing for contamination. I have personally never hung a deer for more than 2 weeks. The lower the humidity around the meat, the slower any bacteria will reproduce.

If you take your time and get to know the local wildlife. After several days the enzymes break down the venison muscle tissues and you end up with tender meat. The length of time you need to age your venison depends on the age, sex, and size of the animal.

This period can last from 12 to 24 hours and is the absolute worst time to butcher your deer. Aging deer meat for longer than ten days isn’t recommended. Soon after the death, the deer will go into rigor mortis, where the muscles will contract and stiffen.

The purpose of hanging a dressed deer is to allow the carcass to cool and the meat to age, increasing both the tenderness and the flavor of the venison. How long do you age the meat? After soaking it in italian dressing for 24h it will taste amazing.

Aging or curing venison is a process that takes controlled advantage of the bacterial and fungal enzymes that cause deer meat spoilage. How long should you age venison? The rule to properly age your meat is three days per 100 pounds of dressed carcass weight.

You can hang the carcass in a cool breezy place, letting these microbes soften and make venison succulent. It will taste the same no matter what. Longer hanging times will allow the deer’s natural enzymes and acids to break down and tenderize the meat and give it a smoother, less “gamey” flavor.

The reason to use whitetail age characteristics is because it is uniform and very efficient. Newly killed deer must be aged in the refrigerator before being butchered to produce tender meat. Aiming for other areas will take out up to 10 pounds of flesh from the amount of venison you carry from the kill.

How to properly process deer to get more meat Sometimes the deer is too tall to hang in this manner, so just lay them flat as mentioned before. Next in importance when it comes to aging meat is moisture.

There are two main ways to. However, most hunters do not have the facilities to hang their deer in such a manner and processors must remove the hide before bringing deer into their facilities. Always age deer with the hide intact.

My favortie steakhouse used to age beef for 30 days for optimum tenderness. Jab a meat thermometer into the center of the quarters near the bone. Wet aging is relatively new.

Unlike venison that has not been aged, you don’t need to marinate it to ensure moist meat. Some common questions, objections and comments i hear when the subject of aging meat comes up are: It sears better, locking in what moisture is left.

This is a much easier process that can be done to frozen meat. Aging meat basics there’s a lot of debate over how long to dry age and hang meat. For the best tasting deer meat mississippi state university recommends 14 to 18 days of hanging time.

After taking the shot comes processing, which determines how much meat from a deer you get. It keeps the meat clean and keeps the outside of the carcass from drying out. The enzymes are still at work breaking down the tissue and the bag seals out air to prevent contamination.

My deer is tender enough. An important thing to keep in mind is that deer characteristics will vary depending on where the deer population is located. Freezing deer meat before rigor passes will toughen it.

How to age a deer: Aging your deer meat will help dissipate the gamey taste of the meat and will allow natural occurring enzymes to go to work tenderizing the meat. My personal preference is to age a deer, and when i say age the deer, i mean like one would age beef.

This will age the deer, but reduces the amount of venison you’ll lose due to cutting away dried out meat. Butchering while these muscles contract will result in tough meat. If you dislike meat that is very tough, or if you simply find the gamey taste of venison slightly unappetizing, you may want to age the deer meat for a while before you consume it.

The best spots to shoot a deer are the head, heart, or neck to avoid any meat wastage. This aging time will vary on the size of the deer, temperature and individual preferences.

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