OT - Venison Aging

[deerwhacker444]

Some of the best venison I ever had was aged a week or so due to the processor being backlogged. I have made a few posts on processing my own deer but I'm not sure about this.

Highs in OK right now are in the low 70's with lows in the 50's. That IMO is too warm to let a carcass hang without artificial cooling.

If I take a deer straight home, skin it, butcher it, and vacuum pack the venison and then put it a fridge, NOT A FREEZER, will the meat continue to age and break down? Will the meat breakdown in an oxygen starved environment like vacuum packaging? Someone suggested that meat will continue to age in a freezing environment. I though that freezing would stop the meat from breaking down. What has been your experience with aging venison?

I really would like to do this myself as I'm not impressed by the cleanliness of the processors I've seen.

[allhands]

In my most humble opinion, if you vacuum pack it, it will not continue to age properly. The bacteria need air to function, just like us. I have hung deer in proper conditions (32-40 degrees) for as long as a week and then taken it to the butcher and it was great, but i find that it does just as well if I don't age it. Perhaps you could contact a local butcher and see what he thinks and perhaps he could store it for you.....

[adirondakjack]

Vaccuum is gonna slow aging. I've never heard of anybody aging that way... What I do know is the "danger zone" is 40 to 140 degrees, and ya wanna stay as close to 40 as possible. That said, PRIME beef is aged in natural cellars (has been for ages), at right around 50 degrees. If ya had a spare fridge and could set it at 50 and HANG large hunks of meat in it, with nothing else, and in a CLEAN fridge wiped down with baking soda first, I suspect it'd age well.

[86er]

I put the meat in Ginger Ale or Coca Cola for 7 days in the refrigerator. Makes the meat tender and soaks any blood or gamey taste out.

[76/444]

In my early deer hunting years I would age it hung from a tree in the back yard, gutted, with hide on. But that was in Norway Maine, a week or two after season opened, putting it at the end of Nov and with freezing nights. The days were warmer, don't remember how warm, but with the carcass freezing over night it all seemed to balance out. The old Mainer who guided me in this curing technique taught me to pound my fist on the neck and hind quarter,... he taught me about how stiff a resistance to feel for, before butchering it out. Of course, this is one of those hands on deals and useless to your inquiry. Take what you can use, and leave the rest.

[HEAD0001]

IMO a deer that hangs 5 to 7 days does taste considerably better. I age all my meat. We have a small out building that is 12'X12'. We insulated that building and put a small air conditioner in the window if the days get a bit too warm. We normally wait til later in the year to shoot most of our deer for the meat. If it is too warm for this then I will quarter the deer and put it in the refrigerator for a week. Also by insulating the building it also keeps the meat from freezing if the nights get too cold.

I do not particularly care for a vacuum sealer. And for a couple of reasons. But the main reason is that it really is not necessary, and the bags are to expensive.

We do a "vacuum style" seal on our meat. And here is how we do it. We use the heavier duty---quart size Zip-Loc bags. Not the ones with the slider, just the regular Zip-Loc. We put the meat in the bag then squeeze out the air. If you go to Burger King they have a very heavy straw they serve with their soft driks. Keep that straw. Aftyer you have squeezed the air out of the bag then seal the bag with the straw sticking out of the bag, and squeeze the straw with your finger. then suck the rest of the air out of the bag with the straw. While you are squeezing the straw just pull the straw out of the bag and the bag will seal with your finger pressure. This gives you a vacuum seal for less money, and once you get good at it-you will also save time. We then put three of those bags in a one gallon Zip-Loc bag and suck the air out of the one gallon bag. That seals the meat up tight, and double bagged. You can reuse the one gallon bags next year. Tom.

[dr walker]

We do not age our venison. Our meat house is usually below freezing in the hanging side and maybe 45 in the boning out, cutting up, and wrapping side.

[Don McDowell]

Some of the best venison I ever had was aged a week or so due to the processor being backlogged. I have made a few posts on processing my own deer but I'm not sure about this.

Highs in OK right now are in the low 70's with lows in the 50's. That IMO is too warm to let a carcass hang without artificial cooling.

If I take a deer straight home, skin it, butcher it, and vacuum pack the venison and then put it a fridge, NOT A FREEZER, will the meat continue to age and break down? Will the meat breakdown in an oxygen starved environment like vacuum packaging? Someone suggested that meat will continue to age in a freezing environment. I though that freezing would stop the meat from breaking down. What has been your experience with aging venison?

I really would like to do this myself as I'm not impressed by the cleanliness of the processors I've seen.

Ideally meat ages at 45 degrees or less. One thing you can do if you have an old fridge is quater the deer and let it "age" in that fridge for a few days. Once you vacuum pack it the aging process will pretty much stop. If you just double wrap and freeze it will age some, but may not have the same tenderness, or flavor of a properly aged carcass.

[Griff]

Someone once told me that if you like your meat aged, then you really don't like the taste of that meat. Ideally, from live animal to packaged meat in minutes, but that's not feasible. However my venisaon will be on ice the same day I shoot it. And if I process myself, it's in the freezer w/in 48-72 hours. I have had take longer, but those were in the High Sierra's with daytime highs in the 40'sand low's in the 20s, spoilin' ain;t an issue.

[model55]

When I used to hunt the first few deer I got were aged at the butchers then I thought they were coming back a little light in weight so I did my own.Once I started doing the cutting they were aged about as fast I could get them in a frying pan-couldn't tell a difference-but it's been years and the memory isn't what it used to be.

[cnjarvis]

IIRC from HS biology, the "aging" process has little if anything to do with bacteria other than trying to keep it out. The process that I recall is that enzymes within the tissue itself is what breaks down the muscle tissue to tenderize and age it. I don't believe that vacuum packing it and refrigerating it will have any detrimental effect on the process.

ETA: I hate it when I'm right.

See here: http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/meat_quality/aging_meat.html

Aging Meat

Carcasses or meat are aged by holding them at refrigeration temperatures for extended periods of time after slaughter and initial chill. Aging (or conditioning as it is called in many countries) improves the tenderness and flavor of meat. There are two methods for aging meat: wet aging and dry aging.

Dry aging is much more expensive and takes longer than wet aging. Meat which is dry aged is hung in a very clean, temperature and humidity controlled cooler for a period of two to four weeks. During this time, enzymes within the meat break down the muscle and connective tissue making it tender. Moisture is lost from the outer parts of the carcass causing an inedible crust to form which must be trimmed off and discarded. The carefully controlled environment, the time involved, and the loss of outer portions of the carcass make dry aging a costly process.

Wet aging occurs when meat and its own juices are vacuum packed in plastic and boxed for distribution. Because the plastic packaging does not allow loss of moisture, the meat may absorb more moisture which results in an increase in juiciness and tenderness. Both methods of aging work well and can create a better product. The difference is that dry aging gives a more distinctive flavor while wet aging is much less costly and allows for a quicker entry to the market and therefore a much longer shelf-life.

Due to the carefully controlled conditions required to safely age meat, aging meat at home is not recommended.

[RIHMFIRE]

In Florida...I age the meat in a cooler with bagged ice for
a least a couple of days...draining the ice as it melts...
I just finish butchering half of that wild boar i shot last
saturday night...looks mighty good..
I sure would like to have a walk-in cooler....
that would be the ticket...

[Don McDowell]

The neighbors have a homemade walk in cooler, its just a concrete walled shed about 12 ft square. It's cooled by 2 window airconditioners.

[buckeyeshooter]

No ageing here, I get it cut and wrapped or in a freezer as fast as possible.

[Lastmohecken]

I have let some deer age, by just letting them hang with the hide on, but normally, it's too warm for me to feel very safe on this, however, whenever I do, it's probably the best. The normal way, for me is to skin and bone it within 4 to 8 hours, and place in unsented trashbags, left open, in an ice chest, and iced down, on the front porch in the shade for 3 to 5 days, then I slice it up, and wrap in freezer wrap and place in freezer. I try not to let it set in icey water, and try to keep the cooler drained, but I havn't really been able to tell much difference if I got lazy and let the meat get a little wet.

[JerryB]

Like 'ol Mohecken said, here in north Arkansaw it is to warm and humid here to hang one much longer than skinning and quartering it out.

[Old Time Hunter]

Cut the tenderloins out immediately, wash, wrap, and get 'em in the fridge for cooking over a charcoal fire the next day. The rest of the meat, except ground stuff or sausage, try butchering, vacuum pack, and then freezing as soon as possible. In my neck of the woods, even now, night time temperatures are already in the low 30's, most days don't make it past 50, so hang'n aint a problem. By rifle season at the end this month, the deer are frozen by the time you can get 'em to the hang'n pole...kinda like flash frozen!

A little secret from a chef...thaw out your hunk of meat over night in the fridge, then generously soak the hunk of meat with lime juice, let it sit on plate in the fridge until you get home from work. Then cook it anyway you want. The lime juice is a enzyme catalyst that will not leave any after taste, but naturally tenderize your meat. Don't matter if it is pig, deer, or milk cow.

[Grizz]

I don't know that a week actually gives you real aging of the meat. In the part of alaska I lived in temps would sometimes go close to freezing and hang there without ever freezing the venison. I've hung deer for a couple of weeks in those conditions before butchering them. It definately makes tough rutty bucks much easier to eat.

I've also had my deer in cold hard freezes where you can only cut it with a saw. No processing when that happens, they're just in a locker, but it's the woodshed. I've had deer thaw partially and refreeze. Something that would ruin fish just made tender hamburger.

I think the sweet spot is something around 35 degrees with 38 being on the high side, but OK if the majority of the time is much cooler.

This is when we might have 8 or 10 animals hanging at one time. Then the freeze was a blessing because it extended our food supply.

Some winters were so warm that we had to butcher and freeze to preserve the meat and to keep insects out of it. So it's fluid out there when you're living off of venison.

Throw the tenderloins and backstraps in the smoker for about 10 days and report back.... you'll be amazed.

Regards,
'
Grizz

[Griff]

Cut the tenderloins out immediately, wash, wrap, and get 'em in the fridge for cooking over a charcoal fire the next day. The rest of the meat, except ground stuff or sausage, try butchering, vacuum pack, and then freezing as soon as possible. In my neck of the woods, even now, night time temperatures are already in the low 30's, most days don't make it past 50, so hang'n aint a problem. By rifle season at the end this month, the deer are frozen by the time you can get 'em to the hang'n pole...kinda like flash frozen!

A little secret from my grandma...thaw out your hunk of meat over night in the fridge, then generously soak the hunk of meat with lime juice, let it sit on plate in the fridge until you get home from work. Then cook it anyway you want. The lime juice [s]............................[/s] will not leave any after taste, but naturally tenderize your meat. Don't matter if it is pig, deer, or milk cow.

She wouldn't have known an enzime from an email. But, dat lady knew how to cook!

[horsesoldier03]

I have cut up my own deer, however, I unfortunately dont have a place that I can hang the deer and let it age a bit before processing. The processer that I do use lets all of the carcasses hang for 1 week before he will cut them. I had a good friend that was a butcher that first told me that the best steak is one that has been aged properly. If I am not mistaken the temp for properly ageing meat is approx 38-40 degrees and open air such as a meat locker.

[AJMD429]

We hang/age it in cold weather (gun season, here) but for my son's bow-season buck last month, we quartered it within 6 or 8 hours of the kill, and put it in an unplugged freezer with several bags of ice. Kept it at about 40 degrees for a week, then we butchered. Worked fine.

I'd like to build a tall mini-barn and insulate/air condition it, or just get an old store (large, upright, display-type) cooler or freezer and use that.

What always amuses me is the many people who "love the venison" but only eat some super-spicy sausage made from venison. IMHO when you add that much spice, you can't tell beef from venison from pork from rat-meat. Not that I don't like sausage and all that, but if you want to taste the true flavor, you'd just roast it PLAIN, and serve it PLAIN, or maybe with some pasta.

[smallac]

IMO a deer that hangs 5 to 7 days does taste considerably better. I age all my meat. We have a small out building that is 12'X12'. We insulated that building and put a small air conditioner in the window if the days get a bit too warm. We normally wait til later in the year to shoot most of our deer for the meat. If it is too warm for this then I will quarter the deer and put it in the refrigerator for a week. Also by insulating the building it also keeps the meat from freezing if the nights get too cold.

I do not particularly care for a vacuum sealer. And for a couple of reasons. But the main reason is that it really is not necessary, and the bags are to expensive.

We do a "vacuum style" seal on our meat. And here is how we do it. We use the heavier duty---quart size Zip-Loc bags. Not the ones with the slider, just the regular Zip-Loc. We put the meat in the bag then squeeze out the air. If you go to Burger King they have a very heavy straw they serve with their soft driks. Keep that straw. Aftyer you have squeezed the air out of the bag then seal the bag with the straw sticking out of the bag, and squeeze the straw with your finger. then suck the rest of the air out of the bag with the straw. While you are squeezing the straw just pull the straw out of the bag and the bag will seal with your finger pressure. This gives you a vacuum seal for less money, and once you get good at it-you will also save time. We then put three of those bags in a one gallon Zip-Loc bag and suck the air out of the one gallon bag. That seals the meat up tight, and double bagged. You can reuse the one gallon bags next year. Tom.

ne thing you can do if you have an old fridge is quater the deer and let it "age" in that fridge for a few days. Once you vacuum pack it the aging process will pretty much stop. If you just double wrap and freeze it will age some, but may not have the same tenderness, or flavor of a properly aged carcass.

[2row]

Most times when I kill a deer I have it in the freg in as short a time as possable I don't like Rotten meat an deer will start to rot in minutes my deer are aged on the hoof 2-3 yo

[brno602]

This is a old post but thought I would put in my two cents I asked the same about hogs as I never hunted them before and No I did not see one this year as they are rare and not even a game animal here they just want them shot on site type of thing with a $50.00 bounty on the ears. I like to hang my deer for a Week in Early Nov Most of the time the temps in my garage are around +5C So just above Freezing Same goes for Elk and Moose one Week, really 5 day's if I take it to a butcher as I know they will take a day or two to cut it up.
The Rib meat might dry up too much though, I hunt in Southern Alberta and the dry wind can dry out even a big Deer but I don't like Deer ribs too dry and not juicy like Pork, mmm pork. It really does take at least 24 hours for the rigor to go away, a young deer is ready to eat in three day's, but most big bucks take at least 5 day's.
The liver the night you shot it and the tender loins the next day for lunch.But the rest should hang for at least 5 to 7 day's but I live in a dry area and the Mule Deer here never carry liver flukes and only the odd WT have them Same with Elk and only the Moose&Elk that live in the South carry them and even that is rare! As you can tell I like my liver, I should be more kind to mine!