saskgunowner101 's dumb question of the night...

saskgunowner101

saskgunowner101

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
132   0   0
Location
middle of Sask
What should deer meat smell like after its been aged 5 days?? Its been aged in an unheated garage, temp between 3-6 degrees Celsius. There's no slime or anything funky, but I washed out the inside with water the night I shot it(dried it as well). Any thoughts??


Dumb question for tomorrow. After you butcher, how do you determine whats what?? Hind legs,roast, sausage, burger, etc??(note to self,bring deer to butcher next time) :redface:
 
Three days at those temps, it should smell normal yet. Abattoirs hang beef at 4° for two weeks or longer.
When I do mine, I put the shoulders into ground (sausage), then I steak up the backstraps and leave the tenderloins whole in their own baggie, they get special treatment. You can make roasts or cut steaks from the rumps, but I usually dont, the family doesnt like them so I just grind it all and into sausage.
 
saskgunowner101 said:
What should deer meat smell like after its been aged 5 days?? Its been aged in an unheated garage, temp between 3-6 degrees Celsius. There's no slime or anything funky, but I washed out the inside with water the night I shot it(dried it as well). Any thoughts??


Dumb question for tomorrow. After you butcher, how do you determine whats what?? Hind legs,roast, sausage, burger, etc??(note to self,bring deer to butcher next time) :redface:
Click to expand...

Shouldn't be any noticeable smell. If you smell something "musty" or rank cut and wrap IMMEDIATELY. My moose was shot Sunday and Monday night still had a temp of 20 degrees in the hump and hams. Now it is at 2.1 degrees and there is no discernible odor. I check every morning and evening with both smell and temp of meat. I want to hang until Tuesday but will cut and wrap tomorrow if conditions get warm.

Hard to explain the second part of your post but disregard any and all pics you may have seen regarding beef cutting. Beef is cow, cow wants some fat to taste good --- deer doesn't. Being a biologist with thousands of dissections under my belt, I dissect out all the muscle groups when I butcher. You can see the lines of connective tissue between the muscle groups and you can simply use the point of your knife to "tease" between them.

Generally, everything on the ham side can be steaked or roasts. Try to tease out the sirloin if you can. On a buck it's about the size of two hands and is located in the spoon of the hip bone just in front of the ball joint of the hip. It is my secret cut and is my favorite on the deer. Shanks are good for other slow cooked recipes or burger if you can't be bothered. Backstraps gotta be steaked or roasted. Front end is stew or burger. There are a couple of muscle groups on the front that do lend well to grilling but they are small and take work to prepare.

The neck is the home of stews. Never grind this meat. Chunk it and make your stews from it. Slow cooked in beer or wine, it becomes a meal that goes beyonds food and into addiction.
 
Still not sure what to think...the outer layer, darkened, harder, dry texture. Underneath, lighter color, moist between muscle groups, sort of slippery.

I have to put my nose right up to the meat to smell the "smell". It seems to have the same odor as when I shot it, just more pronounced. I also notice the scrap pile and bones seem to have this odor, but stronger.

I'll finish cutting/wrapping in the a.m., whats the worst that could happen?? A mean case of the splatters?? Would a rub in vinegar help any??:(
 
saskgunowner101 said:
Still not sure what to think...the outer layer, darkened, harder, dry texture. Underneath, lighter color, moist between muscle groups, sort of slippery.

I have to put my nose right up to the meat to smell the "smell". It seems to have the same odor as when I shot it, just more pronounced. I also notice the scrap pile and bones seem to have this odor, but stronger.

I'll finish cutting/wrapping in the a.m., whats the worst that could happen?? A mean case of the splatters?? Would a rub in vinegar help any??:(
Click to expand...

What you are describing is pretty normal and one of the dangers of garage hanging. I'd trim the dried out surface off, cut your meat, wrap, freeze and enjoy. Garage hanging really serves little purpose other than drying meat out. You are just as well off butchering right away. To get the true benefits of hanging, meat needs to be hung for several days and in some cases more than a week depending on the size of the carcass. If this isn't done in a humidity/temperature controled environment, a lot of meat is wasted from trimming all the dried surfaces off and the meat does not age properly. Most guys hang meat because they think it will tenderize it and in most cases it isn't hung long enough or under the proper conditions to achieve that. All that is accomplished is that a lot of meat is wasted.
 
I garage hang for 7-14 days depending on the weather but leave the hide on to prevent the drying you are talking about. I lose a lot less meat than the guys that hang hide off. Warmer temps for less time. If it's really warm -- not at all. There IS a difference between venison that hasn't been hung and that that has been hung only a few days. Not as pronounced as venison that has been hung a week but even a couple of days makes a difference.

What you are describing is what a deer hung for 5 days with the hide off will smell and look like. Trim and enjoy. Make sure you get ALL of the dried meat trimmed away though. This has had its flavors concentrated and can be patially responsible for the "gaminess" people complain about when eating deer.
 
Last edited:
Stored in proper conditions ( As long as the animal cooled properly) a hanging animal can last quite while. It is not uncommon to let beef age for 2 plus weeks in a cooler that is 2-3 degrees above freezing. The meat will form a dark dried layer on the outside but the inside still has a nice red colour.

Any spoilage begins around the bones and will have that slimy greenish look ( hard to miss )

Once I hurt my back and a deer sat in my cool basement for over two weeks. After trimming the outer layer it was fine. Also, if the animal cools quickly I have let it hang with the hide on. The meat does not darken this way.


BTW I grew up in a family that owned a butcher shop and I've been doing this for 40 years. And I'm still fine although other may argue that point.:D
 
Slowly but surely getting it done. Front and back legs butchered, wrapped, and I swiped a few pieces off for taste test. Update later after chow down.

Maybe I was getting paranoid, or just unsure of myself when doing something new, but thanks for baby sitting, guys.:redface:

Of course, I also think grouse, duck, and rabbit smell funny, and I've never aged them longer than 3 days in the fridge.
 
Trial by fire, just cooked up three pieces, I guess mini fast fry steaks. One chunk eye of round, top round, and bottom round. All good, more noticeable flavor in eye of round.

Guess if I get the trots, it will happen later.:D
 
saskgunowner101 said:
Trial by fire, just cooked up three pieces, I guess mini fast fry steaks. One chunk eye of round, top round, and bottom round. All good, more noticeable flavor in eye of round.

Guess if I get the trots, it will happen later.:D
Click to expand...

And you said you didn't know what all the pieces were...sounds like you got it figured out. The eye of round is one of those truly under appreciated cuts. On smaler critters like deer, sheep or antelope......I often leave it whole and marinade for a couple days and then slow cook on the bbq. It's right up there with tenderloin if done properly. Just had some sheep eye of round the other night.....mmmmmm
 
saskgunowner101 said:
Guess if I get the trots, it will happen later.:D
Click to expand...

You wouldn't get the trots even with rotten meat. It would just taste bad. The only way you would get sick is if some E.Coli or Fecal coliform got in there somehow from a gut shot that wasn't cleaned properly. Cooking the outside of the meat generally kills that. That's why you can safely eat a blue rare 28 day aged steak. The bacteria doesn't penetrate to the interior of the meat.

Different with ground meat of course because you are grinding the surface bacteria into the meat.
 
sheephunter said:
And you said you didn't know what all the pieces were...sounds like you got it figured out. The eye of round is one of those truly under appreciated cuts. On smaler critters like deer, sheep or antelope......I often leave it whole and marinade for a couple days and then slow cook on the bbq. It's right up there with tenderloin if done properly. Just had some sheep eye of round the other night.....mmmmmm
Click to expand...


I hear "K" country sheep tastes like a Big Mac...:D
 
Walk in coolers are a constant 0 degrees and dry. Garage hanging may tempt fate. I don't hang it anymore, the good parts don't need it and the tough parts are run thru the grinder.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom