Bad smell when cooking mooseburger - what to do?

[JohnC]

We recently got our fall moose back - had been in a freezer up north.

Even though the burger tastes quite good ( 4 different peoples' opinion) when eating, it has quite a bad smell when cooking it. This we believe was a fairly old animal ( spike, but quite large and missing a lot of teeth) and it had sat out a bit ( couple of hours) on a warm day. Liver shot went 100 yards or so.

We are worried that the cooking smell will be off-putting to any guest who come for dinner ( its strong and quite noticeable as soon as you come in the door). Is there a method that can be used to reduce/change/cover the cooking smell?

Options we thought of include making it into spaghetti sauce, adding more fat and barbecuing as burgers, , making it into sausage, or jerky, etc...... we have 20-25 pounds of it and would hate to get rid of it..

Any and all suggestions welcome and appreciated.

 

[heavyBullet]

Had the same problem with my buddies moose. We made sausage with it, and now tastes GREAT!!

 

[RJD]

BBQ it , there's no bad smelling BBQ

 

[sarge]

Mooseburgers and outdoor bbq

 

[Huntsman]

BBQ or soak in milk for a 1hr.

 

[Slithery]

I've apparently had similar problems. Now, I loved the smell of it cooking, but people coming by would complain about the stench(but never the taste). What I did was masked the scent with spices. For about every lb. of meat, I'd add a teaspoon of cinnamon. It's enough to fill the air with a cinnamon smell and mask the moose scent, but you wouldn't taste it in the burgers.

 

[Fall Guy]

How does is smell RAW relative to, say, lean hamburger? How much fat was it cut with or is it pure ground moose?

 

[Silverado]

Sprinkle the burger with white pepper as it's cooking. White pepper isn't as strong as black, but it tones down the cooking smell quite a bit.

 

[heavyBullet]

I have not tried it on moose, but when I get deer thats a bit gamey, I marinade it over night in Italian salad dressing.

 

[looch]

Make sure you drain as much blood as you can. I put burger in sieve for an hour before cooking.

 

[archie_james_c]

it has quite a bad smell when cooking it./QUOTE]

You know that burning smell isn't a timer telling you its done eh .


But seriously like Looch said get as much blood out.

 

[JohnC]

How does is smell RAW relative to, say, lean hamburger? How much fat was it cut with or is it pure ground moose?

Has the same strong smell raw relative to lean hamburg and to mooseburger from another animal. not mich fat this time. -about half the normal amount ( i wasn't there unfortunately). Meat is quite a bit darker red than normal too. Usually we get calves or 1 3/4 year bulls

 

[David L]

3 tips: 1.Spices or the pepper is really the good one and another possibility is mixing it and add spices.2.remove blood like previously mentionned.3. Can add some BBQ sauce in the meat before cooking it.
Really important not to be disgusted with the smell cause you'll be off for the taste.

 

[diemaco]

I had the same problem with my deer. Tasted great but the meat smelled "musky" both raw and while cooking. It was a fairly young buck so age isn't an issue. It was hung upside down for about a week in cold temps/cooler before butchering. Any idea what causes this and/or how to avoid it? Are does less susceptible to this?

 

[Levi Garrett]

If cared for proper, ie, dress, hang, process, and time between each. You will be fine, If the bull was rutting, it may be a bit strong, but thats normal.
Game meat must not be over cooked. Slow cooking with good cooking skills , and your gonna have great game meat to eat.
Tips, never cover in oven,use a good old cast pot, or fry pan, just coat with olive oil, onions etc... Steak in a fry pan, slow as she goes, not a high heat. Chops are fantastic.

 

[Levi Garrett]

I had the same problem with my deer. Tasted great but the meat smelled "musky" both raw and while cooking. It was a fairly young buck so age isn't an issue. It was hung upside down for about a week in cold temps/cooler before butchering. Any idea what causes this and/or how to avoid it? Are does less susceptible to this?

Perfect conditrions, dry, (check in folds everywhere) animal must be clean and dry. Hide on for 21 days @32 f , you need the break down without moisture which will start the problems. So watch the aging for any signs of going bad, cut these areas out.
You may not go the entire time ,if you got the cooler , heck go for it.
Meat will be fantastic.

 

[snowshoe]

In my experience that wild smell comes from meat that was not handled properly. In all the years of hunting and eating wild game, the only time there was enough wild smell coming from the meat cooking at my house, was that of a buck that was deep in the rut and worked up big time just before being shot. His meat was almost black. The animal must be washed/wiped down, so no hair remains, all fat removed, and I bone out all meat, no bones are left. I used to make my living cutting meat now I only do our own, but still get requests to do others.

 

[david doyle]

Meat is not suppose to smell bad. If it does feed it to the the dogs.

 

[Gun5tuff]

In my experience that wild smell comes from meat that was not handled properly. In all the years of hunting and eating wild game, the only time there was enough wild smell coming from the meat cooking at my house, was that of a buck that was deep in the rut and worked up big time just before being shot. His meat was almost black. The animal must be washed/wiped down, so no hair remains, all fat removed, and I bone out all meat, no bones are left. I used to make my living cutting meat now I only do our own, but still get requests to do others.

This is my experience as well. Hanging meat in somebody's dirty cooler for a few days will cause it to pick up an oder. The last time we used the local self-styled "Master Sausage Maker" in Westbank he had a rotten Elk in the cooler. We now have build our own cooler (4 x 8) that also can be used as a freezer when required. It has a UV air purifier in the cooler (radonrx.com) that takes out any airborne DNA and all smells. I highly recommend using one as it really works.

When we butcher, everything is boned out. All the muscle groups on the larger cuts are separated and the sinew and glands in the pockets of fat are removed. Since we have done our own butchering even a bull Moose in heat makes good eating with no "stinky gamy" smell when cooking.

 

[crazydave]

Put the burger in salt water for a couple hours prior to cooking the sal####er removes alot of the blood from the meat and reduces the smell drastically.