hanging meat....

"Controversy has long raged about the relative quality of venison and beef as gourmet foods. Some people say that venison is tough, with a strong "wild" taste. Others insist that venison is tender and that the flavor is delicate. To try and resolve this issue, a blind taste-test panel was conducted. A certified research group was empanelled to determine the truth of these conflicting assertions.

First, a high-choice 1100 pound Hereford x Holstein steer was selected then chased into a swamp approximately a mile by dogs. It was then shot several times in various locations throughout the carcass. After most of the entrails were removed, the carcass was dragged over rocks and logs, through mud and dust, thrown into the back of a pick-up truck and transported through rain and snow approximately 100 miles before being hung in a tree for several days. During the aging period the temperature was maintained at between 25-60 degrees. Next the steer was dragged into the garage and skinned out on the floor.

PLEASE NOTE: Strict sanitary precautions were observed throughout the processing within the limitations of the butchering environment. For instance, dogs were allowed to sniff at the steer carcass, but were chased out of the garage if they attempted to lick the carcass or bite hunks out of it. Cats were allowed in the garage, but were always immediately removed from the cutting table.

Next half a dozen inexperienced but enthusiastic individuals worked on the steer with meat saws, cleavers and dull knives. The result was 200 pounds of blood-shot scrap, 175 pounds of soup and dog bones, 125 pounds of meat for stew and hamburger, four roasts and a half a dozen steaks that were an inch and a half thick on one end and an eighth of an inch on the other.

The steaks were then fried in a skillet with one pound of butter and three pounds of onions. After two hours of frying, the contents of the skillet were served to three blindfolded taste panel volunteers who were asked if they were eating venison or beef. Every one of the panel members was sure they were eating venison. One of the volunteers even said it tasted exactly like the venison he had been eating at the hunting camp for the last 27 years. The results of this trial showed conclusively that there is no difference between the taste of beef and venison".
 
horseman2 said:
"Controversy has long raged about the relative quality of venison and beef as gourmet foods. Some people say that venison is tough, with a strong "wild" taste. Others insist that venison is tender and that the flavor is delicate. To try and resolve this issue, a blind taste-test panel was conducted. A certified research group was empanelled to determine the truth of these conflicting assertions.

First, a high-choice 1100 pound Hereford x Holstein steer was selected then chased into a swamp approximately a mile by dogs. It was then shot several times in various locations throughout the carcass. After most of the entrails were removed, the carcass was dragged over rocks and logs, through mud and dust, thrown into the back of a pick-up truck and transported through rain and snow approximately 100 miles before being hung in a tree for several days. During the aging period the temperature was maintained at between 25-60 degrees. Next the steer was dragged into the garage and skinned out on the floor.

PLEASE NOTE: Strict sanitary precautions were observed throughout the processing within the limitations of the butchering environment. For instance, dogs were allowed to sniff at the steer carcass, but were chased out of the garage if they attempted to lick the carcass or bite hunks out of it. Cats were allowed in the garage, but were always immediately removed from the cutting table.

Next half a dozen inexperienced but enthusiastic individuals worked on the steer with meat saws, cleavers and dull knives. The result was 200 pounds of blood-shot scrap, 175 pounds of soup and dog bones, 125 pounds of meat for stew and hamburger, four roasts and a half a dozen steaks that were an inch and a half thick on one end and an eighth of an inch on the other.

The steaks were then fried in a skillet with one pound of butter and three pounds of onions. After two hours of frying, the contents of the skillet were served to three blindfolded taste panel volunteers who were asked if they were eating venison or beef. Every one of the panel members was sure they were eating venison. One of the volunteers even said it tasted exactly like the venison he had been eating at the hunting camp for the last 27 years. The results of this trial showed conclusively that there is no difference between the taste of beef and venison".
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LMFAO!!!!!!!!

the truth is almost painful :)
 
Gunguy

I really wonder why this is even a question for your brother? The best steakhouses, the best restaurants, the best butchers all AGE THEIR MEAT. Deer and moose and cows are all made out of meat, and meat responds well to aging. Big animals and big quarters/chunks of meat take longer to age than little pieces.....Warmer temperatures mean shorter aging time. There are a number of variables often out of the hunters control, but cooling the animal down, air circulation and temperature are all important factors and must be considered.

Someone mentioned thier dad using a hooked stick to clean out a bird? I've done it and it works well. All it is is an improvised "gut hook" that you can find on some pocketknives marketed to upland bird hunters now.
 
I have two brothers, the one I hunt with agrees totally with me on the subject of aging the meat, its my oldest brother that said it was bull, i just wanted to confirm it to myself.


Gatehouse said:
Gunguy

I really wonder why this is even a question for your brother? The best steakhouses, the best restaurants, the best butchers all AGE THEIR MEAT. Deer and moose and cows are all made out of meat, and meat responds well to aging. Big animals and big quarters/chunks of meat take longer to age than little pieces.....Warmer temperatures mean shorter aging time. There are a number of variables often out of the hunters control, but cooling the animal down, air circulation and temperature are all important factors and must be considered.

Someone mentioned thier dad using a hooked stick to clean out a bird? I've done it and it works well. All it is is an improvised "gut hook" that you can find on some pocketknives marketed to upland bird hunters now.
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My moose is hanging in a basket in the freezer, thats the only hanging it did. It died, was skinned. Then deboned and some ground up and the rest in roasts. It was a 3 year old cow, so it is really tender!! Grandparents never hung any beef either. But the animal was in the barn for its last week of life before it was slaughtered. From bang to freezer in a day.
 
GunGuy34 said:
Do you have any proof of this, i have an older brother of mine that says its nonsense
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They've been hanging beef and game since day one for all the reasons mentioned. Maybe your older brother knows something that 1000s and 1000s of butchers and hunters don't.


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GunGuy34 said:
I have two brothers, the one I hunt with agrees totally with me on the subject of aging the meat, its my oldest brother that said it was bull, i just wanted to confirm it to myself.
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Instead of arguing the fact just try some moose or deer that has been aged and some that hasn't and make up yer own mind then post back.

Better yet, have a family dinner taste test. ;)
 
tigrr said:
"Grandparents never hung any beef either."

Wow! I'll guess you know little about earlier rural life in this country.
They hung the meat if it was possible to do so. However, it all had to be under natural conditions, as no artificial cooling systems would be available. A farmer butchering his own beef had to be able to keep the meat. This meant winter butchering to enable the meat to be cut up and frozen in a shed. If conditions were perfect, it could be in early winter, so the animal could be hung for a week or more, without freezing, before it was cut up. In any case, they let it hang as long as they could.
I will guarantee you one thing. The old time farmers and ranchers in rural Canada knew far more about meat, and getting the choicest of meat, than do our modern hunters!
For one thing, they considered an animal wasn't fit for beef until it was a minimum of three years old and choice beef came from a four year old animal. My Dad was an excellent, old time cattleman, so I am not guessing at what I say here. On old mixed farms, cattle often were fairly thin when spring arrived, just as most game animals are. If Dad wanted the choicest of beef, he would take an animal of his pick, usually a four year old one, and put it on the best of chopped grain, all it could eat. It would get fattened right up in, maybe six weeks, or so. Then he would immediately butcher it.
It is impossible today to buy as good of beef in any commercial establishment.
When we came to BC in 1946, the most highly advertised beef, as being of gourmet quality, was three and four year old steers, right off of the Chilcotin bunch grass. The animals never saw a feed lot, nor were fed grain. Nothing better than a choice beef animal from the Chilcotin bunch grass to the slaughter house! High class restaraunts in Vancouver used to advertise that was the beef they used.
Modern beef that is butchered at 18 months is not choice beef.
The final straw in the deterioration of beef in the stores, was when the beef first went to a "breaking down" facility, ending up in big plastic bags to be distributed to the butcher stores.
I said to an older butcher at a super market store, that beef coming to them in plastic bags was just not like when it used to come to them hanging in quarters. He overwhelmingly agreed with me.
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H4831 said:
tigrr said:
"Grandparents never hung any beef either."

Wow! I'll guess you know little about earlier rural life in this country.
They hung the meat if it was possible to do so. However, it all had to be under natural conditions, as no artificial cooling systems would be available. A farmer butchering his own beef had to be able to keep the meat. This meant winter butchering to enable the meat to be cut up and frozen in a shed. If conditions were perfect, it could be in early winter, so the animal could be hung for a week or more, without freezing, before it was cut up. In any case, they let it hang as long as they could.
I will guarantee you one thing. The old time farmers and ranchers in rural Canada knew far more about meat, and getting the choicest of meat, than do our modern hunters!
For one thing, they considered an animal wasn't fit for beef until it was a minimum of three years old and choice beef came from a four year old animal. My Dad was an excellent, old time cattleman, so I am not guessing at what I say here. On old mixed farms, cattle often were fairly thin when spring arrived, just as most game animals are. If Dad wanted the choicest of beef, he would take an animal of his pick, usually a four year old one, and put it on the best of chopped grain, all it could eat. It would get fattened right up in, maybe six weeks, or so. Then he would immediately butcher it.
It is impossible today to buy as good of beef in any commercial establishment.
When we came to BC in 1946, the most highly advertised beef, as being of gourmet quality, was three and four year old steers, right off of the Chilcotin bunch grass. The animals never saw a feed lot, nor were fed grain. Nothing better than a choice beef animal from the Chilcotin bunch grass to the slaughter house! High class restaraunts in Vancouver used to advertise that was the beef they used.
Modern beef that is butchered at 18 months is not choice beef.
The final straw in the deterioration of beef in the stores, was when the beef first went to a "breaking down" facility, ending up in big plastic bags to be distributed to the butcher stores.
I said to an older butcher at a super market store, that beef coming to them in plastic bags was just not like when it used to come to them hanging in quarters. He overwhelmingly agreed with me.
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The modern beef business as you describe is based on money, not fine beef.

To get good beef nowadays you need to seek out specialty butchers and specialty ranchers that raise animals on grass, not super feed youngish animals grain and antibiotics in feedlots, then quickly slaughter them, then cut them into pieces and "wet age" them in cryo-vacced bags.

Once this method became popular, people eventually started looking for beef with these characteristics (mild flavour, white fat instead of yellow, tender meat due to young animals) and turning up thier nose at yellow fat, 4 yar old animals that were shipped to butcher shops in sides and carefully aged to promote tenderness and flavour.

It's the same way with chickens and pork. People freak out when they see one of our free range chickens plucked- Because the skin is orange instead of white and the meat is darker than the translucent pink they are used to seeing in the grocery stores.

Much of the meat industry has evolved into a factory style process.

Which is one more great reason to go hunting- Get some free ranging organic meat and learn how to properly process it, and you will be far better off than eating mass produced meat products from the grocery store.

You *can* buy good, grass fed, properly aged beef, but you need to look for it. Many of the best restaurants seek out these suppliers and work with them to ensure they have excellent products. Not only is it hard to find, it's expensive. So go hunting, or at least befriend a farmer. ;)
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USP said:
^I find most supermarket Beef to be almost tasteless now.
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Much of the flavour is in the fat and much of the beef these days is quite lean as per consumer demand. Look for cuts with more marbling in the muscle. This is one of the reasons that prime rib or blade are a couple of the tastier cuts.


.
 
SuperCub said:
Much of the flavour is in the fat and much of the beef these days is quite lean as per consumer demand. Look for cuts with more marbling in the muscle. This is one of the reasons that prime rib or blade are a couple of the tastier cuts.


.
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Yeah I do look for the right amount of marbling. So much of the common stuff is flavourless. I try and eat Lamb more at least you have some taste.

I can get aged stuff from Wholefoods but its pricey for steaks.
 
Gatehouse said:
The modern beef business as you describe is based on money, not fine beef.

To get good beef nowadays you need to seek out specialty butchers and specialty ranchers that raise animals on grass, not super feed youngish animals grain and antibiotics in feedlots, then quickly slaughter them, then cut them into pieces and "wet age" them in cryo-vacced bags.

Once this method became popular, people eventually started looking for beef with these characteristics (mild flavour, white fat instead of yellow, tender meat due to young animals) and turning up thier nose at yellow fat, 4 yar old animals that were shipped to butcher shops in sides and carefully aged to promote tenderness and flavour.

It's the same way with chickens and pork. People freak out when they see one of our free range chickens plucked- Because the skin is orange instead of white and the meat is darker than the translucent pink they are used to seeing in the grocery stores.

Much of the meat industry has evolved into a factory style process.

Which is one more great reason to go hunting- Get some free ranging organic meat and learn how to properly process it, and you will be far better off than eating mass produced meat products from the grocery store.

You *can* buy good, grass fed, properly aged beef, but you need to look for it. Many of the best restaurants seek out these suppliers and work with them to ensure they have excellent products. Not only is it hard to find, it's expensive. So go hunting, or at least befriend a farmer. ;)
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:agree:

It's what we do. My hunting partner is the local butcher and if we get beef, we get it from a farmer who raises custom free range cows.

Free range eggs from a farm are way different as well.
 
Yes, Gatehouse and some more of you, have added to my theme.
A few years ago we decided on a prime rib roast of beef for Christmas, instead of a turkey. A way ahead of time I made arrangements for a good piece of beef, and oh, what a difference!
Many of you will have read in my book how I praise the quality of the big northern BC/Yukon moose. I once shot one of the huge northerners in the first week in September. It was just rolling fat, with marbled steaks.
Probably just like the one you got last fall, Clarke. With the proper care you would give it, I can imagine how good it would be.
I think the old cattle men's theory of a thin beef animal, fattened rapidly, applies to the wild animals, as well. Those northern moose come through a very long, hard winter, obviously in poor condition in the spring, then gorge themselves on the tender green willow shoots that grow in profussion in the north, laying on a huge amount of fat, for the coming winter.
The elk meat I grew up on in northern Saskatchewan was the same way. Terrific. Moose and elk from southern BC are not to be compared with the northern ones.
 
Wife wasn't sure which was better, beef or moose.
So the dare was on. I know a buddy had a half side of farm raised beef in his freezer and he
was always chomp'in at my freezer lid. So we did some meat swap, steak for steak, roast for roast. Again, this beef was not store bought.
One day I took a couple of packages of steaks out of the freezer. One beef, one moose.
Lathered them up in marryinating sauce, beer, soya, bit of brown sugar, you git the idea.
Flame up the bbq and git'im medium rare, slightlty pink so the crowd can dig in. Two plates of steaks, bouef and moose. Put them on the table, no guessing. I pointed them out, which was which. Kid's jumped all over the moose as well as I. Wife just couldn't come right out and say it, but she went after the moose on seconds.
Me, wild game any day. Not to say I don't enjoy a nice bouef a la t'bone.
Do it right and it tastes right.
Toonies this time...............
Cheers.
Looky.
 
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