people using saws to cut the hams off of deer!!!!!

You've obviously never milked cows...I've had cow splatter in my mouth more times than I care to remember, LOL!

 

Up North here,,we milk cows with our mouths closed.

 

Each too their own as the saying goes.
As for aging wild meat I don't buy it. I understand the aging process and why it is done with beef. Beef have marbled fat, (not tallow) through out the meat. The fat is what breaks down and tenderizes the meat. Wild game is lean meat, meaning that there is very little fat inside the meat (marbled) and it is not really fat but tallow. As with removing all bones from wild game you should also remove all fat for the best tasting meat.
Now for aging with the hide on. Beef is/should not be aged with the hide on because it can not cool down fast enough. Even if the temp is -20, the exposed surfaces will freeze creating an insulation barrier which will in effect slow down the cooling of the core. A smaller animal such as Deer will cool a lot faster so in some instances leaving the hide on may work, but it will no doubt cool faster with the hide removed.
My belief in the best tasting wild game = what the animal has been eating and then proper care and handling of said animal. Feed a steer grass or better yet let it free range in a sagebrush environment and it will taste a lot like the wild Deer from that same region.

 

Thank you Kraig. My point as well. Venison handled properly doesn't NEED marinating or soaking or tenderizing if prepared properly. It's great food, but it's NOT beef and needs to be treated as such.

T, I learned to do that AFTER the first time. I guess down south it was one of those lessons more meaningful if learned from experience.

 

Here is what Chef Depot sayes...My family has always done it, I do it....however, I have noticed that the meat I prepare is betterthan the meat my father in law prepares...I think the difference is in the handling...we both age the meat, however I take considerable more care than he does...I think it is my OCD.

JW



Aging Wild Game



The importance of Aging Meat has often been disputed, here are the facts,

Courtesy of www.chefdepot.net

Aging Meat -

Shortly after the slaughter of an animal the muscles stiffen and the animal goes through a chemical process called Rigor Mortis. This process gradually disappears and the natural tenderizing begins. There are natural Enzymes in the flesh of all animals.

These Enzymes break down the muscle tissue over time depending on the size of the animal.
A side of beef takes 3 to 4 days at 40 degrees F. for this process to begin.

Quality beef is usually aged for 2-4 weeks before it reaches the consumer.

Aging meat does not mean simply hanging it. It is important to control the following conditions, sanitation, temperature, humidity and air circulation.

Aging meat increases tenderness and flavor. Any off taste or bad smell is not

a characteristic of properly aged and butchered meat.

The following are recommended guidelines for aging your game.



Deer - Quickly after killing a deer, carefully open the animal and remove all entrails inside the chest cavity (any sharp high quality knife will work if you are careful, we prefer a German boning knife). Take your time to avoid puncturing vital organs. Carefully split the hide open back to the rear, use a Bone Saw to cut open the tailbone (the bone that joins the two read legs together) and remove all entrails.
The bone saw also works well to split open the upper chest cavity.

As soon as possible flush the deer cavity with several gallons of cold water. It is important to cool the animal as fast as possible. This can be done several ways. If it is cold outside, simply use a clean piece of wood to prop open the chest cavity. If it is warm outside place several bags of ice inside the chest cavity. We also recommend keeping the chest cavity as dry as possible, use several towels to wipe it often. Remove any visible hair, sticks and leaves. Now you have a properly cleaned deer that is ready for hanging. We recommend hanging the deer from the rear legs as high as necessary to avoid touching the ground. It is the easiest position for skinning a deer properly. We remove the hide with a Skinning Knife and cut off the head and front legs with a bone saw. (Many hunters need to begin the aging of their deer outdoors with the hide on,

this is acceptable but be careful of insects, animals, dirt, sticks, leaves, temperature and handling).

It is time to begin the aging of your venison carcass. At 40 degrees F. we find that the meat tastes the best after 5-7 days of aging. This aging time will vary on the size of the deer, temperature and individual preferences. We hang our deer in a walk in cooler with a concrete floor. After several days the enzymes break down the venison muscle tissues and you end up with tender meat. After proper aging the venison is ready for butchering.

 

Aging game with the hide on serves only one purpose....To keep the meat from drying out. Unlike beef or pork, wild game "usually" has very little in the way of a protective fat layer to hinder the meat from drying out. Kraig(and George) make a critical point...game is what it eats and no amount of aging or preparation can change that. The best wild game is usually the game that has been quickly cared for and frozen without regard to "aging". Unaged game is generally superior to improperly aged game. Without the proper facilities to do the job properly, why bother to age it at all. That's my 2 cents, skin it , bone it, and into the freezer as soon as possible. If you KNOW what you're doing, by all means age your game.

 

seeing how you are live in the south like me i will tell you how we do it since it is so hot after we shoot the deer skin and quarter and put in a cooler then fill with ice i usually leave mine in their for 5 or so days i drain every day and put ice on as needed oh and we dont field dress our deer and hardly ever gut them unless someone wants the ribs
i have had deer cleaned and aged many different ways and to me this taste the best

 

George i started cutting meat when i was 18. worked for most major gro. stores at one time or another and market manger for the best part of that. I would think i know at least a couple of things about it. Note i didn't say all !. I never said beef hung un-skent and aged whole in a cooler. They are however or aged. most are processed as soon as slaughtered packed in a vacuum seal boxed and stored aka aging process beginning. Nothing is shot skin ed & shipped to your local store for you to buy the next day. Those boxes will sit in there warehouse any wheres from a week or 2. Then shipped to a distributor, these people sell to the stores. The same darn box may sit in there cooler a week or 2. Then it winds up maybe at a store were i know for damn sure it will sit a week. How many weeks is that? I would believe anyone anywhere would call that ageing. That's the beef part, As for as the deer reread post i didn't say hang with skin on either. I do let mine hang if at all possible. Gutted and SKINNED. I don't wish to get into pissing contest with you about something as stupid as what happens to a cow a slaughter house or the best way to handle a deer carcass. we don't all mount deer the same way, hunt the same way, or process or deer the same way. That doesn't make anyone here right or wrong just because you disagree, Just different. George your an older fellow like me. We both are set in our ways ,to old to change and don't really care to. maybe there are better ways to set eyes, skin deer, raise kids, etc. but my way has been good to me up to this point in life. Recon i stay with it. Funny that reminds me of two songs elvis- did it my way and joe walsh- lifes been good to me so far.




qote author=George link=topic=224517.msg1584909#msg1584909 date=1280018498]
BULL!!!

When is the last time you went into a slaughterhouse and saw a cow hanging in a cooler with the hair and skin still on? This is the same ignorance I see in hunters who think they need to salt the hide before they take it to the taxidermist. That skin and hair form an insulation barrier that provides a wonderful environment for bacteria to grow. Stop playing with your ass, skin the deer immediately after recovery and THEN HANG IT if you must. Better yet, take it to a competent butcher shop and let them do it without destroying half the meat.
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I'm hungry. It's deer season out here, but just in the coast. We are way over crowded in cali, I saw 30 guys last weekend on the way to the most remore place I could get to. 2 weeks the mountains open up and that will be much better.

 

You only need a saw to get the rack off