Tough Antelope

[Poke 'Em]

I shot an antelope on Friday, and it is the toughest animal I've ever eaten. I had some backstrap on Friday night, and the steak (cooked rare to medium rare) was hard to bite through. Rather than butchering it right away like I usually do, I left it in the cooler with block ice (the meat stayed dry) until tonight and the (uncooked) backstraps and other muscles are still hard as a rock.

I've never dealt with an animal this tough before. Freezing it will (hopefully) help some, but as of right now the whole thing is going to be turned into burger & sausage, and even that I'm worried about being too tough. Since I don't have climate-controlled storage, long term aging doesn't seem like a possibility. What are my options?

 

[u1299]

You sure you shot an antelope?

 

[Poke 'Em]

You sure you shot an antelope?

You got me. It was a pronghorn.

 

[406LIFE]

I've never had one be that tough. It's always the opposite. You could try aging it, but I wouldn't do much to it.

 

[dan.kirkpatrick]

you can age it before butchering to a certain degree,,,34 to 37 f for 7 days will help,,,also I found that marinating will help,i don't have the recipe off the top of my head but it used soy sauce,vinegar,lemon juice,garlic,and a few other items.vineger seems to help a lot break down the mucle tissues,but dont get carried away.

 

[MT_Fin]

Nothing a little braising won't fix, it'll be tender and moist and more substantial for meals than burger or sausage. I've never had one like that but if you raised a leather shoe long enough it would be tender and taste good

 

[Poke 'Em]

Any idea if there's anything I did wrong that caused it to be this tough? It was a quick kill, and I was cutting into it within about 5 minutes after it expired. Would waiting a little bit longer have helped the fibers relax?

It's not just a little bit tough, it's substantially worse than any meat I've ever eaten. I'm just trying to figure out if it's "just one of those things" or if I had any role in making it this tough.

 

[Backstrap]

One year I did an experiment and processed my elk in three different batches. One batch hung for 3 days, while the others hung 5 & 7 days. There was a very noticeable positive change in the tenderness and flavor as the meat hung. If conditions allow I won't hesitate to hang meat for up to 14 days now. It's been warm this fall so my antelope hung for not as long this year. Both hung for about 5 days and are about as tough as ice cream.

 

[sbhooper]

Any idea if there's anything I did wrong that caused it to be this tough? It was a quick kill, and I was cutting into it within about 5 minutes after it expired. Would waiting a little bit longer have helped the fibers relax?

It's not just a little bit tough, it's substantially worse than any meat I've ever eaten. I'm just trying to figure out if it's "just one of those things" or if I had any role in making it this tough.

That is really odd. All of the antelope that I have eaten were the most tender of any wild meat. I don't think that you did one thing wrong. You just drew the short straw and got a tough one.

I have found that the longer the meat stays in the freezer, the more tender it is, but if it is that tough, you will still have issues. I think you are on the right path just turning it into ground products.

 

[Speeddmn]

One thing I noticed as a kid was if the antelope ran fast and a lot before being shot the meat always seemed to be a bit tougher also. We shot some back in the 90's (last time I hunted them) that were relaxed and instant death, hung a couple days in a cool garage and it always seems better then the ones that ran off before we killed them.

 

[Hunting Wife]

I haven't had an antelope ever be that tough either but individuals are all different. It's entirely possible you did nothing wrong and its just the animal. I usually age mine for 5 or so days (weather permitting) and it's usually super tender when butchering.

If you want to try to salvage some cuts, I would try either braising them or marinating in something acidic - vinegar like dan.k said, or lemon juice, wine, or something similar. You could pound out steaks - that will also tenderize. But those all take some labor during cooking, so if you don't want to invest that much energy in cooking it I'd stick with your plan to just grind it.

 

[wytex]

Ditto on the running. If you chase them then shoot you will have tough meat unless you can age it. Try some wet aging in your frig or cooler, it will help.

 

[wolfpup]

Seems to me that some animals are tough regardless of treatment. We are eating muscles and some are tighter than others. No shame in forming into whatever will get eaten. My family only likes antelope Jerky and sausage, so that's what I make! It all gets eaten, so enjoy whatever product you like. I don't have the ability to age anything, so it all gets butchered relatively soon and some can be cut with butter knifes and others give my teeth one hell of a workout.

 

[02bfishn]

Ditto on the running. If you chase them then shoot you will have tough meat unless you can age it. Try some wet aging in your frig or cooler, it will help.

The only Antelope I have killed was many years ago in AZ - great taste, but very tough. He was running full bore - had always presumed the toughness to be associated with him being in turbo mode when he went down.

As far as something to try on your meat, we had a tough cow elk a few years back (not running - in AZ again though - whats up with that?), soaking overnight in a brine solution helped a bunch - made things much more tender.

 

[tjones]

Cube it.


Tenderizer/Cuber Attachment – Tenderize domestic or wild-game cuts for delicious cube steaks, country fried steaks and fajita meat. Extra-large feed chute accepts cuts of meat up to 7.75" wide and 1.5" thick. Dual rollers have 32 2.75" blades to ensure even tenderization across each cut of meat.
12"L x 7"W x 11"H.






http://www.cabelas.com/product/home...rinders/_/N-1101293/Ns-CATEGORY_SEQ_104364180

 

[RACHGIER]

I must have gotten lucky with both of my pronghorns this year. Just as tender a could be and they were in the freezer within an hour of being killed. I did do up a batch of Shoyu (Hawaiian) Teriyaki marinade; soy sauce, water, white sugar, minced roasted garlic, and ginger; for elk camp though. Sliced up the meat thin like Korean BBQ and let it marinate for a week. Tough meat always ends up in a stew at my house.

 

[Poke 'Em]

One thing I noticed as a kid was if the antelope ran fast and a lot before being shot the meat always seemed to be a bit tougher also. We shot some back in the 90's (last time I hunted them) that were relaxed and instant death, hung a couple days in a cool garage and it always seems better then the ones that ran off before we killed them.

Shot it in his bed. He got up and ran ~50 yards before toppling over. I guess I just got unlucky on this one. It feels like you're eating a cold gummy bear.

 

[Gr8bawana]

The only antelope I've ever had that was tough was shot at about 9am and was butchered and in the freezer by 6pm the same day and boy was it tough. I have read and been told that if the meat has not had the time to go through rigor and then relax it wil be tough and I found that to be true.

 

[wytex]

Sounds like you did treat him right. Some tasty sausage wouldn't be a bad thing. Try tenderizing some steaks then chicken fry them or maybe braise them for a few hours. Smothered steak might be a little better. You'll have to come back and give em another chance.

 

[Rainer]

What I do to tenderize almost all wild game is I dry age it in the fridge. If given the right circumstances, skin the animal out and hang it in a walk-in fridge. 99.9% of hunters though dont have the luxury of access to a walk-in fridge, so their is another options if you have roasts or steaks. All you need is a baking sheet, cooling rack (that will fit inside the baking sheet), tooth picks and plastic wrap. You don't want the meat to touch and soak in it own liquid which is why you have the cooling rack. Place some toothpicks in the meat so when you wrap the tray the plastic doesn't make contact with the meat. Poke some holes in the plastic wrap so we can have some air circulating around the meat. Then place it on the bottom shelve of your fridge for a couple days or as long as you want. You will see the meat shrink because we are removing the moisture and every once in awhile your going to want to clean up the blood thats on the tray.