I'm currently on day 12 with my buck antelope. I ate a back strap at day 10. The flavor was good, but it was still a little tough. I had a whole shoulder from this year's fawn antelope at the two week mark, and it was off-the-charts good, seared and braised for 6 hours. The weather was too wet and warm to hang my elk in September, so I butchered it ASAP.
What is the longest you've aged a big game animal?
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npaden
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Maybe a week in a brine water for wild pigs. Drain the water and refill with water and ice every couple days.
As a kid we had deer that hung for months over the winter time. I don't remember them tasting any better than ones that were butchered quicker. I remember essentially having to skin them again because they developed such a thick crust. Seemed like a waste of meat to me.
As a kid we had deer that hung for months over the winter time. I don't remember them tasting any better than ones that were butchered quicker. I remember essentially having to skin them again because they developed such a thick crust. Seemed like a waste of meat to me.
Likewise. Some of the stuff I've seen the last couple years coming from meateater and other social media outlets looks like borderline wanton waste.
MThuntr
Well-known member
I aged a whole hind deer leg from a small deer in my fridge for about 30 days...I had to have some curiosity squelched. Yes the meat aged, yes it was funky (in a good way), yes there was mold, yes it was crazy tender. Unfortunately I wasted a lot of meat due to the amount of trimming required (as Randy said it bordered on wanton waste). My antelope pieces are in my fridge still doing a wet age and will be packaged up on Monday...that will be 8 days again mostly out of curiosity.
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Gerald Martin
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I aged a buck for two weeks one time. Dried the meat out and didn’t do a thing for flavor that I could tell. Now, when I kill an animal it’s into the freezer within a few days.
Arcola
Well-known member
I use a wet aging process, where the meat is vacuum sealed in the fridge. I've aged up to 21 days. I open, poor off the blood, and reseal every 7 days. This has worked very well for me to tenderize tougher game.
Works great for typical cooking methods but one note is that it will actually over tenderize meat if you plan to use a sous vide to slow cook. I did this on an antelope roast from last year and it was almost a pate texture. Now I braise, grill, or sous vide for less than 4 hours on any of my aged roasts.
Works great for typical cooking methods but one note is that it will actually over tenderize meat if you plan to use a sous vide to slow cook. I did this on an antelope roast from last year and it was almost a pate texture. Now I braise, grill, or sous vide for less than 4 hours on any of my aged roasts.
HSi-ESi
Well-known member
Have any of you tried the Umai dry-aging bags? I've been thinking of giving one a go, then saving the trimmings for a stock session so they at least don't go to waste.
I tried this last year with 4 chunks of the same backstrap as a little test. I believe I saw Danielle Prewett (Wild and Whole) post about it and I gave it a shot.
If I recall right I did a control which was thawed right out of the freezer, 14, 21, and 28 days. By the end I concluded I could not tell any difference past the 21 day mark. I did notice a difference in the control and the 21 day aged, although not enough to justify doing it again.
deer_shooter
Well-known member
I hung a whitetail for 13 days once and same as others have said, the 'crust' was quite thick and made butchering a chore. I've pretty much settled on handing for about 5 days.
KipCarson
Well-known member
I’ve tinkered around with different aging techniques a lot the last few years. Fortunately I have access to a walk in cooler my employer owns so I can hang meat as long as I care to risk. I’ve gone up to 32 days. A week seems pointless to me and past 3 weeks there seems to be diminishing returns. I’ve done enough now that I dont hesitates to go a full month if it’s a controlled environment.
Pros and cons to wet and dry aging, I definitely prefer the end product dry aged meat but there is more waste like others have mentioned. Wet aged meat doesn’t have the waste, but seems to go “funky” on me way to fast and ends up having a cheesy smell thats so strong it makes you question if it’s safe! I cooked some wet aged backstrap this week and when my wife walked in the kitchen she about had a fit over the smell and it took a bit of convincing to make her know it was safe to eat! After a good rinsing, patting dry, sprinkling with kosher salt and cracked black pepper, searing on cast iron in butter and finishing in a 500 degree oven it was good as a steakhouse. The first time I dry aged steak for a month and did a reverse sear with garlic butter and coarse ground pepper she said it was hands down the best deer she’d eaten in her life and was comparable to her steak at Texas Roadhouse. That was off a 5.5 year old rutting buck too.
One thing I’ve done before and am going to try more of is After the initial crust develops take plastic wrap and cover the bigger areas of the major muscle groups with plastic wrap, this gets you the aging process but slows moisture loss where your prime cuts don’t half turn into jerky after a few weeks.
If it’s going to be slow cooked/braised for a long time I’m not sure that aging it is a benefit at all, but for fast cooking methods like traditional ways to cook a steak on the grill or cast iron, proper aging definitely gets you a better product. Whew, sorry I was getting a little long winded but the thought of well aged properly cooked steak just gets me excited!!
Pros and cons to wet and dry aging, I definitely prefer the end product dry aged meat but there is more waste like others have mentioned. Wet aged meat doesn’t have the waste, but seems to go “funky” on me way to fast and ends up having a cheesy smell thats so strong it makes you question if it’s safe! I cooked some wet aged backstrap this week and when my wife walked in the kitchen she about had a fit over the smell and it took a bit of convincing to make her know it was safe to eat! After a good rinsing, patting dry, sprinkling with kosher salt and cracked black pepper, searing on cast iron in butter and finishing in a 500 degree oven it was good as a steakhouse. The first time I dry aged steak for a month and did a reverse sear with garlic butter and coarse ground pepper she said it was hands down the best deer she’d eaten in her life and was comparable to her steak at Texas Roadhouse. That was off a 5.5 year old rutting buck too.
One thing I’ve done before and am going to try more of is After the initial crust develops take plastic wrap and cover the bigger areas of the major muscle groups with plastic wrap, this gets you the aging process but slows moisture loss where your prime cuts don’t half turn into jerky after a few weeks.
If it’s going to be slow cooked/braised for a long time I’m not sure that aging it is a benefit at all, but for fast cooking methods like traditional ways to cook a steak on the grill or cast iron, proper aging definitely gets you a better product. Whew, sorry I was getting a little long winded but the thought of well aged properly cooked steak just gets me excited!!
dcopas78
Well-known member
Just saw this thread. I started one about doing a DIY cooler a few minutes ago. My goal with that is to be able to extend my hunting season outside of the "cold" months. The last few years, I've waited till cold weather to harvest my deer here in Ohio so I can skin it and let it hang to develop a crust on the meat. I'm missing out on a couple month bow season by being reluctant to harvest a deer when it is hot. I try to avoid the processors. Not really aging for taste inasmuch as a way to make the processing easy. The longest I've had one age is about 8 days in a friends walkin. I couldn't say that it was better, but it sure was easy to cut up. I do want to try some different aging methods once I have my own walkin though. I'm particularly interested in butter aging cuts of the back straps, rounds, etc.
JV842
Well-known member
when we would age beef at my uncles meat locker, it was w primal portions/halves/n quarters and a considerable amount of fat. U would have to trim the fat that got “moldy” but would only loose a minimal portion of meat where the initial cuts were made and the meat was exposed. If I were to age wild game I would take care skinning, leave as much fat as possible, and leave the animal in large portions as to minimize lost meat.
About 3 months. Had a few deer freeze solid in late November & it was February when I finally thawed them out & cut them up.
Other than that, 10 days is the longest I've gone. If I had a cooler or fridge I could control temps in better, I'd go 2 weeks to 3 weeks. Hoping to do some aging on birds this year, but that means I have to stop missing them.
Other than that, 10 days is the longest I've gone. If I had a cooler or fridge I could control temps in better, I'd go 2 weeks to 3 weeks. Hoping to do some aging on birds this year, but that means I have to stop missing them.
The longest I ever aged an animal was four days. the only reason I left it that long was because I shot the elk on the first day of a three day hunt and had to wait for my partner to try an fill his tag. the shortest time was a doe I shot at 7AM and had it all cut, wrapped and in the freezer by 9 PM. Most of my hunting is done in temperatures from 75 to 105 degrees so I just want to get the meat in the freezer as quick as possible. I have never had bad tasting meat that wasn't aged but I have been given bad meat that was aged.
Tikka06
Well-known member
My good friend is a processor and is located about 1 mile from my house. I generally just take them to him, but one year in early bow season I shot a big doe and he was having cooler issues so I skinned and quartered her up to get her into one of his smaller coolers. We let her hang 15 days as an experiment on aging. Had to trim all that crust off and had no discernible improvement on taste or tenderness. If I can hang them with the hide on I don’t mind leaving them that long if necessary but I am indifferent on aging as a whole. All that trimming was just lost meat and twice the effort.
we ate a piece of backstrap last Thursday at camp from a bull I killed Tuesday. (The animal was completely deboned and bagged within three hours time from kill) it was extremely tough and chewy which I didn’t expect. Hoping that a weeks time will change that but not optimistic. Will try more tomm evening. Anyone have any idea why?
archerfish
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Enjoy the thread, when aging, isn't there an important difference in aging meat on and off the bone. Better results will be had on the bone, with the muscle groups origin and insertion attached and stretching the muscle during the process? anyone with more knowledge like to add to that, or shoot me down.
This is correct. When rigor sets in and the muscle is still attached to the bone, it creates shearing and tearing of the connective tissue in the muscle groups. Over time, you also get enzymatic degradation of the connective tissue, which is why extended hanging also promotes tenderness.
