Deer Meat

[Brian Gillispie]

Hey all,


     This will be the first season that I try to convince my wife and kids to munch down on some prime bambi flesh.

I have some basic questions about deer meat.  After a fashion I dont think I am asking for recipies.  I am more interested in how to prep deer meat for cooking.

Often I am told by folks that "they know how to prepare deer so its not "Gamey".  What is this method?  Are there many different methods?

What is being done to the meat to remove this taste.

Is the method of harvesting the deer have a impact on the quality of the meat?  Does an arrow and exsanguination produce better meat then a bullet and hydrostatic shock?

I live in North Carolina.  I aint gonna be hanging any meat out in the barn or such cause its Way to hot.  I also dont have access to a walk in cooler or freezer so I cant age the meat. Where does this leave me??

Let me know what all of you think.  Very intersted in this.


Brian Gillispie

[waiting4fall]

Hope this helps  
  Here\\'s a bunch of info

[Stone Knife]

You have the right idea not to hang it, i get mine cut up as soon as i can. Whether you do the cutting yourself or have it done, make sure it's deboned. Rinse off the meat before you prepare it, make sure there is no fat or tallow left on the meat before you cook it, that stuff is what gives it the funny taste. I brought my kids up on deer and they think beef tastes funny    I guess it's a matter of what a person is use to.

[BigRonHuntAlot]

1st step is to gut it and and get it cooled down, making sure the cavity is clean from debris.

2nd step is to get it skinned, quartered and iced down. I let mine soak in ice water to cool and draw off some blood before I pack it for the freezer. A vacuum sealer is the best for short and long term storage of the meat.

 The condition of the animal before the kill will have alot to do with how the meat tastes and the texture of it. Also the deer's diet plays a big role. Deer that have  been run hard by dogs and shot usually are tough and gamey due to the build up of lactic acid. There are many variables as to how venison can taste but these are some of the more important ones in my opiniom.

[Stone Knife]

Ron good thought on the storage, all mine is double wrapped, first in plastic wrap then freezer paper, this keeps it from freezer burn.

[Tom]

Ron beat me to it-I do the same.  One thing I'd recommend is to cook it medium rare, if you handled it right there won't be a gamey taste, just the taste as it is intended.
 My girls also prefer deer over beef anythime.

[BigRonHuntAlot]

  I have had Excellent Luck with the Vacuum Sealer and older cuts of meat. Most of the time the venison doesnt have a chance to get too old. LOL  Occasionally I will find a pack that is pushing 2 years and it is still good with no freezer burn.

[kevin braun]

Brian,

I don't think that the method of harvest makes much impact on the quality of meat.  The main things are what they are eating, how you care for it and how you prepare it.

first and foremost is keep it clean and cool it down properly.  I am also from an area where hanging is sometimes NOT AN OPTION.  We can have 70 degree plus days into Nov.

I take the following steps to insure clean, tender, and tasty venison.

1.  Field dress asap (to start the cooling process)
2.  Put a few bags of ice inside the body cavity before you head out to show off your trophy.  I like to get it started cooling this way for a couple of hours before skinning.
3.  hang up and skin the deer to keep everything CLEAN.
4.  put two or three bags of ice in the bottom of a 60-100 quart cooler(unopened)
5.  filet out the inside tenderloins and put in a cold bath of fresh water. (for your next meal)
6.  Quarter deer, seperate front shoulders, backstraps, hind quarters, neck/stewcuts into cooler.
7.  Add a couple bags of ice to the top of meat in cooler.
8.  Let meat cool out for at least 48 hours, checking a few times a day to make sure it is staying cool.  You will need to drain and replenish the ice a few times.  cooling slowly over a couple days will help to make the meat more tender.  Slicing steaks imediately will make for some tough steaks.
9.  season and prepare anyway you like.  I would suggest not to overcook, this sometimes adds to the "gamey" taste that some people complain about.

Last year I took a nice 8 pointer and cooled it out in a 60 quart cooler this way and it was very mild and tender.

good luck,
hope you get to try it out.

Kevin

[OconeeDan]

Everyone is right on the money.  But stone knife nailed it first and foremost...
trim off anything white or silver BEFORE cooking.
Beef fat-good; Deer fat-bad.

[madness522]

I have an old frig in the garage that a neighbor gave me that I hang the quarters in for a few days before procesing.  This has made a noticable difference in the way it tastes.

[the Ferret]

Here in Ohio they almost force bad tasting deer meat on us. Deer must be checked in whole (they can be field dressed). So in the early part of the season when it's 80 out, and it's still thick and green, you shoot a deer, have to find it which can be difficut because it's still so thick vegetation wise),tag it, field dress it, drag it to your vehicle and drive it to the nearest check station which may be an hour away, there's only a couple per county, check it in, drive it back home or to a meat processor. You may shoot a deer at 7:30 in the morning and not get it home to skin or to the processor with a walk in cooler until noon or so.And it's worse if you shoot one in the last few minutes of daylight and can't find it until the next morning. Doesn't get cold enough to keep the meat good around here at night until mid to late November. Standard procedure is to pack em with ice bags for transport, but that's not ideal.

It's best to get the skins off ASAP. Within an hour of being shot if possible. The skin is a highly efficient insulator (keeps the deer warm in sub zero weather..so much so that the snow doesn't even melt on the deer, it piles up) therefore holds the heat in and heat taints the meat.

I've had butchers tell me to never put water on meat unless you immediately wipe it off or just before cooking. My brother washes out his body cavity after field dressing and uses paper towels to wipe it dry. I don't use water unless I've made a boo boo in field dressing and NEED to clean it off.

[Tom Leemans]

Luckily here in IL, we can call it in now, instead of taking it to a check station. That helps. I've actually hung my deer up for a few days to cool out. Of course, if the weather is warm, that all changes. If it's cool enough out, I blow a fan on the body cavity, which is propped wide open. I don't use water either, unless I have to. If I do, I butcher it ASAP.

I've also done the "soak it in milk before you cook it" thing before. Don't know how much it helped but it didn't hurt. Dan is right though. Remove the silver and white stuff before cooking, or grinding for that matter. If you grind your own, here's my deer burger recipe: Call your local butcher and have him save you some 30% lean beef trimmings,(basically the stuff they trim off) keeping in mind that you'll be mixing 2 parts deer to 1 part trimmings. Usually, 20# is plenty for a good sized deer. Specify NO SUET OR TALLOW! We want flavor, not greasy taste.

Grind your lean deer meet and set aside (keep it all cold) Grind your trimmings. Now we just roll portions into softball size balls to measure. Grind together 2 parts deer to 1 part trimmings. Helps to have 2 or more people doing this. You burger will taste good and there will be next to no grease to drain after cooking it! Put all your grinder parts and greasy stuff in water too hot to touch with some dawn dish soap to clean them, and wear rubber gloves to handle them in the hot water. I like to run everything through a rinse of bleach water before the final rinse.

[guzzi2000]

I've heard the same thing as Ferret stated about not using water. Supposedly promotes bacteria growth.
Ferret you coming to Wisconsin again this year? It froze last night and as I post this it is 36 degrees. Might give you a couple of hours more to retrieve your giant Wisconsin buck. LOL.

[John Scifres]

Washing a deer out right before butchering will not hurt a thing.  Keep the meat covered with the skin.  Don't wash it after skinning.

The easiest way to get bad tasting meat is to field dress it sloppily.  Expose as little meat as possible to the air.  Some field dressing methods encourage cutting the skin between the legs.  I disagree.  

Keep the innards inside the body cavity and the meat covered with skin until you wash the deer out and the nasty stuff can't get to the meat, tenderloins excepted.

I age cuts of meat in the fridge for up to 10 days before cooking.

2 ways of cooking venison:

High heat and rare or
Low heat, moisture and time.

[geno]

Brian,

Here is a little different take. In the last 25yr I have taken two deer to the buther. One was last yr that is now in my avatar. You wait a little longer than you would like and pay more than you would like but it comes back ground, wraped and ready to eat. Hung at 34 degre. If it is to hot to hang when you get one an about 75bucks here, that might be an option. if you do take one, cut out the inside loin before you do. Chill it and have it for breakfast the next day.I butchered 4 last yr and didn't miss the work on the 5th. Good luck

[ishiwannabe]

Lots of good info on this thread so far. I happen to hang my deer for atleast three days, and have had em hang for 3 weeks(frozen solid, late december smokepole buck). I think either way is a personal preference, much like hanging by the head or back legs.
Take off all tendons, fat, veins, etc. It makes a world of differece.
My most important tip... use a different knife for each step of the skinning/quatering/boning process. Deer have a large number of scent glands/ducts....your blade will hit some of them through each process, and will need thorough cleaning or replacement.

[John McCreary]

Do you have access to an old yet working refrigerator? I've used them with the temp set at apx 37 degree, keep a themostat in the fridge to monitor the temp, and age the meet up to ten days. I would skin, quarter and roughly bone out the meat then place on the racks in the fridge. Don't stack the meat if possible allowing the cold air to evenly disipate through out the meat.
My Dad was an old school meat cutter. He claimed most poor quaility venison was from improper handling before the buthcher got the deer. Improper field dressing, leaving the deer in the open in the sun { such as the back of your pick-up}and leaving the hide on more than a few hours.

[vermonster13]

Call it venison instead of "prime bambi" and they may find it easier to swallow.    

[Doc Nock]

AS always, it's so neat to come here and see so many different tried and true methods. Some are counter what I've learned, but then I think I tend to do something once with bad results and the 2nd time,if it's the same negative outcome, I refuse to try a third time.

I shot one ole rutty buck and it turned warm and rainy. I couldn't hang deer to skin, dogs were everywhere...so best I could do was hang high in a tree till we left. The shot creased the paunch so I washed with baking soda and dried interior... but it never got fully cooled quicly with hide on, the guy who brought it back had his truck break down...and on the story goes... and that was the rankest deer I ever ate... and he stank from the rut. And yes, I did use different knives for various tasks including removing hock glands.

Over the last years, I shot several yearling does that should have been fork tender, but weren't. I shot them late and retrieved them immediately. Days got warm, cooler at night.  I got em home fast...skinned, cleaned up and hung overnight and butchered and vacuum packed and frozen the next day as it was warming up some.  Those several young deer were boot-tough no matter how I cooked them!

SINCE then, I've read that if rigormortis is in the meat when you cut and freeze, it will be tough on the plate. That sure supports my personal experiences.

I always try to hang and cure for 3 days. I first skin as fast as possible and trim off fat and any blood shot meat from arrow wounds where the deer ran and shoved blood up between meat layers.

I've skinned in the field deer hanging from a tree, then put whole deer into a cheese cloth "body bag" to keep meat clean till I got it home to a cooler.

I won't cut up (deboniing is all I do)any deer now till it's aged at least 48-72 hrs. I too have 1/4rd them and used my regular refridgerator to store... took all the food out and put in a 5day cooler to age my 2 deer. (the look on my buddy's face when he went to my fridge for a beer was priceless)      

I've also used the "cooler" method with ice, but prefer to skin, quarter and keep the ice away from the meat. Just me.

Ferret, MD is like OH in "skin must remain attached". couple years back I called cause they start mid-Sept and as a PA boy, I worried about cooling the meat!

The DNR rep told me, "...it says "hide must remain attached... You can skin up to the neck, wrap hide in a baggie to contain ticks, dirt, etc, but LEAVE IT ATTACHED to body and you're fine at any check station."

I never got to test that since I didn't get a deer in MD, but I dang sure had that wildlife officer's name and number in my poke in case someone questioned me.  Is there ANY chance OH would allow something like that?

Neat ideas here guys... good to see how others do stuff.  

[the Ferret]

well that's interesting Dave and I fail to see how they could give you any grief over that.Good plan. Geez that is twice this year that someone mentioned something so common sense that nobody ever thought of it.

(The other was storing Tru-Oil upside down so the hard skin is on the bottom of the bottle)Doh!
LOL

Guzzi....yep be up there the week of Oct 20-27th I believe.