Aging Deer Meat In A Refrigerator
Unfortunately if you have used the refrigerator for other things your meat may be subject.
Aging deer meat in a refrigerator. Deer burgers or venison burgers. If your meat is stored above 40 degrees it will start to rot but if it is frozen at temperatures below 28 degrees it can become freezer burned. I can t think why having the deer boned still would prevent it from aging properly. The aging process in this method doesn t happen until you remove the meat from the freezer.
For those who do not live in cold temperatures of 40 degrees f hang your deer in a spare refrigerator for a couple of weeks to give the meat time to tenderize for a delicious cut of venison. Many people let the deer hang in their garage but this far from the proper conditions because of contaminants pests and temperature fluctuations that come with an uncontrolled environment such as this. The first object is to rig a rack system near the top of the fridge chamber on which the meat will hang. The deer meat should be aged at a constant temperature between 38 and 40 degrees.
In this video we age venison at home in the refrigerator but you can apply this method to beef as w. Younger deer will be fine with 7 days. If you ever plan on curing whole hams this rack may need to support fairly heavy weights 25 30 pounds per ham for a large one if you re just curing sausages it may not need to be as strong. I think aging it in the fridge would do the same thing as hanging it to age.
Newly killed deer must be aged in the refrigerator before being butchered to produce tender meat. During the first 24 hours of death the deer goes through rigor mortis which causes the muscles to stiffen. Learn how to age meat in a refrigerator in todays video. Essentially you want to remove all the racks inside and just hang the meat in there.
In these situations having access to a. The more surfaces it touches the more likely other bacteria can latch onto the meat. A young doe might need to age for only three to five days while a large older buck might need to age for eight to ten days. Butchering while these muscles contract will result in tough meat.
When you re ready to eat some venison remove it from the freezer let it thaw and sit in the refrigerator for 7 14 days depending on the age of the deer the older the deer the longer aging time. Refrigerator aging if you have an extra fridge or a particularly understanding spouse dry aging via the refrigerator is another valid option. After aging use the venison as you normally would. An optimal temperature to hang deer meat at should be temperature above freezing but below 40 degrees f.