Wet aging game meat

[chorizo]

I am posting this here as it seems the most appropriate place to get the most circulation among people who will be harvesting game.

I have been processing meat, (lamb, beef, pig) both on the ranch and working in packing houses. I have also processed game meat, mostly my own, for over 50 years. We used to "dry age" our meat in walk-ins, but having moved out of the livestock business, I no longer had a walk-in available to me. Used to keep a spare fridge for it, but again, really not big enough for a good size deer and definitely not an elk. Commercially about 8-10 years ago "cry" packs (short for cryogenic) for large cuts of meat came onto the market. A few years back, "wet aging" came into vogue with the ready availability of consumer vacuum sealers.

I have been using it for several years and as long as you keep your meat clean and debris free, it works extremely well. On my latest elk kill, I packaged my meat and made lots of steaks out of the hind quarters and they now have 18 days of wet aging on them. I cooked one at 9 days and another today (18 days) and the difference in tenderness is notable.

It still requires a spare fridge maintained at ideally 34-36 degrees.

I will freeze the loin roasts and steaks at 21 days as they are inherently more tender by nature, let the hindquarter steaks go to 25 days then freeze them.

Here is the process as described by the "Meateater" bunch.

How to Wet Age Meat | MeatEater Wild Foods
How to Wet Age Meat

 

[Rifleman1776]

That looks s-o-o-o-o-o delicious. I want some.

 

[nhmoose]

Personally, I would make a walk-in cooler to age the meat or find someone with one.

 

[chorizo]

Personally, I would make a walk-in cooler to age the meat or find someone with one.

Sure, if you got the space and do more than one elk/deer per year. Finding someone with one is not easy. But if you think that is really a viable option and have ACTUALLY succeeded, then have at it. Personally, if find it much easier to say that than to do it.

 

[nhmoose]

Yep, did that, my local store had a big cooler that held many game bodies to age. Now a neighbor has one for his crop of animals and also chills and ages game. I will do that until it is unavailable, then will make my own as game is around 10% of what I process.

 

[chorizo]

Yep, did that, my local store had a big cooler that held many game bodies to age. Now a neighbor has one for his crop of animals and also chills and ages game. I will do that until it is unavailable, then will make my own as game is around 10% of what I process.

Illegal to store game and meat processed for retail/sale together. USDA requires you use separate lockers. The game processors here will only keep your meat in the locker for 7 days as they want turn over. You might have that luxury in NH, but not in Idaho.

Wet aging is a very viable and simple solution that can use a standard refrigerator for the aging process in your own home. Anybody can do it without having to beg, pay for space or build a costly and space consuming walk-in.

Quite frankly, few people have the luxury that you write about. Obviously, your mileage varies.

 

[nhmoose]

Where I live Fed manure means nothing

Mine varies from yours for Shure. 40 plus years has not changed old NH much at all.

 

[chorizo]

Where I live Fed Cranberries means nothing

Right up until your local grocer, who is barely making it, has an inspector walk in and shut him down and condemn every bit of meat he has in his locker. Then the Fed Cranberries will have you by the NH hickory nuts

 

[nhmoose]

Must suck to live in Idaho

 

[chorizo]

Must suck to live in Idaho

Sucks to live where ever there is a large Federal presence. Hunting and game processing are huge industries here as is commercial meat processing with numerous packing plants and commercial meat processors...lots of activity brings lots of attention.

 

[nhmoose]

Have to agree there but not in my area as all there is is hobby farms.
,
Make your own it is not as bad as you think.

 

[chorizo]

Oh, if you read my post, you will understand I was in the meat business from a long time ago. I have had them and I simply do not have the space for it. Additionally, why should I, when this works equally well, at a fraction of the cost and space.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Chorizo,
Do you cut your meat into individual steaks before you vacuum pack it? I've always left it in large enough chunks to be sliced into steaks later. It lessons the amount of "brown meat" on the outside that can give the off flavor of old meat. I also wrap it in plastic wrap before freezing. I've never tried the wet aging but will give it a try if I bag a deer this year. I do miss that Alaskan moose meat after moving full time to Arizona! I did vacuum pack one moose and it didn't seem to keep any better than plastic wrapped then wrapped in meat paper. Both were good after 2 years which is how long a moose would keep us in meat. Also, have you tried aging the meat after it's been frozen and then taken out of the freezer?
Of course I had to write this before looking a the link you posted.

 

[chorizo]

Vac pack is the only way to wet age as it gets the air out so the meat doesn't brown.

I have aged it after it was frozen, but there is much more moisture loss as freezing breaks down cell structure unless you have a way to flash freeze it. By going to the fridge, it also gives you time to identify those packages that may not have sealed properly and start to leak, which would allow air to get in and subsequently freezer burn the meat. Simply drain off the fluid and re seal.

I break it down to individual steaks except for most of my loins, that I cut into 4 person meals. I like to cook them whole, then slice and serve loins. Hind quarter steaks are individually packaged. Cut them up and package them as you desire as it doesn't affect the aging. Do let them sit in a cooler for 3-4 days to "drain out" moisture, then cut it up. Typically I do that in camp with several large ice coolers and ice pack them.

This is day 19....loins will be frozen at 21, the steaks at 25. Hamburger was ground, packaged and frozen day 5.




This is my elk. Deer already cut up and packaged and frozen as she was a young thing and didn't need much aging. Family and friends have already skimmed some of my aging elk meat, so that is about 80% of the steak yield in the fridge....mostly leg steaks is what they took in individual packages....I would say each steak is about 10-12 oz. Between the deer and the elk, I will have a completely full 20 cube freezer of game.

 

[chorizo]

But it is well worth the effort.

Deer loin tip with wild pig chorizo in the beans and wild pig Italian sausage in the pasta

 

[Hermit Tim]

Looks like a good option to me. Hadn't heard of it before but, with the information and pictures you provided, and reading the link you posted, I'm willing to give it a go. Thanks for the info.

 

[Hermit Tim]

But it is well worth the effort.

Deer loin tip with wild pig chorizo in the beans and wild pig Italian sausage in the pasta

View attachment 166774

Throw some scrambled duck eggs and hot sauce on there and it would be a fantastic breakfast.

 

[jefair1]

There is a compay called Koolabuck that has portable coolers, one of which will hold 4 deer. A bit pricy for me but its a solution.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I wet aged a monster buck for 10 days in a huge ice chest last year, I filled the ice chest with water and Ice and drained the bloody water out every day for the first 4 days then packed the deer in ice for the next 6 days. When I cooked the aged meat later, I couldn't tell if it was a buck or doe.

A friend brought me this deer when I came up short for the season, he was big guy.

My ice chest is 150 qt and will hold two normal deer or one monster. I bought ice the first day, it took 10 bags. I froze ice in plastic cereal containers from then on, I had 20# of ice every day from then on. The weather was cold, I kept the cooler outside and had to add very little ice to it after the initial cool down of the carcass.

 

[chorizo]

That is how I start to age, so the blood will drain, however, that is not wet aging. Wet aging is the long term process of aging meat in the absence of oxygen. The process you described is more like typical aging but without the benefit of the dry cap layer, as it is saturated in water and the meat will start to get slimy and the outer edges will start to rot not long after the 7-9 day mark as it has exposure to oxygen and the water is an oxygen carrier, and will also start to form bacteria with the blood mixed in it. You can delay that some by changing the water daily, but only by a day or two.

Also, aging typically does not change the flavor much, rather makes the meat more tender by breaking down connective tissue, but the draining of the blood (as what you did) does soften the flavor quite a bit. The article provided even states such.

Wet aging is an anaerobic process that allows the internal enzymes time to break down the muscle tissue without the rot associated with oxygen.

Dry aging accomplishes this by forming a dry "cap" or layer on the meat or even better over the fat layer. Many areas on the east coast do this with white tail does with the hide on and it works well.

With all that said, what you are doing works as 7 days usually is the minimum for aging as it allows the muscles to go into and out of rigor mortis (about 4-5 days) and to start the internal aging process. 21 days is kind of a magic number (for both dry and wet aging), in the business we used it for the stock we butchered and I have found it about right for wet aging deer and elk. I am going to shove out the leg steaks on this elk to 25 days, just to see what I get in additional benefits.

But what you are doing is the point of this thread, you use what you got to get the optimum out of your harvest.

The process I lay out allows you to get finely aged and tender meat without loss to the drying process, having to have an expensive and space eating walk-in (important for those on budgets and urban areas) or surrendering to the game processors time table and costs.

Use what you got.....I simply offer this as a safe, inexpensive and viable alternative to get the most out of your game harvests.