I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post my question, but we normally hang our venison for at least a week before cutting it up and freezing it, to tenderize the meat. DH wants to do some bow-hunting now while the deer aren't as skittish, but it's too warm to hang the deer outside. I'm wondering if we could cut it up, wrap it, and then leave it in the refrigerator for a week to age it. Would that be almost as good as hanging the whole deer, or would we just end up with a lot of tough meat?
Any ideas about that, or any other suggestions? We don't know anyone with a cold storage locker, so that's out.
Aging Venison Before Freezing
My DH debones the meat right away or I should say when he gets home. Then we store it in the fridge for about a week. Then he finishes cleaning and cutting it up. Has worked well for us. We have done it this way for years so I don't know if it makes a difference or not. If the weather is cool enough he does let it hang for a few days or until he has time to get to it.
Down here, "hanging it" without refrigeration is out of the question. We immediately quarter it and ice it down in large ice chests. Periodically draining the melted ice water and adding more ice. This process can be continued for an extended time... not quite the same as aging but it draws out the blood and for those that dislike the taste, it will draw out the wild taste. I like this method as it allows us to process the venison at our own pace.
I know why beef is aged but have never heard of venison being handled in that manner.
I think everyone hangs deer around here, but sometimes they have access to cold storage, or they have it done by a butcher who ages it first in his locker.
We could quarter it and stick it in the refrigerator (we have a large empty one in the basement) but it would be a mess if we didn't skin it first, and if we did the meat would dry out. That's why I was thinking about deboning it and packaging it in our usual way and then chilling it for a week. We have always aged our deer meat by hanging it, and no matter how old the critter is it's really tender and delicious that way. Our steaks are wonderful cooked quickly in a cast iron frying pan with mushrooms and a bit of butter or olive oil. I have never noticed a wild taste; to me it's very much like grass-fed beef. On the other hand we love lamb, so maybe we're less fussy about non-standard flavors.
We have a friend who's a retired veterinarian and who taught us how to debone a deer and cut it up in muscle groups. The last deer we helped him with was left hanging too long in weather that got too mild, so there was mold on the ribs where the bullet entered or exited. He just didn't use that part. He's pretty cavalier about the whole thing, though, having been raised on a farm in Virginia. The deer tasted fine when we cooked it.