Removing game flavor trick

[paddlehead]

I don't really anyone else that does this, but this is the way my family has always done it. On every big game animal we kill we wash the meat with Vinegar water.

Once the skin is off we take a bowl maybe a half gallon?) of warm water and about a cup of vinegar, mix it together and wipe down all the meat with a rag.

After each piece of meat is processed we give it a quick dunk in another bowl of clean vinegar water, and make sure any other hair or debris is removed and then it goes right to the vacuum sealer.

If the animal is particularly strong, I use more vinegar.

We use this process on ALL of our deer elk and antelope. It WORKS! You really can taste the difference. I shot a cow elk and tried a 50/50 of the meat with and without vinegar, and I can tell which one I am eating without looking at the package.

The antelope is simply amazing!! We feet it to people, and they are astonished when we tell them what they ate. Probably my favorite meat.

Vinegar also acts as a tenderizing agent.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

 

[Kevin Root]

I've done something similar with Italian Salad dressing, and also Worcestershire sauce, vinegar in those seasonings too. I don't like to let is sit to many hours in there, just takes on to much vinegar taste for my liking. I kind of like the game flavor a bit too though.

 

[Nick Muche]

Jaccurd Meat tenderizer does wonders, it's cheap, easy to use and I have been really impressed with how well it works.

 

[DWarcher]

IMO proper care in the field is going to trump any process that you bring into play after the fact. A quick kill, good cleaning and then getting the meat cooled down as soon as you possibly can will give you the quality meat that we all love so much!

 

[Stid2677]

Vinegar is a mild acid and will kill bacteria. The Gamey taste most people speak of is blood left in the meat, people are not used to tasting this in commercial meat since it is bled.

Good field care and quickly cooling is very important, but a soak in salt water or buttermilk will also draw out the left over blood and improve flavor. I like buttermilk as it also helps tenderize the meat. If you try it after an overnight soak you will see that the milk will be pink.

 

[ScottP]

Vinegar is a mild acid and will kill bacteria. The Gamey taste most people speak of is blood left in the meat, people are not used to tasting this in commercial meat since it is bled.

Good field care and quickly cooling is very important, but a soak in salt water or buttermilk will also draw out the left over blood and improve flavor. I like buttermilk as it also helps tenderize the meat. If you try it after an overnight soak you will see that the milk will be pink.

^ great advice here. I tried the salt water trick (+ice) for my archery elk when it was near 80F out and I needed to quickly get the meat cold. The ice+salt+water makes a super cooling bath to get the temp of the meat down and also draws out the blood. Three changes of salt+ice in the cooler and it came out nice. Did the same for my antelope with excellent results. The ice water starts red and then gets clearer as you change it out. You do need a ton of ice to do this though. Rinse the meat well with cold water and dry it off before cutting and wrapping.

I've never heard of using vinegar except as a marinade to tenderize.

 

[Stid2677]

Vinegar also works great on fish, we use it to rinse fish, the acid cuts the slime right off. Rinse with fresh water after.

 

[paddlehead]

No question that proper field care is the #1 factor. If my hand touches hair, it doesn't not ever touch the meat. Period. Keep all vegetation, paunch material and hair off. Keep cool. Age if possible.

The vinegar bath is very fast. Like 30 seconds to 2 minutes maybe. My brother in law will go to 10 or 20 minutes sometimes, but I don't like to water log the meat.

 

[Riverwalker]

Hair on the meat is one of the biggest causes.

 

[robby denning]

Best trick I know I learned from this guy
http://www.rokslide.com/easyblog/entry/who-is-wildeats

Aging the meat!

 

[Timberninja]

Vinegar is a mild acid and will kill bacteria. The Gamey taste most people speak of is blood left in the meat, people are not used to tasting this in commercial meat since it is bled.

Good field care and quickly cooling is very important, but a soak in salt water or buttermilk will also draw out the left over blood and improve flavor. I like buttermilk as it also helps tenderize the meat. If you try it after an overnight soak you will see that the milk will be pink.

Completely agree, buttermilk is amazing.

 

[gelton]

Best trick I know I learned from this guy
http://www.rokslide.com/easyblog/entry/who-is-wildeats

Aging the meat!

A friend/client of mine who has a place in CO has a walk in hanging room just for aging meat...I've had some mule deer that we took one year that had some time to age and it worked like a charm. At my place here in TX though we just use buttermilk or regular milk like others have said and let it sit overnight in the fridge.

 

[chindits]

That's weird, I've never thought of elk as gamey. I use to get a side of beef at a time and that grass fed beef that was finished with grain had a stronger taste then elk and it was aged and butchered by a pro. I can't argue about mule deer though and I often wonder how wild horses and coyotes would fair.

 

[idelkslayer]

I find the most important factors to be:

Proper field care and cooling. Get it quartered and the meat hanging ASAP and keep it clean throughout the process.

Cooking internal temperature. It doesn't matter if I am cooking a roast or a steak I check the internal temperature and stop cooking at 155-160 degrees F. Any more and it will lose all moisture and flavor with it.

 

[ORROSS334]

We have used the vinegar bath in the past and we always used the buttermilk soak growing up. We would also add a few dashes of worcestershire sauce and garlic salt and sometime leave it for a few days....some very tender tasty memories for sure Always try to let it hang/age 10 days at least also.

 

[Shrek]

Best trick I know I learned from this guy
http://www.rokslide.com/easyblog/entry/who-is-wildeats

Aging the meat!

This is the absolute top method for getting the very best flavor IMO. I had access to a professional game processor with a walk in aging cooler for a while and the deer I aged were the best I've eaten. If you are going to hang an animal DO NOT use any water while cleaning. After field dressing just use some paper towels to daub up anything left . Don't wipe around in a general fashion. You want as little contaminants spread around as possible. I wet ice age animals now for about 3-5 days or until the drain water is mostly clear of blood. Not the ideal but it works pretty good . I'm going to try a cup of vinegar in the first cooling slush and see if it improves the result.

 

[5MilesBack]

I must be lucky........I've never had gamey meat. Unless I have and like it. I've fed elk, deer, and moose to friends and they just assumed we ate beef.