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Lessons in Butchering Venison

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Dry-aging venison in old refrigerator.

We hung a grizzled old deer in camp this year who was in less than ideal condition, meat-wise. He was sort of randy smelling in general – just all rutted up and glandular. That a shot hit him low in the body cavity didn’t help the odor, nor did 10 hours of dragging him in too-warm-for-deer-season heat, or the 22 hours it took before we could get the meat in the refrigerator.

If 20-year-old me had seen and smelled the deer as we butchering him, I would have been sure that he was going to be tough on account of his age, and gamey tasting on account of the heat. But 40-year-old me has learned a few things about putting up venison that I’ll share for those of you who might be new to hunting or butchering. I’m no expert, but I have been tinkering with this sort of thing for two decades now. If you have your own experiences to share, or if you see any flaws in what I’m about to write, by all means add to the story in the comment section below. The more collective wisdom we have, the better the document becomes.

So. Step one of knowing how to break the rules with your venison is knowing what the rules are to begin with. In a perfect world, you’d kill a deer when it’s between 35 and 40 degrees out, process in a sterile environment, hang the carcass in a place with a steady 38 degree temperature and a relative humidity of 75 percent for two or three weeks, then make your cuts and enjoy.

You’ve probably never seen such consistent weather, and you probably don’t own a meat locker, so the goal is just conform to this as closely as you can. Meat taints from the guts out, so remove the entrails immediately. If it’s a warm day, cut out the trachea and the hemal nodes (those little dots around the trachea), too, as they can spoil the neck meat. Get the deer as open as possible so the body heat can dissipate.

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A roast that’s 10 days old. Note how surface discoloration has only penetrated about ¼ of an inch.

Barring freak heat, you shouldn’t have much to worry about on the first day in northern New England, since it takes a while for the animal heat to leave the body, and by then it’s usually nighttime and conditions are appropriately cool. It’s the sun and warmth of the next day that you have to watch out for. If it’s above 40 degrees, ice the deer if you can’t process it immediately, and get to it as fast as you can. Don’t be stupid and drive around with the buck needlessly in the back of your truck, but don’t be scared if it’s warmish and it takes you a day or two – the carcass can take more than you think. (I should add a disclaimer here that bears are much different than deer on account of all their winter fat. A bear carcass can handle less time and temperature, and should be treated like a hog – the hide and fat should be removed as soon as possible, and the meat processed quickly. Aging a bear like a beef or like venison is not advised.)

Once the deer is home, skin it and make your primary cuts. The dangerous bacteria in the animal is in the body cavity with the guts and the feces, so I use one knife for skinning and cavity work and a separate knife for cutting meat. If there’s any question, I wash the blade. I bone out most of my venison, leaving only the neck, ribs, and shanks bone-in. Where there is bone, I chime the ends. I’ve used Seventh Generation multi-purpose cleaner as a disinfectant on all processing surfaces for the last few years and have never had a problem getting sick. I used to use a bleach solution and that worked, too, but I like the idea of a plant-based disinfectant for food surfaces and the reviews of the Seventh Generation product checked out.

The next step is deciding if you want to wet-age or dry-age the meat. Either will improve the quality of any venison, but the trick is especially important with tough, old deer. Both methods work as a means of tenderizing, though dry-aging has a more pronounced effect on the meat’s flavor. It’s a little trickier/riskier, but to my palette it’s worth it.

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Wet-aging shrink-wrapped meat won’t change the meat’s flavor as dramatically as dry-aging, but it will help tenderize the cuts.

To wet-age, simply proceed with cutting the meat up. Vacuum seal your packages, then put them in the refrigerator and keep at around 38 degrees for a few weeks. You can do this before you freeze the meat, or after you take the meat out of the freezer. I’ve only wet-aged in vacuum-sealed packages, so I can’t vouch for any other method. I personally would only age meat that has been vacuum-sealed, but this is based on intuition, not fact. Because we’re an educational outfit I should throw in here that the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service states that raw venison should be kept in the refrigerator for no more than three to five days, so if you’re the type who craves rules, there’s one. On the flip side, there’s a long culinary tradition that stretches back thousands of years related to aged meat – in nineteenth-century Europe, it was all the rage among gastronomes to let beef literally rot on the outside before it was eaten – so there you have your two extremes.

To dry-age, I use an old refrigerator that I keep on hand for the task. I plug it in, disinfect it, get it to temperature, then add the primary cuts. The venison pictured in the opening shot is 14 days old. Note the fan; it’s there on advice from a professional butcher. The circulating air helps form that nice burgundy-colored crust, which seems to limit mold. Note, too, how I’m just using racks. (That ham on the bottom right is propped up on a small plate to get it off the crisper tray.) This works, but is not ideal. I think next year I’m going to try drilling holes and adding a rod through the sides of the refrigerator; if I reinforce the rod on the outside with vertical bracing that holds the weight, I think I’ll be able to hang the meat and get better air flow. If you have any experience with this please share.

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14-day-old loins and shoulder. Note deep burgundy crust.

Temperature and air-flow seem key. In my years of experimenting with this sort of thing my biggest mistakes have all involved leaving meat on meat. Once, I left two bacons stacked on top of each other, and in just one night’s time had the fat go green and rancid. Aged rib sections stacked bone on bone – same problem. I tried aging a bowl of stew meat once, and it soon had mold and discoloration and a bad odor. The lesson I took from this is that you want to age the meat as big primary cuts, and you want air circulation.

The other trick is learning to use your nose and eyes. Taint will smell like taint – a rotten odor. Aged meat smells, but it’s more like an earthy cheese smell. The meat changes color, but it’s all on the red or purple color spectrum, not brown or gray – which indicates rot. The crust on aged meat smells a little like jerky. Sometimes white whispy mold does form, but I’ve never had a problem just brushing or cutting it off. I wouldn’t encourage the mold – it probably means you’re playing with the edge – but I wouldn’t fear it in moderation. A primary cut is dense like cheese, so below the surface things are usually fine. Plus, when you cook the meat, any surface funk will be killed.

So why do all this? Flavor and tenderness. When an animal dies, the control systems in its cells stop functioning, and enzymes begin attacking and turning flavorless molecules into smaller, flavorful fragments. They break proteins into delicious amino acids, glycogen into sweet glucose, adenosine triphosphate into savory inosine monophosphate. The meat takes on a concentrated, almost nutty flavor. At the same time, the enzymes are weakening the collagen in the connective tissue, which causes it to dissolve into gelatin during cooking, thus making the meat more tender; it also reduces the squeezing pressure that the connective tissue exerts during heating, which means the meat loses less moisture during cooking. All of this smart-sounding food science stuff was cribbed from Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking.

As you butcher the aged meat, the tenderness will be obvious. The meat will be slumping away from the bone. You’ll be able to hand-pull the fat and membrane off the bottom of the backstraps. You’ll be able to run muscly leg meat through your weak meat grinder and not have the blade bind up every two minutes with connective tissue.

Fourteen days was long enough for this old buck’s backstraps – the crust on the meat was starting to get hard. We butterflied one and layered high-end prosciutto, and fresh basil, and crumbly cheddar and parmesan onto one half, then closed the meat like a book. Tied it up with twine. Grilled to medium rare over hardwood coals. Let the meat rest for ten minutes or so before cutting in to it. Italian-style medallions of meat on a plate, now, next to squash and sweet corn from last summer’s garden. Pride and a sense of ownership of most of what’s on the table. Prayers of thanks, and hunting stories about the noble animals we pursue. These are moments when everything seems right with the world.

Discussion *

Jul 08, 2020

Great information. I have dry aged my venison in a fridge for many years but never with a fan. I think I am going to put a fan in my fridge this year. I do usually get the burgundy color but not as evenly as what you show here.

Ken McBroom
Dec 03, 2019

Hi Ryan,

My advice would be to not do anything. Feel good that you have frozen venison in the freezer. And if you want to experiment with aging, do it next year with next year’s deer.

Dave mance
Nov 26, 2019

Dropped my in full rut buck skinned and quartered deer off Sunday night, harvested Sunday morning. I got a call today that my order was ready. I have never gotten it back in 2 days, usually a week. When I asked the processor, so we didn’t age it all, they said if it’s a whole deer we do, if it comes in a cooler we don’t. So my meat is now Frozen and packaged in butcher paper and wrapped in cling wrap. Should I unpackage it all way then put it in my spare fridge a week, then vacuum seal it all. Take just the cling wrap off and vacuum seal it, with the butcher paper. Is your recommendation to vacuum seal to suck as much of the blood out, or to keep sterile.

Ryan
Nov 06, 2018

Mike, if your fridge is cold it’s likely fine. Pour off the blood, seal, and freeze. You would have been better off vacuum sealing right away—that’s what I’d do in the future.

Dave mance
Nov 06, 2018

I’m leaving my venison in the frig for 5 days or until I get the CWD results back. Just put in baggies not vacuum-sealed. Do I need to rinse the blood out building up in the bags? Will the meat be OK?

Mike
Oct 16, 2018

Hi Mark,

The answer to your question is yes, at least according to my taste buds. If I can’t age a steak or roast before freezing it, I’ll try to remember to take it out a week in advance of when I’ll eat it. Let it thaw in the fridge. Aging it this way won’t affect flavor dramatically, but it will impart tenderness. When I do this the meat is vacuum-sealed; can’t vouch for how the meat holds up in other forms of packaging.

David Mance
Oct 15, 2018

In my younger adult hunting years I did not have the ability to hang and age my venison. After field dressing, but not skinning, it usually rode around in the back of my truck for 2-4 days in temps in the 30s before I took it straight to a processor.  Usually they would cut and package the meat within another day or two.  The meat was usually gamey and dried out easily.  Now that I am older and have the setup I hang my venison for as many days as I can, usually at least 4 to 5 before I bone it.  I recently hung a quarter for 10 days and it was most tender, juicy and delicious venison I have had to date.  But here is my question.  If I cut and freeze the meat within a few days do you think it would be beneficial to thaw it out and age it for a few more days before I plan to cook with it?  Thank you!  Terrific article.

Mark Geiss
Jan 20, 2018

Great article. I want to try dry aging some venison next season- this was the first season my husband started hunting again after a few year hiatus. I think we’ll both hunt next year and my biggest goal is always to honor the meat the best it can be… my honey got his last deer of the season yesterday. He completely de-boned and processed same day and I spent the evening making a bone broth- today I made dumplings with veggies and the bits of meat that cooked down off the bone and some of the marrow. Soooo soul warming! ...next year, dry aging!

Myra Douglass
Dec 01, 2017

After retiring from the Army after 34 years, I settled in to find ways to keep myself busy, so I hunt. I have an addiction to dry aged meats. This led me to buy a walk in cooler. I hunt in Texas and Oklahoma and Alabama . With generous bag limits. 4 in Texas and 6 in Oklahoma and Alabama. I limited out this year now. 16 deer. Where I differ from many is careful shot placement. I wait for a neck or head shot to save meat quality. I hang the tenderloin rib sections and hind quarters in my cooler to age up to a month. The rest goes into smoked sausage. The money spent on the cooler is worth every penny. It allows consistent temperature and humidity control with constant air circulation resulting in a finished product that is second to none.

Travis Bishop
Nov 20, 2017

Hi Graham,

The fridge should be fine in the workshop. I keep both fridge and freezer in an unheated garage and have never had a problem.

Dave Mance
Nov 17, 2017

In anticipation of using a frig to execute the dry aging process, I recently moved an extra fridge (we redid our kitchen) into my detached and unheated workshop. I even bought a small fan. 

My question is, will freezing temperatures ruin the fridge, esp., if it’s not running?

I wasn’t planning on turning it on until I had a deer hanging?

Graham Lamb
Nov 30, 2016

The short answer is no, Todd. I usually trim up any meat on the hams that was exposed to the body cavity and has globs of fat or clotted blood or anything else that looks unappealing to eat on it. But otherwise i don’t worry about the exterior. As you cut the meat the darker exterior portion will be relegated to the outer edge of your finished cuts, and so will be exposed to direct heat as you cook it. Any surface funk will be killed in the cooking process.

Dave
Nov 29, 2016

Thanks for the great information. I have been aging some venison in my garage fridge for about 7 days. I went to check on it yesterday and noticed the darker jerky-like appearance that you described. I plan on butchering and packaging the meat tomorrow. Do I need to trim that darker exterior off the meat?

Todd Littlejohn
Apr 26, 2016

Loved the article. Rules on meat processing changed drastically for me when I moved out here to Colorado 4 years ago. Deer/elk seasons generally much warmer and you need to skin out and get your animal to a processor pronto. They’ll hang it in cooler for awhile before cutting. Shot my first elk in 2014 and that was an education! Quartered and took straps, tenderloin and flank and neck meat in the field, wrapped in game bags and hiked out 175 lbs. of meat. Never had to gut the animal.

Greg Lowell
Dec 14, 2015

First:  great article, practical and nice tips, e.g. the fan in frig.  We have five decades and can add a tip or two.  Avoid sun, but don’t worry about daytime temps above 40.  Even 50-60, for a few hours won’t be a problem.  We hang the carcass, letting it air dry for a week or more, basically, until it is convenient for us.  Washing the gutted carcass is fine and wise.  With some moderate pressure, we wash off all blood and vestiges of entrails.  Just let it dry.  Butchers wash their USDA meat, so can you.  But be sure the ground is porous or you will be in mud. Hang from the hind quarters, and be sure the neck is fully open, to allow draining. Cut off head and hooves to reduce hair falling off an on to your meat.  If careful, remove hair with a lighter. Smell test is correct.  You will learn to trust it, more than sight.  More later, if time permits.

Bill Shaw

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