Ice bath your meat?

[Nomad]

Most beef in the US is actually wet aged, because it's more cost effective and you encounter less shrinkage. Dry aging is reserved for the higher value cuts and specialty/niche markets.

The poster above is correct. Wet aging does not mean you're submerging the meat. Commercially, subprimal cuts are vacuum packed in order to retain moisture... something that obviously doesn't happen when dry aging. At the end of the day, what we're essentially discussing in this thread is wet aging.... Although I also am still not clear if some folks are actually keeping water around the meat on purpose.

 

[Bar]

I'm not either. If the meat is kept in plastic bags and water. How would that be different than just keeping it cold?

 

[Nomad]

I'm not either. If the meat is kept in plastic bags and water. How would that be different than just keeping it cold?

Not really any different at all, which is why I know that submerging boned out meat in a high country creek or stream will work, even though I've never done it.... Unless you're talking about "keeping it cold" by hanging in the open or a walk in cooler. Then we're talking about dry aging and extreme shrinkage and weigh loss... but enhanced flavor/tenderness above and beyond what you'd achieve with wet aging.

FYI... I've never put meat in plastic bags when I ice it down in a cooler. I know some people don't like the color you end up with when meat and ice stay in contact for a while. Doesn't make me any difference.

 

[alexanderg23]

Don't soak it and get the book "Buck, Buck, Moose"

 

[Poser]

That's what I do too, but some in this thread seem to have the meat in the water. Unless I misunderstood?

That seems to be the implication. Meat does not "age" while sitting in water or ice -it simply is being preserved until it begins to rot. Since bacteria thrives in a wet environment, I see no benefit to having wet meat. Freezing meat that is wet seems to reduce the quality of preservation.

 

[Bar]

Not really any different at all, which is why I know that submerging boned out meat in a high country creek or stream will work, even though I've never done it.... Unless you're talking about "keeping it cold" by hanging in the open or a walk in cooler. Then we're talking about dry aging and extreme shrinkage and weigh loss... but enhanced flavor/tenderness above and beyond what you'd achieve with wet aging.

FYI... I've never put meat in plastic bags when I ice it down in a cooler. I know some people don't like the color you end up with when meat and ice stay in contact for a while. Doesn't make me any difference.

I do that a lot, because I hunt the muzzleloader season and even at high altitude it gets hot. Plastic bag in a creek. I always worry about someone or some critter finding it, but that's a chance i'll take to keep it fresh.

I've never considered putting the meat in the water which is why this thread is a mystery to me. I'm just curious about it. No way after all these years will i change doing anything. Way too stubborn for that. Stubborn and old coot go together.

 

[Nomad]

Way too stubborn for that. Stubborn and old coot go together.

You don't say?

Aging is simply "controlled rotting".

 

[Bar]

Not so controlled sometimes.

 

[camping1601]

Never myself but this is common in southern states. Put it in a cooler with ice and drain open and keep adding ice for a week.

 

[Poser]

Never myself but this is common in southern states. Put it in a cooler with ice and drain open and keep adding ice for a week.

Yeah, I've seen that quite a bit. If you try to tell Folks otherwise, they'll give you this spill about how their grandpa did that and that's the way they were taught so it must be right. Thing is, grandpa didn't grow up hunting deer because there were no deer. Grandpa's generation were squirrel hunters who were suddenly confronted with expanding Whitetail populations across the east in the 1970s. They didn't know jack shit about deer meat or what to do with it, they were just improvising. And here we are in 2017 and Folks still dunk their venison in a cooler for a week and swear by it. There were no deer for basically 100 years, but Before that, I betcha Daniel Boone didn't stick his venison in a cooler full of ice for a week.

Rule of thumb: if you wouldn't do it to a side of beef, don't do it to venison (extreme circumstances not withstanding).

 

[sneaky]

It is basically all I do. Meat has always been great.
I haven't listened to the podcast, why do they not recommend it?

Esse quam videri

If you don't keep any eye on the temp of your water/ice concoction you run a great risk of a bacteria breeding ground. Anything over 40 degrees and it's off to the races for bacteria. Hank Shaw knows a helluva lot more than a lot of the posters on here, but he's getting raked over the coals for dispensing sound advice. I have a culinary arts degree myself and they would hang me if they saw me putting any meat in a water bath.

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[Frito]

I'm no authority on how to handle/cure meat, and I feel like everyone should do things they way they prefer to do them. In my case though, I prefer game meat. I like white tail and certain water fowl because of it's gaminess. I don't want my deer to taste like beef or my duck to resemble chicken in any way. I've always thought by leaving the blood in the meat, you preserve the flavor of the species. I have left hogs in the cooler and they became submerged in water and the meat looks gray and nasty....and bloodless when I'm making my final preparations. For deer, muley, white tail or elk I keep it out of water at most costs so that I'm cutting up bright red meat at home. I've often even thrown out meat that has gotten too water logged and gray. All the meat that I've processed has been fantastic to me and the others who have shared it. I've never had antelope, or killed one so no experience there. The only thing that can get annoying from time to time is Sagey mule deer, but it takes a lot to annoy me. I like game, and I like gaminess. Only food poison I've ever got was from cooking shark on a Foreman grill in the Marine barracks when I was 21.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

If you don't keep any eye on the temp of your water/ice concoction you run a great risk of a bacteria breeding ground. Anything over 40 degrees and it's off to the races for bacteria. Hank Shaw knows a helluva lot more than a lot of the posters on here, but he's getting raked over the coals for dispensing sound advice. I have a culinary arts degree myself and they would hang me if they saw me putting any meat in a water bath.

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Can't say I have ever had a problem with temps getting over 40....that's what the ice is for.
Never have had the meat in water either. To each their own I guess.

Esse quam videri

 

[Nomad]

Lighten up Francis

 

[Nomad]

I've always thought by leaving the blood in the meat, you preserve the flavor of the species.

That's a matter of personal opinion but you certainly leave a great medium for bacterial growth when you do that.

 

[Bar]

So, what have we settled here? I'll pick B.........nothing.

 

[Poser]

That's a matter of personal opinion but you certainly leave a great medium for bacterial growth when you do that.

I'd think that this would only be a problem if an unsafe temperature were reached and the pooled blood spoiled first. That would be all about temperature. On that note, bacteria can and does thrive in ice.

That being said, red meat tends to be surprisingly resilient. I worked at a craft butcher shop for awhile and we had the walk in cooler stop working over a holiday. The pork and chicken was spoiled, but the beef, both dry aged (hanging) and wet aged (sub primals in bags with blood) were fine. We couldn't legally sell it, but we ate it ourselves and gave it away to friends. We did toss the ground beef, but didn't have very much of it and it only smelled slightly suspect and probably would have been fine if cooked well done.

So for as much shoddy meat care that goes on in the hunting world, I can't say that I have known anyone who ever got sick from eating venison. I don't think that dunking game meat directly in water will ruin the meat, but I don't think it produces the best quality end result either. I had to store some elk meat in a river once and one of the bags leaked. The venison had a very "fishy" smell as a result. I was able to get rid of that odor by doing my usual dry aging technique (hanging in a fridge with a fan blowing over a bowl of salt water). I'll also add that it was a number of days from kill to butchering and the blood in the coolers had spoiled, but the meat was fine. -the cooler stank pretty bad, but the meat still Smelled fine. This was with the meat separated from the ice with wire racks. Had the meat been directly in the ice, I can only assume that the meat would
Have been sitting in ice/water intermixed with spoiled blood and may not have had the same outcome.

 

[durangobrad]

So, what have we settled here? I'll pick B.........nothing.

I think we did, if you like dry grey meat with little flavor (e.g Donald Trumps well done steak with ketchup) then keep it in a ice water slushy for 1-2 weeks.

If your looking for something a little more flavorful and colorful (e.g Hank Shaw or Steven Rinella) keep it out of water and keep the blood, or if you have the room or means to do it a little dry aging is the way to go.

 

[Grundy53]

I think we did, if you like dry grey meat with little flavor (e.g Donald Trumps well done steak with ketchup) then keep it in a ice water slushy for 1-2 weeks.

If your looking for something a little more flavorful and colorful (e.g Hank Shaw or Steven Rinella) keep it out of water and keep the blood, or if you have the room or means to do it a little dry aging is the way to go.

Agreed

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[Bar]

I think we did, if you like dry grey meat with little flavor (e.g Donald Trumps well done steak with ketchup) then keep it in a ice water slushy for 1-2 weeks.

If your looking for something a little more flavorful and colorful (e.g Hank Shaw or Steven Rinella) keep it out of water and keep the blood, or if you have the room or means to do it a little dry aging is the way to go.

Didn't we already know that?