Freeze first...butcher later

[AK_Skeeter]

I am usually out hunting in September, and typically inherit a few moose quarters from non-residents flying home.
I have them throw the quarters in my freezer. After my Alaska hunting season is done, I take a moose quarter out
on Thursday, it is mostly thawed by Saturday, and I butcher it into roasts, burger, sausage, osso buco cuts that weekend.
Usually one quarter per weekend works well since there is no rush.

I've done the same with November blacktails...by the time I drive home to interior Alaska, the meat bags are frozen
in the back of the truck, they would stay frozen for months there...
and I leave them frozen in the pickup until I have time to butcher them on the weekends..usually taking a bag to thaw on Thurs.

 

[KevinClimbs]

I've also done the freeze, thaw, butcher, re-freeze, re-thaw, cook and eat routine. I have had good success with this as long as when I thaw the meat it is in a place where where the meat can breath and not sit in its own juices. Sitting on a rack in in a refrigerator seems pretty ideal (although it would probably take a month for big moose quarter to thaw all the way at refrigerator temps). I've done this with deer and and the meat I got off of a feral bull I hunted in Hawaii and it worked great.

 

[keller]

Have done it with elk has worked well.and looking to possibly do it with new foundland moose this year.

 

[tt_johnsclist]

Killed deer and froze them quartered before leaving for a trip and butchering the next week when I was home. Also have had many deer freeze solid when hanging and had to wait for them to thaw naturally or brought them into my heated shop. Works just fine.


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[Larry Bartlett]

If the meat has effectively gone through glycolysis before freezing it is good to go this way. If it was frozen before rigor mortis has developed and relaxed (glycolysis period last about 72 hours), then meat might be tough and chewy.

Once you freeze fresh meat, no further tenderizing is possible through lactic acid processes. What you freeze it what you get, so let it relax and age for 4-7 days for best thaw and process results.

 

[AK_Skeeter]

If the meat has effectively gone through glycolysis before freezing it is good to go this way. If it was frozen before rigor mortis has developed and relaxed (glycolysis period last about 72 hours), then meat might be tough and chewy.

Once you freeze fresh meat, no further tenderizing is possible through lactic acid processes. What you freeze it what you get, so let it relax and age for 4-7 days for best thaw and process results.

Excellent point!

.Caribou hunting in March the protocol is to bury in snow to slow the freezing process until after rigor has developed and muscles have relaxed.

 

[Stalker69]

Some we freeze right away, thaw, process , re freeze, and some we age, process , before freezing. No body can tell which is which while eating it. We do it with venison ( deer, elk) wild pig, javelina for years now and no one can tell which is which. I believe the biggest factor is how quickly the animal dies. The longer they “ suffer” the more noticeable it is in the “ quality” of meat, more so taste then toughness.

 

[tdot]

If the meat has effectively gone through glycolysis before freezing it is good to go this way. If it was frozen before rigor mortis has developed and relaxed (glycolysis period last about 72 hours), then meat might be tough and chewy.

Once you freeze fresh meat, no further tenderizing is possible through lactic acid processes. What you freeze it what you get, so let it relax and age for 4-7 days for best thaw and process results.

Thank you for that info!!!!!!

I've processed a bunch of deer and never had one that I wasnt generally happy with. Until this year. I shot a late season buck and it froze while it was hanging that night. It's the chewiest meat I've ever processed myself. Done all sorts of things to try and improve it, nothing worked. I'll bet that is exactly what happened!

 

[Larry Bartlett]

yup, it's called "cold shortening" if you wanna a google that shit

 

[Mosster47]

We downed two cow elk right at dark ages ago, got the hide off of them and packed their cavity with snow and left them overnight. They were frozen solid the next morning and they were so hard to eat. That makes sense now.

In perfect scenarios we had a big standup fridge and would debone everything and age it in there for two weeks before we processed them. I always thought our stuff tasted better than those around us that just hung it for a few days and processed it. It could have been pride too.

 

[pk_]

If the meat has effectively gone through glycolysis before freezing it is good to go this way. If it was frozen before rigor mortis has developed and relaxed (glycolysis period last about 72 hours), then meat might be tough and chewy.

Once you freeze fresh meat, no further tenderizing is possible through lactic acid processes. What you freeze it what you get, so let it relax and age for 4-7 days for best thaw and process results.

This is a great post.
I live in a hot climate. I generally leave my deer meat on ice(drain/ fresh ice each day) for 5-7 days. When finished aging, If I don’t have time to package the way I like, I simply freeze it in freezer bags and usually get to it in a few weeks. I do a lot of back to back weekend trips when we are in the thick of our season and this works out great.

also your tip about the rigor seems spot on. I shot a deer a few weeks ago and ate a backstrap the following day and it was extremely tough. Left the rest of the meat on ice for 4 more days then ate the other backstrap prepared exactly the same way, it was night and day difference.

 

[Stalker69]

We must be really lucky, we have never had an issue weather freezing it the same day, or after a week or more. Done it for 57 years, and my dads done it far longer then that. This year I will take a hind quarter and freeze it right way, and take the other hind quarter and let it age in the frig. a week or so. If I remember I will post the results. We’ve done tons of animals though and can’t say we ever had tough meat.

 

[Stalker69]

This is a great post.
I live in a hot climate. I generally leave my deer meat on ice(drain/ fresh ice each day) for 5-7 days. When finished aging, If I don’t have time to package the way I like, I simply freeze it in freezer bags and usually get to it in a few weeks. I do a lot of back to back weekend trips when we are in the thick of our season and this works out great.

also your tip about the rigor seems spot on. I shot a deer a few weeks ago and ate a backstrap the following day and it was extremely tough. Left the rest of the meat on ice for 4 more days then ate the other backstrap prepared exactly the same way, it was night and day difference.

You put the meat in ice water for any amount of time, it’s going to change the consistency of meat. We call it tofu, or grey meat. Your bleaching every thing out of it, your left with a bland piece of “ tofu”. Which some people like, but it’s hard to call it “ meat”.

 

[Tmac]

I’ve been known to dry age a few steaks victimized by cold shortening. Not sure it was needed or not, but they ate good.

 

[pk_]

You put the meat in ice water for any amount of time, it’s going to change the consistency of meat. We call it tofu, or grey meat. Your bleaching every thing out of it, your left with a bland piece of “ tofu”. Which some people like, but it’s hard to call it “ meat”.

I said on ice, not in ice water.

Frozen jugs of water go in the bottom. Water is drained each morning and new ice is packed under, around and on top of the meat.

I have an industrial ice machine because I take this kind of thing seriously (no space for a walk in cooler or I would have already built one).

Please don’t insult my “meat” if you haven’t tried it.

 

[Rich M]

LOL! I do the ice things too, but being in FL it is hard to hang a deer. Ice is easy, pour it on, drain 2x daily, repeat. Not sure what some folks are doing to have such negative ideas about icing meat.

 

[Stalker69]

I said on ice, not in ice water.

Frozen jugs of water go in the bottom. Water is drained each morning and new ice is packed under, around and on top of the meat.

I have an industrial ice machine because I take this kind of thing seriously (no space for a walk in cooler or I would have already built one).

Please don’t insult my “meat” if you haven’t tried it.

I am not sure how you do it but if your putting ice cubes on the meat, the ice is melting on your meat and your meat is “ bleaching”. If all your using is frozen milk jugs milk jugs, then your meat should stay dry. But you say drain it every day, leads me to believe your meat is water logged. A lot of guys we hunt with down south, do the same thing, although they leave the plug out of the cooler so the water never builds up, and angle the cooler up on one end with a 2x4 ( most of them) so the water continually drains. That meat still turns grey and slimy when we process it. I have eaten it and I know what it taste like. Many have turned to cooling them down with out getting the meat wet at all, but a few of them ( quite a few) that is the way they were taught and that is the way they continue to cool it, and it eat. They say they like it , who am I to say, some like tofu some don’t. I am one that don’t. You don’t need a walk in cooler. If you don’t want to freeze it right away ( I prefer it). You can turn an upright freezer or a chest freezer into a “ refrigerator” with a simple control. We use on an a buddies freezer. We have mine to freeze the meat. His stores all our refrigerated food while at camp. The night before we leave, refrigerated food gone. We unplug the control and his is a freezer again, and we put their meat in theirs for the trip home.
You can make a small walk in with a freeze bot also, uses a window saker A/C unit. But upright freezer or frig. Works great. With out using “ space”. Probably less space then your industrial ice machine. Ice in coolers is great for beer and drinks. Jonson Controls A19AAT-2C Freezer Temperature Controller (D132)

 

[pk_]

LOL! I do the ice things too, but being in FL it is hard to hang a deer. Ice is easy, pour it on, drain 2x daily, repeat. Not sure what some folks are doing to have such negative ideas about icing meat.

They simply don’t know what they are talking about if they think aging meat on ice for a week ruins it. They have either had some bad meat that wasn’t cared for properly or are just repeating what they have heard.

@Stalker69

Wasn’t my intention to derail this thread to this extent but here we go...

I have done the drain open and 2x4 trick, no thanks, it allows flies (and warm air) into the cooler. After a couple days bacteria will grow around the drain and migrate into the cooler and you will begin to get a strong odor. Temps here are in the 80°s, 90° or over 100° in the early season, too warm to be leaving the drain open. It offers 0 positive impact on meat quality(imo). If you simply keep the meat up out of the bottom of the cooler it is fine. You also have to keep it off the sides of cooler and make sure the lid is not pressed directly onto the meat. This means not skimping on ice and using a larger cooler than what you think is necessary. If you leave it on ice for a week yes the water will penetrate the meat, all of about 1/4”. I try to leave all the silver skin and membrane on the meat while aging to protect it as much as possible. Once I am ready to process I remove the silver skin etc and Shave the thin outer layer of meat off, no different than removing the rind off a hung deer. No matter how you age it you will lose a little bit of the outer layer. The interior meat is exactly the same consistency when done correctly.(imo)

I have aged deer hung in a barn when up north, aged in walk in coolers, aged in refrigerators and aged on ice. It all works if you know what you are doing. It is best to leave the deer whole or in the largest in-tact pieces possible to minimize the lost meat(less surface area). This is why hanging in a barn or a walk in cooler are the best options when available.

They say a pic is worth 1,000 words so here you go. You can see exactly how far the water penetrated. This meat was on ice for 10 days which is about the MAX amount of days I like to leave it.(6-7 days Seems like the sweet spot):

If you are wondering, it didn’t taste like tofu.

I am constantly trying to learn and improve my meat care, processing and preparation so while I appreciate information, I don’t appreciate someone talking down their nose at me.

I can understand the apprehension of handling and processing the ice aged meat vs dry aged meat as it looks and feels very different on the outside. But once it’s trimmed up, it’s exactly the same.

To be transparent, I will concede that aging on ice is the most volatile and requires the most diligence to keep the meat quality as high as possible when compared to the other methods. But with care it produces just as good of a result on the table.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I prefer properly aged meat and only freeze it after butchering. Aged on the bone either in a cool box or large cooler with block or bottled ice. Never with dry ice.

 

[DropTyne]

Lots of folks here harvest their deer during the season, age, and freeze. At the end of the season they thaw and grind all their deer at one time with pretty good success. Granted, the end result burger and sausage.