"Gamey" Flavor

[Liv2HntBigBullz]

I have started a new thread to discuss meat and its safety/misconceptions etc.

BLB you make a great point, stress is directly linked to PSE (pale soft and exhudative) meat in slaughtered hogs and dark cutters in beef. There are tons of factors that play into the taste of a given animal. There are so many different combos of age, sex, stress, nutrition/diet, proper field care, aging, etc that can play into the "gamey" flavor some wild animals have over others.

 

[bigeasygator]

Changing allowable limits in the midst of a disaster is neither credible or delligent.

Sometimes it takes a disaster to highlight poorly made rules and limits. I can see it go something like this...well, iodine-131 has a natural occurrence of one part per trillion so we'll make the allowable limit two times that. Then when you have a disaster that raises the levels to 10 times the normal level, you question how relevant that original limit was and what the consequence of the current levels are. Happens all the time.

 

[Sunspot]

Has a slight musky flavor kind of livery.

 

[Lukem]

personally I think meat is described as "gamey" by people that don't eat much wild game, so it has to be described somehow. my family eats so much its just meat. my daughters were raised on venison/elk/bear and I don't think they would know what your talking about if you said something had a gamey taste. to them it just tastes like deer,or elk, or bear....

IMO this is spot on. People expect wild game to taste like chicken, pork and beef. Nope. Deer tastes like deer, squirrel tastes like squirrel, muskrat tastes like muskrat (and a lot better than you'd think!) and on and on. It's all different. Different animals, different diets, etc., heck even grass fed beef tastes different than corn fed.

The other issue of spoilage is what I don't understand with people, the best example is pronghorn. So many people tell me pronghorn are the filthiest tasting animal out there. It's personally my favorite. It's a matter of taking care of it right. Most people treat pronghorn like they do their deer in November, when it's 35, only problem is that first week of October can see 80's. I wouldn't eat their meat either.

 

[Jager]

Meat that is described as tasting gamey, is just that, it comes from a game animal, whether it be duck, deer, rabbit or some other wild animal, the meat is different in texture and taste. Domestic animals have evolved as just that over eons. Farmed game meat is also different in taste to the same animal harvested in the wild.

The gameness factor is something the Europeans counter in their cooking methods and lets face it, they are the experts with handling and cooking wild game.

My family consumes a lot of game meat, and we live on a property so regularly eat farm killed beef, and once again, the taste is different too what you would buy at a buther shop. The fact that someone eats a lot of game and finds bought meat different is purely because that is what they have become accustomed to, a bit like drinking milk that has came straight from the cow, the gamey flavour is still there with the meat. Look at the colour difference in he meat, here is your answer.

 

[orionsbrother]

Driving back one sunny afternoon from an early season whitetail hunt, I woke up my buddy who was drifting off in the passenger seat. A minivan in front of us had a doe tied to the roof, in the sun, on a 75 degree day. She hadn't been field dressed. She was starting to look "taut". I think it's safe to say that venison was "gamey".

 

[muleman]

I didn't want to hijack Jager's thread over in Elk, so I thought I'd ask here. Can anybody explain to me what they mean by wild game meat having a "gamey" flavor? I've eaten wild stuff my entire life and the only conclusion/definition I can come to is "not like chicken or beef"

As my daughter put it, after the first bite of elk steak of the year, "mmmm mountainy." After thinking about it I think I detect a little sage and liver flavor from venison.

 

[Jager]

Since my thread on Red deer started the gamey taste discussion, I will mention something that many will find abhorrent, remember though, Australian hunting is far removed from what happens in the US.

Has anyone ever attempted to eat a Red stag taken in full rut? The thing is, you can't, the venison is absolutely rancid, dogs will even turn their nose up at it.

I am not sure of the condition of a rutted up Bull elk, would love someone to comment on this, but a Red simply does not eat or drink during the rut, he has one thing ONLY on his mind. Ok, he may drink the bare minimum for survival, but you get the picture, these issues are not a good recipe, pardon the pun, for tastey meat.

We can hunt them here at anytime of the year, although most do it during the rut or roar as we call it, because it is both action packed running the ridges looking over roaring stags, and they are a lot easier to find.

Hunting out of the roar for stags is a lot harder option, but when successful it is very rewarding.

 

[Lukem]

Jager-

It's not uncommon for our whitetail deer to lose 20-25% of their body weight during the rut for the same reason you mention with red stag. Most of our species are hunted around the rut, if not right in the middle. The only one I've had that I wasn't a fan of was a 14 year old bighorn sheep full rut. But, I'm guessing an old bovine bull may not be the tastiest of cuts either...

I have no doubt that different conditions cause meats to taste differently, I just think that people use "gamey" as that description of different and not anything particular. I also think that people do things to wild game in the name of marinades that they'd never think of doing to beef.

 

[orionsbrother]

Quite a few less meticulous deer hunters don't realize that venison fat goes rancid comparatively quickly and will go off even in the freezer. I suspect a good percentage of the complaints about gamey meat are the result of this.

 

[Jager]

Ok Lukem, sounds pretty similar. I did butcher an old stag once and he was actually great eating, perhaps his diet. Agree wholeheartedly with the marinades, people do it to rid the meat of that 'different' flavour.

There are many hunters out there I am sure that probably do not remove glands from the muscles and then wonder why the meat is disgusting.

Yes orionsbrother, venison fat is not real good is it.