What is gaminess?

RCB

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I've never really understood what people say when they say meat is "gamey". To be fair, I've only been hunting a few years and did not grow up eating game meat, so perhaps I just don't have enough experience here. But gaminess isn't a flavor or quality that I have any precise understanding of; if someone says "this meat is gamey", that doesn't tell me a whole lot, apart from "it doesn't take like typical grocery store meat". In contrast, everyone knows what you mean if you say meat is tender, rancid, fatty, etc.

Seems to me that if gaminess means anything specific, it should be some quality that is common to all wild game meat. Hence "gamey". That's so broad a category that it seems unlikely, though. Is there some flavor that is somehow common to wild deer, antelope, ducks, pigs, pheasants, bear, and so on? If there is, I haven't noticed, but again maybe it's a lack of experience.

My guess is that gamey is just sort of a vague term that generally means "it doesn't taste exactly like similar domestically-raised meat." The less a deer tastes like beef, the gamier it is. The less a grouse tastes like chicken, the gamier it is. The less a wild turkey tastes like domestic turkey, the gamier it is. And so on. In other words, gaminess is just divergence of domestic-ness.

Thoughts? Let me know if I'm missing something.
 

Marbles

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I think gamey largely refers to the flavor that results with improper meat care in the field. It can also be due to a diet that gives an unpleasant flavor to the animals meat. Most game meat is not gamey if harvested and handled properly, and some animals you just don't hunt at certain times or locations due to diet.

At least that is my take on it.
 

gelton

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Most of the meat you get at the grocery store is cornfed to add in marbling and fat that adds flavor. When that is absent, the average person thinks it tastes gamey.

As stated above, this is mainly due to diet. For instance, for someone who has never tasted grass-fed and finished beef, they will think it tastes gamey. We started eating grass-fed and finished beef almost exclusively this year from a nearby ranch and it is definitely much different than corn finished beef. Less marbling and less fat but high in good fats and beta carotene...the fat even looks different and it has to be cooked differently too.

Alderspring Ranch in Idaho grazes on public land and moves the animals daily into fresh areas and due to their diversity of diet their beef supposedly has a taste unlike any other resulting in extremely high demand from top chefs all over the country.

Lamb tastes a bit more gamey than beef because they are mostly grass-fed and not finished on corn for the length of time that cattle are.

Basically, the more lean an animal is, the more the natural flavors come out in the animal which is heavily related to its diet resulting in a flavor that some people relate to gamey. The sex of the animal and testosterone is also a factor, this is why hogs and most cattle in meat operations are castrated.
 
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RCB

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I guess what I don't get is... what does gamey taste like? What is the "gamey" flavor, regardless of the cause? I get that wild game often tastes different from beef, etc. But what exactly is the particular flavor called "gaminess"? Is there a flavor that all wild game has that domestic meat doesn't? I haven't noticed. Or is it just a vague way of saying "this doesn't taste like typical grocery store meat", which could be due to a variety of flavors?

Maybe this is kind of like asking "what does salt taste like"? You can't really describe it, you just know it from experience. But... if you tell me "this meat is salty", I know what that tastes like. I can imagine it, even conjure up the taste in my mouth. If you tell me "this meat is gamey", I don't really know what flavor you are trying to communicate. Maybe this is just me though...
 

Brendan

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"Gamey" isn't a specific taste. It's a generic term that will use to describe taste resulting from: Improper meat care in the field, improper cooking (e.g. Well done venison with no fat), and/or from a type of meat that isn't corn-based and full of fat like most Americans are used to.
 
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RCB

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"Gamey" isn't a specific taste. It's a generic term that will use to describe taste resulting from: Improper meat care in the field, improper cooking (e.g. Well done venison with no fat), and/or from a type of meat that isn't corn-based and full of fat like most Americans are used to.
Ok, that makes sense. Gamey isn't a flavor. It's a catch-all term for anything that doesn't taste like meat that we're used to. Sometimes due to mistakes (poor handling, poor cooking), and sometimes just due to the nature of the animal (lean muscle tissue, wild diet). Those different causes would presumably lead to different flavors - e.g. poor handling might lead to a slightly spoiled taste due to bacterial growth, whereas a wild diet wouldn't - but we still just tend to lump it all into the word "gamey".

So I guess that still means that if someone tells me an animal is "gamey", all I know is that it doesn't taste exactly like typical beef / pork / chicken.
 

EastMT

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The definition of gamey is a caribou in full rut. I’ve only had 1 that was close to gamey, it was stout. I’ve heard of caribou from full rut that dogs wouldn’t eat, that I would call gamey.

I’ve gotten mule deer so far in rut the neck was huge, it had a game flavor, but was not bad. I think some people call gamey meat any kind that doesn’t taste like grocery store beef.
 
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Yup, agree with what's already been said. "Gamey" tasting meat is most often do to improper care in the field or what happens to the animal right after the shot, ie., a bad shot and the animal running a ways, falling off a cliff, etc. Or a bull caribou killed in Oct. Most meat processing places up here won't even allow you to bring a rutting bull caribou into their shop.
 
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This might fall into improper meat care. But when I’ve had that thought it was “it tastes like a rutty buck smells.” Like when you drag a buck by its legs and you get the gland smell on your hands.
 

DANNY-L

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When ya kill a nice buck during the peak of the rut when his hormones change his meat will taste gamey. Doesn't help when during the rut they whizz on themselves and it gets into the skin and then into the meat. To me a gut shot dear always seems to taste gamey no matter how fast ya get it cleaned out,skinned and deboned.
 

spc7669

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“Gamey” is kinda like describing porn. I don’t know how to define it but sure know when I taste it.
 

Larry Bartlett

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"gamey" is:

1. absorption odors from sour game bags, environmental gases from exhaust, a nasty cape that touched and absorbed into the meat, etc.
2. Fat on the meat that has been subjected to 60F and higher will become gamey after a few days
3. meat surfaces that didn't get trimmed but should have...like the darker exposed-to-air edges of meat cuts
4. meat from males who were close to the rut begin drinking estrus urine and the liver gets backed up causing the bloodtsream to accept the excess urea...making it taste super gamey.
5. bitter food sources the animal consumed
6. your experience with the best of the best game meat and then you eat a friend's meat that was treated poorly
7. a stressed-before-death animal who may have required a an hour or more to die will have a high ultimate pH around 6.0, when a non stressed animal's meat after 24 hours settles at pH 5.4-5.8.
8. an animal that didn't get bled properly with a double lung shot has retained 50% more blood in muscles than a great shot will be super gamey as cellular blood ages and turns less than nice on your pallet.

These are the top 8 reason for gamey meat, but i'm certain there are more reasons for unimpressive tasting meat.
 

ZC906

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"gamey" is:

1. absorption odors from sour game bags, environmental gases from exhaust, a nasty cape that touched and absorbed into the meat, etc.
2. Fat on the meat that has been subjected to 60F and higher will become gamey after a few days
3. meat surfaces that didn't get trimmed but should have...like the darker exposed-to-air edges of meat cuts
4. meat from males who were close to the rut begin drinking estrus urine and the liver gets backed up causing the bloodtsream to accept the excess urea...making it taste super gamey.
5. bitter food sources the animal consumed
6. your experience with the best of the best game meat and then you eat a friend's meat that was treated poorly
7. a stressed-before-death animal who may have required a an hour or more to die will have a high ultimate pH around 6.0, when a non stressed animal's meat after 24 hours settles at pH 5.4-5.8.
8. an animal that didn't get bled properly with a double lung shot has retained 50% more blood in muscles than a great shot will be super gamey as cellular blood ages and turns less than nice on your pallet.

These are the top 8 reason for gamey meat, but i'm certain there are more reasons for unimpressive tasting meat.
This is good to know!
 

Pn8hall

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Check out the Meateater podcast called Red Cutter I think its Number 131. They have a meat scientist on there that explains what causes it. Very good listen for sure.
 

Larry Bartlett

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Meat Eater link from above:

 

wapitibob

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When you bite into a piece of duck and you see the bottom of a muddy pond, that duck is gamey.
When you toss an antelope steak in the pan and the house smells like the sagebrush he pissed on to mark his territory, it’s gonna taste gamey.
 

elkyinzer

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I absolutely hate liver and all the livery meats (waterfowl, woodcock). I'd venture that's a lot of it.

Freezerburn and/or rancid fat is another that is just an absolute no-go I can detect no matter how much seasoning.

Seeing the way some people treat their game I can imagine their are quite a few more but those are the couple I've run into and I take good care of it and butcher myself.
 

brsnow

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Many hunters don’t like game, they mix it with pork or beef fat for example to make it tasted better to them. I don’t think game meat needs any help, great the way it is.
 
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