Does venison always taste "gamey"?

[Bounty Hunter]

They do it with beef as well, called dry aging process. Yes in a controlled environment. I saw several over the years that he did that way. At the time I had never heard of that, and it did look bad, but he said it tasted better than any deer he ever had. If I remember right you scrape off the mold at a certain point, after it has done its process.

 

[hps]

The "Gamey taste" ur speaking of is in the fat, REMOVE ALL FAT!!

 

[Mike H]

I have deer hunted for 40 years and I have killed a lot of deer. Everything from fawns, does and big bucks. I have never tasted gamey vension that I have killed and processed myself. Its what you do after the kill that matters most.
Nobody would drag a cow around town to show off, or let it hang in the garage for a week at 40+ F. Not saying you do that but I know some who treat vension that way.
Here is what I do and it works for me.
As soon as I get it home I hang and wash out the body cavity.
Then I skin immediately.
I trim off all exposed fat etc. that I can, then I quarter it up.
Next step is to debone, you dont want bone marrow and bits of bone in your meat by sawing [like a cow].
After deboning I seperate the folds of muscle [meat] and further remove and fat or sinew before bagging and placing in the refridge to cool.
A couple days later I begin the packaging process.
This would include cutting up the meat into steaks and chunks for burger. We don't use roasts so everything gets steaked out or for use in burger.
I then place cut meat in 1 gal. freezer bags [non zip lock] squeeze out the air and wrap in freezer paper. Done this way I have not expierenced any freezer burn.
When we want burger I take out a pkg. insert in microwave on defrost for about 1.5 minutes, cut semifrozen meat into chunks, then throw it in my food processor and Viola! we now have real nice crumbly fresh ground vension.

I have offered to share vension with farmers that I have hunted on and their response has usually been, no thanks we don't like vension. Well I have made a believer out of some of them. I would give them a pk. or two and tell them how to fix it and then say if they don't like it then feed it to the dogs. When I have went back to hunt several have said "hey, could you shoot a deer for me". Of course.
Hope my post has been helpful, it works for me.

 

[Cpt Caveman]

There was a guy last weekend near my place that hung a doe for 3 days in temps up to 70 degrees. Couldn't believe it. 40 or below for hanging if you want to do it. Hanging when done properly ages the meat and DOES increase the natural flavor of the venison. To me it makes it worse so I don't do it.
I'm gonna call lack of taste buds or BS from mr.Mike H . If he's killed "Everything from fawns, does and big bucks" Then he knows Big bucks killed in the rut taste bad. I gut immediately, cool quickly, and process next morning most of the time and I've never killed a big buck that I could stomach. Makes the house smell like a combination of dirty socks and skunk when you cook it.
Not looking for a pi$$in match here, Mike H, just saying...whenever I hear folks say all venison tastes the same, its in how its handled, well, I KNOW that's not true!
Poor handling practice would make a yearling doe taste bad, that's true. But no amount of handling can turn a rutty 6 year old buck into something edible.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Keep in mind: "Taste" is quite subjective.

-J-

 

[hammer24]

I'm gonna call lack of taste buds or BS from mr.Mike H . If he's killed "Everything from fawns, does and big bucks" Then he knows Big bucks killed in the rut taste bad. I gut immediately, cool quickly, and process next morning most of the time and I've never killed a big buck that I could stomach. Makes the house smell like a combination of dirty socks and skunk when you cook it.
.

Sorry Cpt. Caveman, but my experience is more along the lines of MikeH as well. If the meat smelled like skunk, then something was wrong with it. I've killed, processed, cooked , and eaten countless bucks, many taken during the rut, and NEVER have I experienced anything like what you describe.

 

[Adrian8]

Only one or two post have the correct solution. It is obvious that the dead animal must be handled properly, that is a given..but even a properly gutted and cooled animal can and will taste strong and nasty unless two things are eliminated. One is ALL FAT and anything white must be removed and never cut the meat with a saw as the bone dust carried into the meat also carrys the gamey taste. Debone with a knife and only cut meat with a knife not a band saw...not what commercial processors do as a rule.

 

[PistolBob]

No matter the meat...if you can cube it, flour it, fry it with liberal amounts of garlic, salt, mushrooms, and pepper, and then make milk gravy for it and serve it over potatoes...it'll taste awesome.

Venison can be quickly overcooked and it gets dry, when I make a roast, I always make sure there is at least a whole pint of blackberry wine dumped in the pot too....any kind of cheap or expensive berry wine works well. Can't get too much black pepper in there either.

 

[hammer24]

Only one or two post have the correct solution. It is obvious that the dead animal must be handled properly, that is a given..but even a properly gutted and cooled animal can and will taste strong and nasty unless two things are eliminated. One is ALL FAT and anything white must be removed and never cut the meat with a saw as the bone dust carried into the meat also carrys the gamey taste. Debone with a knife and only cut meat with a knife not a band saw...not what commercial processors do as a rule.

All correct. Any connective tissue, or silver skin also needs to be removed.

Proper processing and trimming is an extremely inportant PART of proper handling.

 

[Mike H]

I'm gonna call lack of taste buds or BS from mr.Mike H . If he's killed "Everything from fawns, does and big bucks" Then he knows Big bucks killed in the rut taste bad. I gut immediately, cool quickly, and process next morning most of the time and I've never killed a big buck that I could stomach. Makes the house smell like a combination of dirty socks and skunk when you cook it.
Not looking for a pi$$in match here, Mike H, just saying...whenever I hear folks say all venison tastes the same, its in how its handled, well, I KNOW that's not true!
Poor handling practice would make a yearling doe taste bad, that's true. But no amount of handling can turn a rutty 6 year old buck into something edible.

You can believe what you want, maybe the old bucks in your area taste bad but mine have been eating corn and beans all year long and taste great.
So from yout post you must throw away the meat from a big buck because you cant stomach it?

 

[HICKMAN]

some of you are making me hungry, be sure to post your recipes in the new thread so us noobs can learn from ya.

 

[ViperJock]

The fascia ("silver") gives part of the gamey taste. If you want to get as little as possible butcher it early and get rid of all the fat and fascia. Even after that it will still taste like deer so recipes are key. Crock pot cooking with your favorite roast recipes will all but eliminate the gamey taste. We use venison for tacos, spaghetti sauce, and chili and you can't tell it's not beef. That takes care of most of the deer. The steaks you should just send to me because they are SUPER gamey and you won't like them.

 

[Cpt Caveman]

You can believe what you want, maybe the old bucks in your area taste bad but mine have been eating corn and beans all year long and taste great.
So from yout post you must throw away the meat from a big buck because you cant stomach it?

Nope, I hunt for meat and you can't eat antlers. Big nasty bucks walk.
That's pretty weak tea by the way.

 

[bubba31]

There's a lot of different methods,and a lot of them turn out delicious venison,which by the way to the guys who said they soak the meat in milk or buttermilk that sounds like a great idea,and I think on my next deer I'm going to try that,I've ate some deer that others have gotten that use different methods than me and it was outta sight! And I've had some that made me wonder how they could stand to eat it lol,but how I handle it,which is how my dad taught me,is as soon as I kill one and recover it,its immediately field dressed and taken to check in and my house and skinned as soon as possible,then,depending on the time of day,I quarter it and either begin cutting,or,I put the quarters in a fridge until the next day,again depending if I got it morning or evening,as I cut each piece I put it in cold salt water which draws the blood out,then I rinse it in cold water and pack,grind,or whatever,depending what I want,then I pack it,label and date it and put it in the freezer,I've had a difference in taste depending on what the deer was feeding on,but I've killed and butchered quite a few deer,and only had a problem with the taste of one deer,which was an old buck in full rut,even then,crockpot with apples and it came out great! Honestly I've never had mine come out "gamey" and have had many people who ate some said it was delicious,and didn't even realize it was deer until I told them,like I say there's lots of different ways of doing it but this is how I was taught,and its always worked great for me! Hope this helps

 

[Matt52]

I think having deer taste a little gamey is ok other wise you might as well just get some beef. I like it because its outside what you normal get most of the year. Now i can agree that to much gamey taste is a problem but those big mature bucks either get turned into sausage or jerky its amazing what spices can do lol

 

[Mark 1911]

Since no one has commented on the process after the kill, can I assume what my step father does is correct?

I remember seeing a deer hunting video on that said 37 degrees is supposed to be the ideal temperature for aging the deer. The temperature should be as constant as possible, so hanging it in your garage won't work if it gets up to 50 or 60 degrees. If you're lucky enough to have access to a big walk-in cooler, that would be ideal, but I have heard of guys just taking the door off an old refrigerator and covering the hanging deer AND the refrigerator with a big tarp. The aging process works on venison just like it does on beef, and ideally it should hang for 2 weeks if you really want the aging process to kick in, I've even heard up to 17 days. The aging process tenderizes the meat and gives it a more mild flavor.

Most guys, including myself, don't have the room or the equipment to properly hang and age a deer, most guys just hang it for a day or so and then butcher it. It will taste better if you age it properly.

Here's a good article on the topic. It also says butchering the deer before its been dead for 24 hours is the worst thing you can do, the muscles are still in rigor-mortis, and if you butcher the deer during this time it will turn out tougher.: Deer: Hang Time | Field & Stream

 

[KJW]

Well, I didn't read all of the posts, but I've yet to see my recommendation so forgive me if someone mentioned it.

The most incredible, awesome, and easy way to eliminate a gamey flavor is to soak the meat in ice water for 2-3 days. I do all my own processing; here's a quick summary. Field dress and skin promptly. Remove legs, and get as much meat off the thorax, neck, etc. Put all the meat in large coolers and cover with ice water. Each day drain the bloody water and add fresh ice and water. Two to three days is fine. Then lay the meat out on a table overnight on clean towels to let it dry. An alternative is to hang it overnight. Then get on with processing, the most tedious step. Remove all bone and as much fat and silver skin as your patience allows. Vacuum seal in portions as you see fit. When it comes time to cook I do a final precise removal of any remaining fat or other connective tissue.
You'll be amazed at the quality of the meat!

 

[dtkw]

Or you can cook it like the Chinese does the best. A lot of garlic, green onion, ginger, black bean sauce, and some pepper and soy sauce. After that, you can't really taste much of the meat.

 

[whitetailbowhunter]

i used to have this problem with steaks and roast meat. Marinade the meet in MILK for however long time allows, a couple hours will work great but overnight is even better. It draws all of that natural "game" taste out into the milk. This is also a way to use sour milk. obviously nothing too old, but sour milk actually works better to eliminate the game flavor.

 

[whitetailbowhunter]

An Alternate Theory on Gaminess; Or, Take a Look in the Mirror - MeatEater

I read this great article from Steven Rinella ( MeatEater ) and thought i'd share with INGO, why wild game, has a "gamey taste"!