Is it necessary to age venison to improve the quality of meat?
Filed under: Recipes
Question
I’ve watched your episode on how to process your own deer a number of times now. I’m excited to try it this fall. I’ve also listened to your podcast interview with Korby Taylor about processing your own deer. In the interview, you mentioned the idea of hanging venison, in order to age it, was misleading. I appreciate your scientific approach, and I’m wondering why you don’t hang your venison to age it. Is it really necessary to age the meat? There are so many ideas on this topic, and I’d love some clarification. Thanks!
Ryan,
I agree – there are gads of methods to process and prepare venison. Years ago I was shown a technique of deboning deer and then removing each major muscle. This technique also involves removing all the shiny tissue that surrounds each major muscle. It is this “shiny tissue” that primarily causes meat to be tough or taste “gamey.”
My family and I consume 10+ deer annually. We process each deer the same way no matter the age of the deer and it always taste great! It takes a bit of time to fillet the “shiny tissue” from each muscle, but you’ll be glad you did once you taste venison prepared this way!
Enjoy creation,
grant
