Do you age your Meat?

goatlady · #21 09/17/06, 07:39 AM

As Laura says ..."Properly aged meat is safe to eat." How many homesteaders/home butchers have a cooler with a controlled temp. to age meat safely and properly?

magnolia2017 · #22 09/17/06, 08:27 AM

I worked at a custom slaughter/processing plant for eight years. In our area the norm for beef is about 10 days, but some people request a longer time for their animal. Pork was usually processed within 2-3 days of slaughter, but no more than seven. If at all possible, venison should at least hang overnight. Yes, I know of several opening days of hunting season when the temperature hit 70 degrees and every processor had their coolers full and had to turn people away. My uncle made some extra cash by renting out space in his cellar one particularly warm season. In the absence of a cool place, many people simply quarter venison, remove the loins, and place the meat on a shelf in the fridge for a few days. Not the most ideal situation, but it works.

Maggie

Steve L. · #23 09/17/06, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goatlady

As Laura says ..."Properly aged meat is safe to eat." How many homesteaders/home butchers have a cooler with a controlled temp. to age meat safely and properly?

If 'improperly' aged meat is likely to be unsafe, I'd be pretty sick (or dead) by now. I haven't had refrigeration for over ten years now. I've eaten several deer that were never processed at all, just hangin' in the root cellar, and each took me a month or two to eat. I've aged plenty of deer over the years with temperature swings of 60°F (highs into the 70s, lows in the teens), and those animals hung for a week or more.

Laura Workman · #24 09/18/06, 09:20 AM

I think most homesteaders have a refrigerator, which is a fine place to age meat. Also, people who live in colder areas would be able to age meat outside or in their basement. Around here, we're finally dipping into the 50s at night, but frequently hit over 70 during the day, so my meat will not be aging on the porch.

I do age pretty much everything, however. The one time I didn't, I had an 8-week-old fryer rabbit that was about as tender and flavorful as a fistful of rubber bands. Now, NOTHING gets cooked without spending three days or so in the fridge.

Back in the olden days, when there was no refrigeration, people ate meat that had been outside for a while, and they were fine. However, my modern digestive system, I'm afraid, has had no opportunity to build up resistance to that kind of thing, and I believe I would be very ill were I to be transported back to those times and eat their meat.

Steve, with temperature swings of 60 degrees, from the teens into the 70s, the average would likely still be right around 40 degrees, wouldn't it? And large carcasse parts would likely have a fairly stable temperature, I would think. Still, if you swear to me you never cut off any of the green, nasty bits and tossed them rather than eating them, I will indeed be amazed!

big rockpile · #25 09/18/06, 09:50 AM

Yea my meat is anywhere from 6 months to 3 years old when killed

Truth it all depends on how cold it is out,how much time I have.

big rockpile

mandyh · #26 09/18/06, 10:06 AM

We hang our deer under the front porch, it's concrete block with a solid door. We will leave them hanging as long as the temp is below 40. That's usually from Oct. to April. I go down and cut off what I need, works great, and have never had any mold. I noticed a big differance in the toughness of the meat after it is aged, it almost melts in your mouth. When I'm doing jerky I only hang the deer for 24hrs.

GeorgeK · #27 09/18/06, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Norman

Pork isn't aged, it is cut as soon as it is cooled.
.

Our pork is aged, but then theya are also free range/ pastured and more like wild boar.

For how we do it, check under the pork section of my homepage

michiganfarmer · #28 09/18/06, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Norman

And as for fish, I saw some show where an old Inuit lady kept alive the tradition of burying salmon heads in the dirt for several weeks. When she dug them up, they were gray green and she went right for the eyeballs first. They said there is a good chance of dying from botulism or something, but she was in her 80s and healthy.
.

I saw that show. Interesting. Nauseating, but interesting.

Rockin'B · #29 09/18/06, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christiaan

I send our beef out to be processed, they hang it for at least 21 days. This year's steer went for 28. Tender as butter and the tastiest beef I've had in years. Chickens sit in the reefer for two or three days before freezing, ditto with rabbits. Havent' rasised a pig in many years. We used to wait until cool weather and usually would hang them for a day or two before cutting up.
Aging is an age-old (pun intended) way to tenderize and improve the flavor of most meats.
I read a report some 30 years ago about to Native American women in Wisconsin who died of botulism after eating fermented beaver tail. Yum.

It takes an awful lot of cover fat to hang for 21+ days. How did you accomplish that with Highlands? Do you grain heavy for the last few months?

michiganfarmer · #30 09/18/06, 11:32 AM

If we are going to grind an old milk cow up for burger we dont age them. They only hang in the cooler long enugh to get the body heat out of them. 2 days mabey. I dontknow what the problem is wiht body heat. That's just the way dad was taught, and that's the way we have always done it.

We dont age pigs, or chickens.

If we butcher a beef cow for steaks we let them hang in the cooler for 14 days.

Christiaan · #31 09/19/06, 02:24 PM

They shroud the beef like in the old days. I asked them to check on how much trim had to be thrown away from the last steer. From a 404 lb carcass it lost about 30 lbs from moisture and they had about 19 ounces of trim that was unfit to eat. Don't grain feed, at all, strictly grass and hay. This was by far the best tasting and tenderest steer I've produced yet.