BLoody Meat..and how to prepare southern deer for the freezer
 

Ok guys,
My wife is turned off about the bloody meat. When I thaw out the meat..it usually has a lot of blood in it..I live in Florida so I don't hang my deer outdoors

BUT can I do my meat like I use to do my squirrels up north?

I use to shoot 2 or 3 squirrels as a kid after dinner..My dad taught me to skin the squirrel and gut it and then soak it in salt water for about 3 hours...then my mom would remove the squirrel and cut in pieces and freeze..it was never bloody.

Why couldn't I put cut up the deer and put the deer in ice cold SALT water for about 4-5 hours.in my big cooler?.and then freeze. I wouldn't want to overnight becasue I beleive it would remove alot of the flavor?

Any comments or suggestions?
Thanks,
C7

That sounds like it would work, better yet give me all your venison. I'll be in Floral city from mid Nov until mid April

We always let our deer soak in ice water in the chests and they get alot of the blood out.

That even happens with store bought meat but they put those spongy thing in there so you don't notice it as much. You defrost the cut you want , rewrap it ,then give it to your wife. Good Luck . The water bath would work, just make sure the waters cold. and keep it quarters. Like you said it could loose flavor __________________

If you put deer meat in ice, in a cooler, make sure you drain the ice as it melts, and put more ice to relace the melted ice.

The first deer I ever skinned, I deboned it, and put it in a 5 gallion bucket, with Real salty water and left it for 2 days, before freezing.
It was so tender, and the blood was all gone.

Good Luck

a hunters wife that dont like blood (what unherd of) lol.maybe florida deer are different than northern deer.i wouldnt soak my meat in water for anything..thats what meat coolers are for.it should hang a couple days anyway.by then it shouldnt be too bad maybe she should buy nasty ol hamburger at the store pumped full of dye to make it look red,,,lol

"a hunters wife that dont like blood (what unherd of) lol."

It's rough tell me..she does have a lot of possitives..VERY SMART , 5 star good, beautiful, allows me all the time I want to hunt and fish and even buy toys to a certain degree..can cook the venison and hog perfectly..falls off the bone

now the negatives..she prays I don't bring nothing home..that's a hard pill to swallow, she's a cat lover ..we feed 10 ferrals that come into our home daily through the door I made.] -;..hey she's my wife..

I was disappointed the other day when she wouldn't even try some great backstrap..off a recent hog. She said," It's the blood..up north we used to hang the game.."Biblically speaking { We are Christians} "I think it's wrong to eat blood." She is correct ..and it is biblical so I posted this...I do remember way back that my dad was a perfectionist about everything and we would soak our suirrels about 2 hours ..Deer sesaon in Maryland was in Dec. so we would hang them..

I also know from experience that over soaking them will make your deer tasteles..that stinks too. I also know that bacteria can grow and produces in water..thus the reason for ice water..SO I plan to use salted ice water for about 5 hours..Our archery in FL is generally in 80degree weather.I need her to like eatting venison..need some encouragement here from the wife.{ -;

Thanks for the replies.

Why not buy an old refrigirator and convert it into meat hanging locker? You can hang quarters in the refrigirator for a good 2 weeks.

If i was that good of a hunter..I'd say yes sir..

Was that above post a good example of SPAM?

We always soak deer & hogs in ice/water/slush for a good 3 days after quartering & before processing. I like to add a couple shots of vinegar or lemon juice too. All the blood soaks out, but the flavor is always great. Up north you can hang stuff for a week, but we don't have that luxury down here. I've never had bad boar meat soaked this way, no matter how big & bad he was.

I just got out some deer meat from 09 season for jerky and grilling. It was overnight on ice, dry aged and vacuumed packed. When it thawed out it was a bloody mess.....But dang good...Tastes better than cow tenderloin.

It now puts store bought jerky to shame. Jerky on the grill in August. Emptying out the freezer for 2010......

I'm a big fan of the soaking in salt water solution even after hanging my deer. Its the best way I've found to get the blood out. But at the same time what is red meat with out a little blood???

My father has hunted all of my life, as his father was a hunter. As a kid, my mother, sister and myself hated the "gamey taste" of venison. Somewhere along the line in my pre teens my mother learned to soak the meat in salt water (we get the best results with canning salt) to get rid of the blood, and with the blood goes the "game taste". Since then, venison has become my favorite meat, and I've now been hunting for 20 years because of it.

You're still going to get better meat from a doe than a buck, that's a given. After 20 years of hunting I shot my first buck this year because he wasn't with a doe. Ten times out of ten I will pass on the buck for the doe, no matter how big a rack he has, there's just no good way to eat antlers. A doe is always going to be more tender and less "gamey", no matter how you prepare it. I (gladly) traded my buck for a smaller doe to a guy who cans all of his meat.

I've never had a problem with the salt water killing the flavor, but we also marinate. We only age the deer for a few days (depending on how early in the week of deer season we kill the deer, because we butcher the following week). Immediately after we butcher we put all of the meat (even what we intend to grind) into canning salt water (no science to the measurements) and soak overnight. Then we drain and rinse the meat, and place the steaks and chops in a variety of marinades (my favorite for chops is Italian dressing) for another overnight soak. While those are marinating we leave the roasts in the salt water for another night, and grind the burger. Then we vacuum seal everything (choose your quantities according to the size of your family), and freeze. We don't freeze it all at once though, we lay it out flat in the freezer overnight for an even and thorough freeze, then stack it to make room for more.

All of this extra work in the preparation of the meat has saved us two days of soaking and marinating per each meal; thaw and cook. My final trick is, unless its being prepared as a part of a recipe, my meat will not be cooked over anything but charcoal with hickory or mesquite wood chips. On average I grill five days a week in every type of weather (except tornados). Because of this we eat much healthier and save a good four figures a year on meat. My family will easily eat our way through four or five deer per year. We eat a beef steak maybe three to four times per year, but I still buy a lot of chicken and fish for some variety. Ground venison substitutes in every recipe that calls for hamburger (my chili has won awards locally).

I am very proud to cook venison for guests, and always get praises for it. Some of the pickiest eaters who have said they don't like venison have changed their minds when they've tried mine. If you don't now, nor intend to butcher your own deer, I recommend making arrangements with your butcher to have your meat returned unfrozen, or have them soak it for you if possible.

It's easier for us in the North, where it's normally cold enough during deer season to hang or soak deer outside in the barn or garage. Occasionally we've had to pack deer with ice, and add ice to our canning salt water and soak overnight in a large cooler. We've considered buying a walk-in cooler for this purpose, but haven't deemed it a necessary investment at this time. Since the canning salt water defeats the purpose of aging the deer, ice in a cooler should work just as well in the South for soaking.

You have no idea how timely this post was..I shot a deer last Sat. I had a hard time cutting it up at 11:00 PM...} -; ....my wife was then washing the meat cuts in salt water..the meat went from red to brownish color..is this normal..she had it in the sink from 15 - 45 minutes..since it turned brownish I was worried she messed up my meat.

looks like from the replies my meat will be ok..

Steak is actually at its best, and most tender, just before its about to go bad. If my meat is too red after it thaws, I'll let it sit in the fridge for a day until it browns, maybe marinating or soaking.

Raw meat turns brown because of the digestive process which involves the proteins and enzymes being broken down into their component parts. When raw meat starts turning brown it has begun to tenderize itself. It is not infectious and safe for consumption in this stage.

However, the same does not go for ground meat. Steaks have mostly two sides for bacteria to grow on, while ground beef is completely exposed. When ground meat turns brown we're told to toss it.

If it turns green, slimey or starts to stink, cook it a bit longer. Just kidding, toss it of course.

No sir..I was simply meaning.

When you take a piece of good healthy red meat off the deer ..put the piece of meat in salt water..and take it out in 15 minutes that meat does not look the same..it's got a mushy look to it and is no longer red..at least on the outside it looks brownish...I'm really not crazy about the texture..I'll let you all know how it goes on the first backstrap meal [ -;

When I pull out a vacumed bag of venison to thaw, I notice a large amount of blood has seeped out from the meat. As you all know you cannot vacume pack with liquid in bag. So, my thought is to remove more blood (for OP) he could seal it, freeze it, thaw it, remove more blood and eat it. Or..... seal, thaw, remove blood, reseal...... Just a thought. I wont do it. I love the bloody taste. But for him. it may help.

depending on how you prepare the deer, you can also parboil it. A lot of my deer recipes involve a slowcooker. I will put the deer steaks or roast in a big pot of water, bring it to a boil (there will be a bunch of brown foam that accumulates and thats the blood and stuff). Then take the meat out and prepare it how you like, slow cook, can or pan fry. It makes for a super tender cut of meat but it might not workout for someone whos grilling.

field dress it and buy about ten bags of ice at the store.Hang it and put the ice still in the bags in the body cavidy.Switch the bags out once their melted about five hours where i hunt.

The parboil sounds like a winner..We are trying different recipes on different cuts this year.

We all here love the taste of venison..we don't want to change that..but we are trying to find ways to make it more tender..

Our next recipe will be the pressure cooker..My grandfather was an advid hunter and cooked alot of his game either slow bake {275 degree}in wine or the pressure cooker.

My wife like the site http://allrecipes.com/ and only trys the 5 star recipes..once you are on the site..just type in Venison in the search.

Chuck, I though she didnt like the blood taste. As far as tenderness goes you should take your time and cut out every piece if sinew, silver skin, tendons, fat, mucos (sp) and make it as pure of a piece you can. All backstrap, tenderloins, and hams (rear quarter) needs minimal cooking. These are all the parts that I smoke, and cook for a short time. The front quarter and neck meat I throw into the grinder. This will make chili and all other types of ground meat stuff. I used to cut it with bacon "ends and pieces" but have stopped and kept the meat pure.
Good Luck Chuck

I know a couple of people who like to can it all up. They cut it into chunks and boil it in canning jars with a teaspoon of salt. Then when they use it, it is always tender. I am like some of the other guys on here though and never get water near my big game animals..

Thanks for the input friends.

on the pressure cook thing, ive done that too and it seems to come out as good or better as the parboil.....the only issue is dealin with the pressure cooker, safety, etc. I dont think there is a lot of diff between the 2 in the end

my next roast will be pressure cooker..

I'l have pics..

chuck, sounds like maybe she used hot water to soak the meat in. deer cooks at 140ish, so real warm water can cook it...i'd lose the soaking part, get some meat tampons and put em in the bag with the meat.
if ya put yer meat in a cooler, the plug should be pulled so the water can drain, make sure to break up the ice everyday, as pockets can form and you'll have dry spots on the meat.
any meat you buy at the store will have blood too, they just use tampons.