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Bull543 10-28-2008 04:25 PM

How long to soak deer
 
I took a doe on Fri and amaging the meat in a cooler with ice water, draining the bloody water off.

How long are you suppose to do this for?

COWBOYSFAN 10-28-2008 06:05 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I soak mine for 3 to 4 days

jrbsr 10-28-2008 06:10 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: Bull543

I took a doe on Fri and amaging the meat in a cooler with ice water, draining the bloody water off.

How long are you suppose to do this for?
Make sure to keep putting ice on the deer as it melts out.

7X57MAUSER 10-28-2008 06:29 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I soak mine for 5 days

blackpowderfever 10-28-2008 06:35 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I soak mine for 3 days, sometimes more if it is really bloody. I also cut any blood clots out periodically.

CAM2 10-28-2008 07:26 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: jrbsr
Make sure to keep putting ice on the deer as it melts out.
yep, i also add some salt. it's supposed to help draw out the blood. for me it usually ends up to soak for 5 or 6 days by the time i can find the time to cut it up. with that said, one of the ways i like to tell how long to soak it is when the water that you drain starts to come out clear. the more blood that you can get out of the meat the better IMHO.

Slackdaddy 10-28-2008 07:48 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
Why ????
Never heard of soaking deer meat, nor see whatthe benifit is ?

Now if it was marinated in peewhile field dressing, that is a different story.

Slack

JagMagMan 10-28-2008 08:02 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I've heard of people soaking deer for 7 days or more , keeping the water drained and adding ice as needed. I personally soak for 5-7 days.
Slackdaddy, some of us , especially down south don't have the luxury of cold weather to hang and age deer meat, or access to a meat locker.
Keeping the meat in an ice chest and keeping the water drained for a few days ages the meat and allows the blood to drain out. By gutting them ASAP and getting it on ice for a few days, I've never had anyone say that the meat tastes "gamey!"


lpv77 10-28-2008 11:13 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I usually 1/4 the deer and lay the 1/4s on garbage bags on the shelves in my spare fridge. Any opinions on this method?

2 Lunger 10-28-2008 11:37 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: CAM2

yep, i also add some salt. it's supposed to help draw out the blood. for me it usually ends up to soak for 5 or 6 days by the time i can find the time to cut it up. with that said, one of the ways i like to tell how long to soak it is when the water that you drain starts to come out clear. the more blood that you can get out of the meat the better IMHO.
How many of you guys add salt to your meat while soaking or cooking??? Do you realize this is the worst thing you can do to meat? I know this is an age old method, but salt makes any meat immediately tough. Ask any butcher what salt does to meat and he will give you this same answer.

WildlifePhoto 10-29-2008 06:56 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
Soaking meat in water (wiht our without vinegar or salt) is generally a way of getting the blood out of it, orof "marinating"the meat (withwine or vinegar and spices)to prepare it for cooking.

Soaking in water is not a way of aging meat.


This is from the venison cook book I got fromT.R Michels:


"Storage

In camp you should cover fresh meat with a game bag and hang it in the coolest place you can find. Then get it to town, and have it aged, wrapped and frozen as soon as you can. If you are going to take care of the meat yourself keep it cool until you get to the locker plant, or get it home. Trim all the fat and silver skin from big game meat when you cut it up. Dry-age the meat as soon as possible; ideally it should be hung and stored at 38 degrees for one to two weeks to age it. Then cut off the dark layer of outer meat and wrap it and freeze it. If you can’t age the meat immediately, but do have it cut, wrapped and cooled, you can age it later. When you are ready to store the meat, double wrap it in freezer paper and label the outside with the date, type of meat, and the cut. Trim all the fat and silver skin from the meat before freezing or cooking."




BigTiny 10-29-2008 06:59 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I do it for about a week. Change out the water and ice twice per day. Never had any gamey meat.

mitchmtm1 10-29-2008 07:26 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: lpv77

I usually 1/4 the deer and lay the 1/4s on garbage bags on the shelves in my spare fridge. Any opinions on this method?


Yep that's what I do too. Works pretty well, but uses a lot of fridge space if you get more than one deer and don't have a spare fridge.



Mitch

ydduit 10-30-2008 08:22 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: 2 Lunger


ORIGINAL: CAM2

yep, i also add some salt. it's supposed to help draw out the blood. for me it usually ends up to soak for 5 or 6 days by the time i can find the time to cut it up. with that said, one of the ways i like to tell how long to soak it is when the water that you drain starts to come out clear. the more blood that you can get out of the meat the better IMHO.
How many of you guys add salt to your meat while soaking or cooking??? Do you realize this is the worst thing you can do to meat? I know this is an age old method, but salt makes any meat immediately tough. Ask any butcher what salt does to meat and he will give you this same answer.
I second that!!!

If you need to salt your meat, do so after it is cooked! Salting prior to or while cooking only draws the moisture out of the meat resulting in dryer and tougher meat.

Spearchucker 10-30-2008 08:57 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 


I have never soaked a deer, but I prefer to age meat, hanging in a cooler, for 7-10 days.

cave62 10-30-2008 11:05 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I have never heard of soaking a deer either.

cave62 10-30-2008 11:06 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I have never heard of soaking a deer either.

1shotkill1993 10-30-2008 03:00 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: Slackdaddy

Why ????
Never heard of soaking deer meat, nor see whatthe benifit is ?

Now if it was marinated in peewhile field dressing, that is a different story.

Slack
takes the nickel taste out of the food that some people call "gamey taste"

IMO it makes it taste alot better.

mgreen 10-30-2008 03:36 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
So then it doesn't taste like deer so go buy some beef.

forvols 10-30-2008 06:27 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
Ok fellas, I have a spare fridge. IF I get a deer do I need to skin it or can I just put it in a game bag and put it the spare fridge for 5 days or so to age then take it to the butcher?Right now I dont have the place or equipment to butcher a deer myself.

gtownbuckbuster 10-30-2008 08:28 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: Slackdaddy

Why ????
Never heard of soaking deer meat, nor see whatthe benifit is ?

Now if it was marinated in peewhile field dressing, that is a different story.

Slack
same here never soaked my just hung it up


Wall_Hanger 10-30-2008 09:12 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
We process our own deer and use the same method as someone posted earlier. 1/4 it and throw it in a trash bag and then leave it in the spare fridge for a day or two, then we pull it out and trim the fat and silver, slimy stuff off and start processing. Never soaked it before and never added any salt or anything like that to it. I would consider the soaking thing if everyone seems to think it works but it also seems like more work than we already have when we shoot 5-7 deer in a weekend.

deerslayer223 10-30-2008 09:57 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I prefer to let mine hang for a few days weather permitting. Most of the time i quarter lay in fridge put a layer of freezer paper between each quarter and let sit in the fridge for a few days. Has always worked well for me.

JagMagMan 10-30-2008 10:53 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: mgreen

So then it doesn't taste like deer so go buy some beef.
No, it doesn't taste like beef, it tastes like fine venison, without the gamey taste!

RyanATiffany 10-30-2008 11:31 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: ydduit


ORIGINAL: 2 Lunger


ORIGINAL: CAM2

yep, i also add some salt. it's supposed to help draw out the blood. for me it usually ends up to soak for 5 or 6 days by the time i can find the time to cut it up. with that said, one of the ways i like to tell how long to soak it is when the water that you drain starts to come out clear. the more blood that you can get out of the meat the better IMHO.
How many of you guys add salt to your meat while soaking or cooking??? Do you realize this is the worst thing you can do to meat? I know this is an age old method, but salt makes any meat immediately tough. Ask any butcher what salt does to meat and he will give you this same answer.
I second that!!!

If you need to salt your meat, do so after it is cooked! Salting prior to or while cooking only draws the moisture out of the meat resulting in dryer and tougher meat.
I'll be the third! I won't even salt hamburgers or steaks or chicken for that matter. It dries it out.

I'll apologize in advance for a scientific explanation of why for those who don't want to hear about it. I'm a chemist so I'm weird to begin with but we chemists have a fondness for explaining things. First of all, when roads freeze what do put on them to thaw them out? Salt. It lowers the freezing point of water. With dihydrogen monoxide (water, H2O), when you lower the freezing point you also lower the boiling point. At the boiling point water becomes steam and evaporates. When you introduce salt to the meat (more than what would naturally be in there) it causes more of the water to evaporate more quickly, thus drying out the meat exponentially faster than normal.

This is also why it seems like adding salt to a pot of water that you are trying to boil makes it boil faster. It does boil faster, but it's not because it accepts the heat better, it's just easier to reach the lower boiling point because it takes less energy to do so. The bad part is if you're boiling the water to cook and kill off any bacteria you want to have more heat to kill off ALL of the bacteria. To be safer keep the salt out until the end for the best results. You'll also get better tasting, juicier meat!

RyanATiffany 10-30-2008 11:36 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: 1shotkill1993


ORIGINAL: Slackdaddy

Why ????
Never heard of soaking deer meat, nor see whatthe benifit is ?

Now if it was marinated in peewhile field dressing, that is a different story.

Slack
takes the nickel taste out of the food that some people call "gamey taste"

IMO it makes it taste alot better.
I really hope you don't know what nickel tastes like! If so, stay up on your cancer check ups. I work with that stuff and it's some nasty stuff.

A11en 10-31-2008 02:30 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
My deer are 100% buchered and in the freezer 4 hours after the trigger is pulled. While living in NH, I saw many folks hang deer outside for several days. Down here in NC, its too warm.

Soaking? never heard of it.

SteveBNy 10-31-2008 04:04 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
If you have a gamey taste, its not from blood in the meat or lack of aging.
More apt to be from attempts at aging, bad field dressing, rutting buck, not cooling fast enough.
Put 2 properly prepared deer steaks in front of someone - one "aged" and the other dressed,skinned, cut and froze in 24 hours.
Most will pick the 2nd.

Steve


hossdaniels 10-31-2008 06:03 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: RyanATiffany


ORIGINAL: ydduit


ORIGINAL: 2 Lunger


ORIGINAL: CAM2

yep, i also add some salt. it's supposed to help draw out the blood. for me it usually ends up to soak for 5 or 6 days by the time i can find the time to cut it up. with that said, one of the ways i like to tell how long to soak it is when the water that you drain starts to come out clear. the more blood that you can get out of the meat the better IMHO.
How many of you guys add salt to your meat while soaking or cooking??? Do you realize this is the worst thing you can do to meat? I know this is an age old method, but salt makes any meat immediately tough. Ask any butcher what salt does to meat and he will give you this same answer.
I second that!!!

If you need to salt your meat, do so after it is cooked! Salting prior to or while cooking only draws the moisture out of the meat resulting in dryer and tougher meat.
I'll be the third! I won't even salt hamburgers or steaks or chicken for that matter. It dries it out.

I'll apologize in advance for a scientific explanation of why for those who don't want to hear about it. I'm a chemist so I'm weird to begin with but we chemists have a fondness for explaining things. First of all, when roads freeze what do put on them to thaw them out? Salt. It lowers the freezing point of water. With dihydrogen monoxide (water, H2O), when you lower the freezing point you also lower the boiling point. At the boiling point water becomes steam and evaporates. When you introduce salt to the meat (more than what would naturally be in there) it causes more of the water to evaporate more quickly, thus drying out the meat exponentially faster than normal.

This is also why it seems like adding salt to a pot of water that you are trying to boil makes it boil faster. It does boil faster, but it's not because it accepts the heat better, it's just easier to reach the lower boiling point because it takes less energy to do so. The bad part is if you're boiling the water to cook and kill off any bacteria you want to have more heat to kill off ALL of the bacteria. To be safer keep the salt out until the end for the best results. You'll also get better tasting, juicier meat!



I gotta call B.S. on your explanation. Salt added to water does lower the freezing point.Salt added towaterRAISES the boiling point, though usually not enough for anynoticable differencein cooking applications. Back to class jr.

LKNCHOPPERS 10-31-2008 09:50 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I don't like to get the meat all wet. I hang in a spare fridge or keep it in a cooler out of the water when travelling.

rogerstv 10-31-2008 10:03 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I disagree. I always soak my wild game in a salt water bath before cooking. It is sometimes tender enough to cut with a fork. I think it depends on the cut of meat, diet of the animal, and condition of the animal - (young or old).

I understand salt dries, but it doesn't seem to effect the game I cook.

I butcher into large pieces and freeze. Before cooking I cut the large pieces into steaks or cubes, soak, and cook. The large pieces reduce the exposed area that can burn in the freezer.

Bob R.

RyanATiffany 10-31-2008 05:12 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: hossdaniels


ORIGINAL: RyanATiffany


ORIGINAL: ydduit


ORIGINAL: 2 Lunger


ORIGINAL: CAM2

yep, i also add some salt. it's supposed to help draw out the blood. for me it usually ends up to soak for 5 or 6 days by the time i can find the time to cut it up. with that said, one of the ways i like to tell how long to soak it is when the water that you drain starts to come out clear. the more blood that you can get out of the meat the better IMHO.
How many of you guys add salt to your meat while soaking or cooking??? Do you realize this is the worst thing you can do to meat? I know this is an age old method, but salt makes any meat immediately tough. Ask any butcher what salt does to meat and he will give you this same answer.
I second that!!!

If you need to salt your meat, do so after it is cooked! Salting prior to or while cooking only draws the moisture out of the meat resulting in dryer and tougher meat.
I'll be the third! I won't even salt hamburgers or steaks or chicken for that matter. It dries it out.

I'll apologize in advance for a scientific explanation of why for those who don't want to hear about it. I'm a chemist so I'm weird to begin with but we chemists have a fondness for explaining things. First of all, when roads freeze what do put on them to thaw them out? Salt. It lowers the freezing point of water. With dihydrogen monoxide (water, H2O), when you lower the freezing point you also lower the boiling point. At the boiling point water becomes steam and evaporates. When you introduce salt to the meat (more than what would naturally be in there) it causes more of the water to evaporate more quickly, thus drying out the meat exponentially faster than normal.

This is also why it seems like adding salt to a pot of water that you are trying to boil makes it boil faster. It does boil faster, but it's not because it accepts the heat better, it's just easier to reach the lower boiling point because it takes less energy to do so. The bad part is if you're boiling the water to cook and kill off any bacteria you want to have more heat to kill off ALL of the bacteria. To be safer keep the salt out until the end for the best results. You'll also get better tasting, juicier meat!



I gotta call B.S. on your explanation. Salt added to water does lower the freezing point.Salt added towaterRAISES the boiling point, though usually not enough for anynoticable differencein cooking applications. Back to class jr.
DING! DING! DING! We have a winner! Not me! Back to school and back to sleep! 4.5 hours in the last 3 days. I'm a zombie right now and was last night. I also sent a couple emails that didn't make sense too apparently because I just got those. I'm about to start rambling again...

oldsmellhound 10-31-2008 06:23 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I've used the ice chest/soak method the last couple years. It sounds like a lot of people haven't heard of it, but it is a good way to treat your meat if you can't dry-age it in a walk-in cooler. I generally quarter the deer, cutting it into manageble sized pieces and put them in coolers, filled with ice. I then add ice and drain water as necessary for 3-4 days. I like to have some water in there to help pull the blood out of the meat.

Since I've started doing this, I've noticed that the meat is noticeably more tender and it eliminates any gamey taste from the meat. None of the guys I hunt with do this, but I read about it in a venison recipie book and decided I would try it- that's all I do now.

zrexpilot 10-31-2008 07:40 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I tried the ice soaking for a couple of days, I pretty much do it all the time just cause I cant get to the final proccesing that day. to me it really doesnt do anything. When I start cutting into steaks there still lots of blood. The water just doesnt get into the center of a hind or the center of any meat.
Hanging in a cooler or in cold weather works much better, its more of a drying-aging process. Butchers do beef this way, not in a cooler of ice.

dirgo 11-01-2008 12:06 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
i have never soaked any meat,i did have some that was it didnt tast bad ,but its not for me.i have aged meat in the fridge and let it hang outside you cant let it get above 38 or below 34 and dont go over 7 days.or it can tast funny

cal516 11-02-2008 08:29 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I have heard of this but have yet to try it. Do you soak it in the cooler quarter or actually fully butchered? That is..back straps, tenderloins.....etc...already trimmed....

Kingfisher2 11-02-2008 09:59 PM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
Doesn't soaking it create negative bacteria?

hossdaniels 11-03-2008 06:51 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
Every one does it at the grocery store. Most everything you buy,chickens, thankgiving turkeys, walmart steaks. If it doesn't say 100% natural, with no additives, then its been soaked in a brine solution(fancy talk for salt water, maybe some sugar in there too). Helps to keep the meat juicy during cooking. I dont know how, but it does work. I've soaked my boston butts for 24 hrs in 1 cup salt, 1 cup brown sugar, one gallon water for long as I can remember. Never thought about deer but wil be trying in a couple weeks when i get a deer. I think its got something to do with osmosis, maybe ryan tiffany could help me out on that.

MTMountainMan 11-03-2008 07:22 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 
I've never heard of soaking in salt water in all of the books I've read about caring for and butchering game. My guess is it's the way things are (were) done in the south where it's impossible to find a place < 50° for hanging.

I did read a new one to me this year, from the Colorado Division of Wildlife. They say that aging is a process that works with fat, and since big game haslittle fataging it just reduces storage. They say no way, do not age game. Other books I have on the subject have a nice little graph showing rigormortis vs. aging time at different temperatures and suggest a week to 10 days.

I always hang animals if it's < 50° in my barn. Maybe because I'm too damn tired to start a butcher job after a full day of hunting and field dressing!

drevilsmom 11-03-2008 09:37 AM

RE: How long to soak deer
 

ORIGINAL: SteveBNy

If you have a gamey taste, its not from blood in the meat or lack of aging.
More apt to be from attempts at aging, bad field dressing, rutting buck, not cooling fast enough.
Put 2 properly prepared deer steaks in front of someone - one "aged" and the other dressed,skinned, cut and froze in 24 hours.
Most will pick the 2nd.

Steve

I have to admit that my father used to hang the meat for at least a couple of days in Illinois. The meat was always very strong, even when he would get a small one, and we usually would turn it into nothing but sausage and jerky. My in-laws always butcher and process the deer within a couple of hours of death. We (there are four of us) can have a deer processed and in the freezer within four hours. The meat is always very good, even with an older rutting buck, and is so versatile in usage as well. We do soak the meat inicy water for a couple of hours before we prepare to cook it to draw any remaining blood out. This is also done during the few hours it takes to process the deer as well. Of course, I do this with any wild game, even with squirrels. :D




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