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Joined: Sep 2007
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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filling just above the meat with cold water, dumping about 30lbs of ice on, then sprinkling approx 1/2lb of salt on. Do you pour the salt on top of the ice? Or put it in the water and then dump the ice on?
The deer hunter does not notice the mountains
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve" - Isoroku Yamamoto
There sure are a lot of America haters that want to live here...
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Joined: Feb 2004
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Campfire Outfitter
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I use ice and salt in a cooler for 3-4 days draining the water and adding ice as needed. I’ve never measured the amount of salt I use, maybe I should. It works well that’s all I know.
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Joined: Feb 2004
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Campfire Outfitter
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You guys use regular table salt or rock salt?
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Joined: Mar 2013
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Campfire Regular
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We have a huge chest freezer that will hold 3-4 deer, depending on size. We keep quite a few plastic jugs of ice in there, preferably thick plastic that is tough enough as to not split. Field dressed deer can be stored with the hide on and frozen until after hunting season is over. Then, at our convenience, we unplug the freezer and the deer will thaw and stay very cold with the jugs of ice on top for 2-3 weeks. We hang them, skin them, de-bone butcher/vacuum seal the meat and label. It all goes back into the freezer til either it's cooked or processed into sausage or burger etc.
This yields the tastiest and most tender venison I have ever had. My brother does complain about how cold his hands get and the difficulty of getting the hide off of the deer.
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Campfire Outfitter
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You guys use regular table salt or rock salt? Cheap store brand iodized table salt
Maker of the Frankenstud Sling Keeper
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Campfire Outfitter
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Me to just wondered if it would make a difference.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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My brother does complain about how cold his hands get and the difficulty of getting the hide off of the deer. Yes, I know all about that. As stated earlier in the thread, our problem is hanging without the carcasses freezing. Heat regulation by opening inside door to shop, if needs a little heat, or by uncovering & opening the external window if we need to cool. On the up-side, it does make for great "butchering/cutting" meat !!
Paul.
"Kids who grow up hunting, fishing & trapping, do not mug little old Ladies"
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Joined: Jan 2005
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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7-10 days on ice, direct contact, draining bloody water as needed, ice added as needed.
Never had an issue, meat always turns out nice and tender and mild.
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Campfire Tracker
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We quarter ours up, pack on ice for 3 days, and this drains most of the blood out.
The idea of putting Salt on the ice is a very good idea, as we have done our Turkeys that way for ever, let them sit over night in ice and brine water, completely covered with herbs in the water.
White meat is never dry once you let them soak in brine water over night, best turkey you will ever eat. I don't know why this would not work with deer meat.
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Campfire Tracker
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Some really good ideas on this thread.
Gerry.
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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I finished processing a fat little buck. Two weeks with the meat in contact with the ice. Added ice daily, with the cooler tilted and the drain open. Meat was superb.
Sam......
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Campfire Tracker
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I don't know any science behind icing and what it does. My method is to cover the quartered deer with ice and liberally shake table salt out of a 1 pound box. I probably use a 1/3 of a cup maybe 1/2 cup. I keep the meat drained and don't leave it in water. If I have time I add ice and let it sit 4 or 5 days. I don't salt anymore the meat is already good and cold when adding ice.
What I have found using the ice is my meat is less likely to have the unpleasant gamy taste that some deer have . I eat lots of venison and want it to be good. We haven't bought a pack of ground beef in over 20 years. We eat ground venison instead.If another method I have tried produced better results I would be doing it that way.It is my belief that the salt helps chill the meat quicker initially.
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Campfire Tracker
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But as some have already said, water ususally is considered taboo as it can introduce bateria. We've cooled game in the field in creeks, but with the meat in plastic sacks to prevent contamination. I would share your concern about creek water unless I was in the wilds of Alaska or Canada. Plus in my situation, the water does not get cold enough to help much during hunting season, if ever. I think perhaps that is why the whole thing with hunters believing that any kind of water grows bacteria came about. Bacteria needs temps above 40 degrees to get rolling. The temp in an ice filled cooler is going to be somewhere pretty close to or just north of 32 degrees. Even the melt water is going to be too cold for bacteria. Also consider that the ice most everyone uses is going to be made from potable drinking water, some of it might have a touch of chlorine in it if it comes from city water that is not filtered. I guess the point is that there is no way that you are going to have a problem with meat spoilage using this method unless you forget to replenish the ice, let it all melt, and leave the meat in warm water after the cooler heats up.
"Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants". --- William Penn
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Have left lots of antelope and deer in a cooler with ice, sometimes for almost a week. I always drain the water daily to help get rid of the blood and add ice. Never had one taste bad yet.
I dont worry about my hands getting cold when processing, I use fleece lined neoprene gloves, the kind duck hunters use.
There is no way to coexist no matter how many bumper stickers there are on Subaru bumpers!
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Campfire Outfitter
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Bacteria can float and flourish in water.
It cannot walk.
Temperature control in a water bath is crucial.
Salt will cause some bacteriostatic effect.....but it may impact flovour.
"Shoot low sheriff, I think he's riding a shetland!" B. Wills
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Sir, I honestly can't tell you any of the science behind the process, but I can tell you with certainty that it reduces the gamey flavor of the meat(At least my wife and I agree that it does). When I was much younger, we processed our own meat. That usually consisted of quartering game, placing the quarters in a refrigerator, then later either cutting the meat and freezing or freezing whole quarters and cutting when we thawed to cook. That meat was often dark red in color and always had a gamey flavor. I personally didn't mind the gamey flavor, but many people I knew didn't care for it at all. Approx 15-20 years back a man told me of the salt/ice water process, so I gave it a try and liked it so much that I continue to do it to each animal. I have to admit that I sometimes forego the salt depending on where I'm at, but I prefer to use it when available. I also have not computed the concentration either, I simply apply approx. 1/2lb to a large cooler(120-150qt with water/ice just above the meat to keep it submerged). The first couple of times you drain the water from the cooler, it definitely has a large enough blood content to make the water bright red, but after a few days the water is nearly clear when drained. The resulting meat does not have that dark red color except twd the core, its more of a dark pink color. On some smaller cuts it's pink all the way through, but on roast and such the meat will still be dark red at it's core. I can say that for me, it definitely impacts the taste of the meat by vastly reducing the gamey flavor. It also does not taste salty if that is a concern. So, as mentioned, I can't explain the science behind the process, but I can simply state that for our family this process provides a better tasting meat and I definitely do not feel it makes it tough.
I never would have believed the process would work on a smelly boar hog as the boars I've killed in the past and tried to eat had a terrible smell and taste. That changed about 8-10 years back when a fellow hunter told me that the combination of salt and baking soda added to the above process would remove the smell and taste from a boar's meat. We gave it a try on a 200lb boar, then smoked the entire pig for 24hrs. It was some of the best pork I've eaten to date and was every bit as good as farm raised pork to my taste buds.
Give it a try Doc, I can promise you it will not ruin the meat.
Thanks for the reply! I have had a really busy week and couldn't get back online to check for a couple days. I have no doubt whatsoever that the meat tastes better, as you've observed. I've noticed the same thing with gamy old cock pheasants and puddle ducks I've used the salt water soak for. Just one more observation on wild pork vs farm pork... I partly grew up on the extended-family farm, and my uncles raised organic pork. We didn't call it that then, of course. The hogs were simply allowed to range freely in a 5-acre pen with access to the barn, and they were fed untreated chop and table scraps from the house/bunkhouse. They had wild grain and grass, etc, in their diet in summer, as there was enough space in the hog yard than they could destroy in their routine rooting. The meat from these hogs was delicious. I had forgotten how good it was until I ate my first feral hog down here in Texas 6 years ago, when it all came back to me. Factory farm raised hogs are so bland as to be almost tasteless... feral hogs taste like the animals we raised for food when I was a kid. I usually restrict my kills to 150 pounds or so, although I've killed a couple bigger ones, but haven't brought the meat home. I'll try your method on my next big hog and see how it goes.
"I'm gonna have to science the schit out of this." Mark Watney, Sol 59, Mars
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Campfire Member
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The primary purpose of ageing is an enzymatic process allowing fibers in muscle and connective tissue to break down and tenderize. Approximately 28 days is the maximum for the process and 7-8 days is about minimum
Some of you are describing the difference between dry and wet ageing. Commercial beef typically wet age using plastic and no air to reduce overall mass loss. Dry ageing needs air, constant temp, and needs around two weeks. It will result in about 15+% loss but the flavor is outstanding.
We hang our beef, elk, and deer and dry age most of it when possible since we have large commercial refrigerators.
In a cooler it can be done, but wet ageing is easier and still effective.
And for the sake of this conversation, their is zero difference between beef and venison. Meat is meat when it comes to rigor mortis
Last edited by dtspoke; 12/05/17.
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I have two hind quarters from an older doe I killed this weekend that are on ice, in a big cooler,but blocked up so the meat doesn't touch the ice or any water. Have to cut it up before Dec19 though. Hope 12 days is enough
If God wanted you to walk and carry things on your back, He would not have invented stirrups and pack saddles
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Campfire Savant
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Campfire Savant
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I soak and drain for a few days. Never heard of the salt trick.
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I did test run grill on a whitetail loin chop I have had on ice since last Saturday( 1 week) .I' d say it is about 1/2 way there
If God wanted you to walk and carry things on your back, He would not have invented stirrups and pack saddles
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