Is leaving a butchered deer rest in the fridge rhe same as hanging in a chiller ?

[billy_boyle_2010]

Hi guys

Perhaps a silly question but I don't have a chiller.

The benefits of leaving a carcass to hang seem fairly well established- but I don't have a chiller.

My question is as per the title- is there something special about leaving a carcass in its jacket hanging for a week in a chiller VS cutting it up and putting most of the meat in the fridge for a week?

I suppose a little more blood will drain if it's hanging ? Perhaps most of the advantages of hanging can be gained by hanging overnight or for 12 hours out of the sun- before butchering?

Any experiences would be interesting thanks.

 

[JMikeyH]

The main thing is butchering BEFORE rigor mortis. If you do this, you'll end up with tough meat. You can break an animal down into primal cuts which will fit easier into a fridge to develop flavour, but if you separate muscle groups from bone before rigor mortis is complete it will negatively impact the tenderness - the same applies to freezing before rigor is complete

 

[billy_boyle_2010]

Ah that's very interesting thanks. How long does it take for rigourmortis to fully occur in a deer ? I can't say I have paid much notice.

 

[Rory]

I've heard this - let the deer carcass go through rigor-mortis before butchering to avoid toughness.

I have had to at points (all Roe deer in my experience) butcher shortly after recovering the carcass, and have once had to go directly from butchering to freezer. In these cases, I have not noticed any perceptable toughness from the haunches and backstraps.

As per my experience, these are Roe, so I can't comment on Fallow, Sika or Red.

Ideally I'd want to hang for two or three days at least.

 

[Norfolk Horn]

I look at it this way. The small slaughter house I used for pigs and sheep killed, skinned and split all adult sheep and pigs then hung them in the chiller for vet inspection. The cattle were broken down into primes after skinning etc so they could be manually handed then placed in the chiller overnight before being hung in the walk in fridge to age so I cant see how it would have any detrimental effect on venison.
They must have been doing something right as they hold the Royal Warrant.

 

[lochty]

Rigor Mortis should set in fully after being dead for 8 to 12 hours.

 

[jb1]

If its cool enough it will be OK for a couple of days, just make sure no critters can get at it.

 

[Heym SR20]

I too don’t have access at home to a chiller for hanging deer. So in the summer its take the deer apart as quickly as possible and put into the fridge as large joints. A few days later it’s cut up and eaten or frozen. And it tastes good. Winter I can hang in my lockup- but this doesn’t have power - but to be honest I don’t notice any real difference, save not having to deal with a deer that evening.

 

[murph3010]

I picked up a cheap larder fridge and thats good enough for me can fit a couple of roe in no issues.

 

[Woodsmoke]

I mostly shoot roe, and the vast majority get hung in the jacket overnight in an outside passageway (with a Bushwear fly sheet over them ) and then a day or so in the chiller once skinned. I very often skin and butcher the next day, and see very little benefit in hanging for longer. It may well prove necessary for larger deer, but in my experience roe are perfectly fine done this way.

 

[stalker.308]

When I first started stalking I had a similar issue and I used to get home, skin a still warm fallow, break it down to primals, strip the ribs etc then essential age it in the family fridge in the kitchen. It worked fine, the problem was that a standard fridge does not have the air circulation of a chiller, so after a few days it would just start to smell quite gamey, but never did I find it particularly tough. I do find the carcasses I now have in a walk in chiller are much more tender because they will spend at least a week hanging whereas in the fridge I had to get them frozen after a few days.

Rigormortis is not your issue as that sets in quickly, it is about creating the right conditions for the carcass to age and and essentially start breaking down (but not so long it will rot!).

If I was doing it again and was short of space, I would have bought a small undercounter fridge and fitted a fan so that my broken down fresh carcass would age without getting to moist.

 

[billy_boyle_2010]

Very interesting thanks guys

It seems like aging- either in a fridge, chiller, or outside, is well worth doing.

Without a chiller- perhaps a small fan inside the fridge would help circulate the air a bit and mean leaving it in a fridge is feasible for a week or so before freezing.

 

[Woodsmoke]

Without a chiller- perhaps a small fan inside the fridge would help circulate the air

I just open the door every day

 

[Magnificent 7]

The main thing is butchering BEFORE rigor mortis. If you do this, you'll end up with tough meat. You can break an animal down into primal cuts which will fit easier into a fridge to develop flavour, but if you separate muscle groups from bone before rigor mortis is complete it will negatively impact the tenderness - the same applies to freezing before rigor is complete

Cut loads up straight from field and yet to have a tough one

 

[slider]

not sure about the benefits of hanging to be honest. I will butcher roe anything between 1 and 10 days after shooting and never notice any difference.

I have also recently started to skin warm, its so much easier, and again don't notice any difference in the taste or texture.

 

[JMikeyH]

Cut loads up straight from field and yet to have a tough one

All things relative. Objectively speaking if you took two rear quarters from the same animal, butchered one straight after the kill and left the other to go through rigor, the latter would be superior

Ep. 227: Red Cutter | MeatEater Podcasts

Steven Rinella talks with meat scientist Dr. Chris Calkins, Spencer Neuharth, Corinne Schneider, and Phil Taylor.Topics discussed: debunking meat myths; how stress affects the flavor of meat; myoglobin and hemoglobin; why you shouldn't cut into an animal before rigor mortis is complete; muscle is...

www.themeateater.com

Meat scientist on this episode of the Meat Eater podcast gave a load of insight into getting the best meat, what to do and what to avoid if possible. Quite a long podcast at almost 2 hours but a very interesting listen

 

[levigsp]

I think i will comment and dispel some myths. firstly when you hand deer it is not blood loss your aiming for and if shot and bled correctly you should have a carcase with very little blood.
You hang in the skin to stop the main mussel surfaces drying to leather like consistency.
animals covered in fat[pigs, sheep, beef etc] do not need the jacket left in place.
Meat is not hung to develop flavour, it is hung to develop tenderness [something more important on bigger or older animals]do an experiment hang two deer of the same type, one 24hrs and butcher the other the correct length of time cook the same piece of meat from both the same way exactly and blind test a few people asking taste and texture and tenderness, the answers will be all taste same, texture same, tenderness longer hung better.
Now if hung correctly the carcase loses a lot of weight by evaporation of fluid/water [reason supermarkets and modern butchers don't like it] partially through enzyme breakdown of muscle.
you cannot give a time for hanging correctly as every carcase is different! my beef was hung from 14 days shortest to 58 days longest to get to the correct stage, age, sex, feed, time of year all have a bearing on how long it takes.
If you cut up a carcase into the main parts you cannot just put it in the fridge and expect it to be hung/mature, it will start rotting fist, go slimy and start growing mold, and regardless of what anyone try's to say, moldy fresh meat is seriously wrong.
if you have no chiller etc , you can still use a fridge by using air dry bags. put a whole leg, shoulder etc into bag and vacuum on machine and seal. put it in the fridge with nothing touching it and turn daily until it done. hope that helps.

 

[stalker.308]

I just open the door every day

This would do nothing to help.

The Uk is a very humid place, and the inside if your chiller wants to be less humid then our moist air outside it. Even if you were in a drier climate, after a few minutes with door closed and moist meat etc in there it’s going to back to square one very quickly.

 

[Fowler1990]

Use the dry aging bags myself on vairous bits, briskets etc.. works very well.

 

[Ali]

All things relative. Objectively speaking if you took two rear quarters from the same animal, butchered one straight after the kill and left the other to go through rigor, the latter would be superior

Ep. 227: Red Cutter | MeatEater Podcasts

Steven Rinella talks with meat scientist Dr. Chris Calkins, Spencer Neuharth, Corinne Schneider, and Phil Taylor.Topics discussed: debunking meat myths; how stress affects the flavor of meat; myoglobin and hemoglobin; why you shouldn't cut into an animal before rigor mortis is complete; muscle is...

www.themeateater.com

Meat scientist on this episode of the Meat Eater podcast gave a load of insight into getting the best meat, what to do and what to avoid if possible. Quite a long podcast at almost 2 hours but a very interesting listen

Thanks for sharing, very interesting science