How long in fridge?

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Puds

Puds

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I butchered a couple of munties last Sunday (shot on Fri, hung at 3-4c afterwards) and put a couple of kilos of scrag in the fridge to mince & make into burgers. One thing came up then another during the week, and I only ended up mincing & pressing it today.
It smelled & looked absolutely fine, but the missus has now raised concerns about whether it’s safe to eat or not (after I spent an hour making & vac-packing burgers…).

I’ve had a look about how long to keep meat chilled but can’t find a definitive answer; what’s the SD collective wisdom on this?
 
VSS said:
A week in the fridge before mincing? Should be fine I should think.
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Cheers. I thought I best check, because if eating one causes her to explode from both ends, I won’t be in the good books!
 
Phil fox man said:
I wouldn't take the risk! best thing to do is to pack in a freezer box and over night them to me to test😆
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They are the second iteration of a recipe I created, the first 40 having been snapped up by friends who I employed as testers. Muntjac, chorizo & beef suet 1/4lb patties, with just a sprinkle of white pepper. Bloody delicious!
 
As per previous threads, the magic number 40 comes into play. So , for example, 8 days at 5 degrees C is optimal for hanging, maybe 40 days at 1 degree, but probably not 1 day at 40 degrees! You wanna keep it under 7 degrees to minimise bacterial growth.
Also, out of that number you should subtract any pre chilling time. So , say a day/night at 10 degrees before chilling would leave 30, so 7 days at 4 degrees left.
in short, you are fine!
 
I’ve kept venison 1 week in the fridge before processing the meat and had no issue at all. In future I am hoping to purchase a quality fridge designed for dry aging the meat and will keep beasts in jacket for longer time.
 
There are a differences between a fridge and a chiller, but a week in either would be fine. A fridge can often get too damp, and cause mold to grow, whereas as a chiller and a hung deer get plenty of air circulation. Also meat that has been butchered quite promptly will still loose liquid so leaving it to sit in that is not a great idea if its in a bowel for instance. In any case trust your nose, you'd smell if it was not right.
 
Hmmm. Our local butcher used to regularly ask new customers "how long would a chicken last in your fridge?" which as intended would prompt all kinds of views/debate etc. After listening to these usually disparate views (bit like SD really) - 3 days to a week was the non-consensus he would then say "that's funny, I put one in the fridge last night and it was dead this morning!".
It was funny the first few times.......
🐺🐺
 
A lot depends on how much moisture is in your chiller but assuming it's low humidity as well as low temps and a clean carcass when it went in then I'd usually hang a muntjac 4 days or so, roe a week and reds a couple of weeks. I wouldn't get troubled by a muntie that's hung a week though.
 
7 to 14 days, if in the skin after 14 ish days the skin will start to slip, then you can panic.

Use your nose it will tell you when its time to cook it.
 
I have had parts of the haunches go bad on a Roe, after 7 days in the chiller before, but that I suspect was due to not letting the carcass cool quickly enough before a long drive home (blame - the two labradors who I found curled up into the carcass, fast asleep inthe back of the truck).

If it smells fine, it's usually fine. Fair bit of evolution gone into our sense of smell!
 
I was out of action for a good while earlier this year and completely forgot about a roe doe in the chiller. After nearly 5 weeks skinned and ate it . Some of the best venison I’ve ever tasted 👍
 
I like mine hung for a week minimum.
Start at 7degc then down to 5 after a day. Then down to 1 and turn the fan off after it's dry inside.
 
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