Keeping your liver

not sure where to put this so please feel free to move it if necessary.

I have just come back from a Meat Hunt on a local(ish) Farm here in New Zealand. It seems to me that most Kiwi's don't seem to hang onto the liver of the Deer they kill, but I think us Brits seem to do it more often.

I went prepared with some Zip lock bags to put my prized livers into, and I laid them next to my water bladder in the back pack so they would keep reasonably cool, until I got back to the Shearers quarters where we were staying which had a fridge.

The next day I headed off home and put the livers in my own fridge with a view to cleaning them and using them today, last night I opened the bags to clean them up, and the smell was so bad that I wouldn't have given them to the dogs... so where did I go wrong, and how do you guys do it there?

Admittedly the weather was hot on my return leg, but the livers were in the back of the truck, next to ice bags which were in each deer's cavities, so "should" have been OK.

Also any tips on how to get rid of the stink of old deer blood from car carpets would be most welcome too.... just hope I don't get stopped by the cops!
Thanks for any help
 
offal goes off much quicker. short of carrying ice/gel packs you need to keep the temp down.
I am guessing you are in high 20's or higher temp wise there at present?
 
Agree with bewsher. I had roe liver and onions with mash and red cabbage for dinner tonight from a buck shot on friday (fantabilishess it was too). I had the liver in a fridge about 6 hrs after shooting it and the ambient temp was about 13C prior to the fridge. It was kept in the chiller (4C) since friday and was fine today.
 
Thanks guys, but I guess my question was really this, how do you carry the liver out after the Gralloch?

I put mine in the Zip lock bags, and because the livers were still warm, my guess is that this wasn't the best thing to do, but short of wrapping it in muslin or similar I'm not sure how else to do it. The ice gel bags are not a bad idea, but the livers were probably in the fridge 3-5 hours after the kill, but yes the Ambient temp here is probably around 16-20 Degrees so I'm sure that didn't help.

Cheers
 
Zip lock bags would not have let the liver cool but kept the heat in the bag and accelerated the spoil time, as said make sure you cut out the gall bladder and get as much blood out as possible. Liver can spoil by not doing the above really quickly, maybe a bag with water in with the ice packs would bleed out the blood and keep it cool as well till you can attend to it. Just a thought, I only give it to my dog as I know that smell.deerwarden.
 
You will some time looking for gall bladders in deer !!!!! Due to their function liver goes off very quickly. Make certain it is cool and then slicing it to get rid of some blood before packing it alongside chill packs.
 
Get it cooled and dried as quick as possible.

Ive kept livers hanging in the chiller for a week/10 days

Do not put it in a bag, itl cook itself.
 
Thanks everyone, looks like my theories were correct and it got slow cooked in the damned bags.
And yep, I did cut out the nasty bits, the liver looked fantastic... just have to wait until next time now.

Cheers all
 
Mmmmmmmm. This has made me hungry. Just wait 'til I finish this shift, there's some muntjac liver in my freezer that's just screaming to be fried up with eggs, mushrooms, beans and hash browns. Toast, marmalade and a big mug of tea, then off to bed.
 
In most African countries once a kill has been made the first thing they do Is build a fire to cook the liver. This is because it spoils so fast, and also because it is like a giant vitamin tablet for the weary hunter. The heart and kidneys will keep a bit longer.
 
In most African countries once a kill has been made the first thing they do Is build a fire to cook the liver. This is because it spoils so fast, and also because it is like a giant vitamin tablet for the weary hunter. The heart and kidneys will keep a bit longer.
:old:being old, I can remember junior school dinners, where one of the most disgusting of the meals produced was liver & onions. It was so bad it put me off liver until I started stalking. The chap i first ever bought a day with cooked up the roe liver on a little portable stove when we got back to the vehicle. It was fabulous. But I have to eat it fresh or the smell gets me.

I must say the dinners at the comprehensive school were a delight, but in the dark recesses of my mind lurks the memory of those junior school dinners, Bbbbbleeeeaahhhhhhh!
:coat:
Simon
 
I think the slicing up idea is a good one - I had some liver from a Red hunted on Exmoor and the huntsman slices the liver up immediately and hands it out to folk in bags to take straight home. We took it home and slapped it straight in the freezer and had it a few days later in a liver and bacon casserole - perfect. Certainly slicing the liver as it comes out of the animal lets a lot more blood out and helps preserve it better.
 
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