Much conflicting info

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See? You EARNED those points.

Now..let me share a secret. That boned hind I posted? First large chunk of deer I ever trimmed. <blush> BUT.. i wasn't skerred!

Done a bit of beef, pork and birds tho ;{)
 
I am Taking the 18-23 off of this month and I have never heard of anyone smoking deerlegs and quarters let alone ribs,I've done it in the past before I joined SMF and I'll do what I can to post pics. It's been done, if it's meat it can be done.
 
been hunting deer since i was 12 am 47 now,kill cut wash and rap.never ever heard of soaking anything
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Up here in the North alot of people will soak their game birds in salt water over night (myself included). But we don't do it to get rid of any "gamey" flavor, the reason we soak is to pull out the small pin feathers or hairs and any large blood clots that may be in the birds after hand picking them and rinsing them. We don't soak deer becuse most of the hairs are large and on the outside of the meat. A good rinse is all it usually takes. You can soak a deer roast for days and it won't remove all of the blood or most of the "gamey" flavors. If you take proper care of the animals in the field then there sholdn't be much gamey flavor to start with.
 
agree with ya,,,, Thats about the same thing I do.... also i don't add any brine to deer just ice about three days.... on wild hog I do the same but I use a bottle of real lemon 32oz and ice for up to 7 days.
 
I have never soaked deer meat. I wash it while cutting it up (I de-bone everything and portion it all for two people) and packaging.

I have found that no matter what I do, deer meat is rather dry when burgering or sausaging, so I add pork to it- usually about 70% deer -30% pork. Next best thing to heavenly in my book!
 
Processing your own meat makes a huge difference. I process my own and the only thing I do is sometimes I soak it in a brine for a hour or so or marinade it depending on my mood. I have soaked deer in salt water for several days, cooked it the next day after harvesting, I have even cooked it as soon as I cut it off the deer and rinsed. I can't really tell a difference either way. It all comes down to how you cook it and season it more than anything. I have never had anyone grip about eating my deer meat, but then again they know they would never get any again if they did grip.
 
I know this post is a little late, but I live and hunt in MI. My thoughts are you have to take into consideration where the deer was taken at. I hunt the mid-lower peninsula and the deer down here have a very good life, eating corn and beans and such, they have little if any "wild" taste to them. U.P deer and very northern lower peninsula deer have it a little tougher and may have more of that wild flavor. That being said, I have never soaked venison, and probably never will. All of my game has a very mild flavor, and I have never been disappointed.


Chris
 
I will have to say this is the first time I have ever heard of soaking deer to get the blood out or flavor. The flavor is all based on what the deer ate when it was alive. I live in North Dakota and I know deer from western ND have a milder game flavor then deer from Minnasota. But that goes back to what they ate. The age of the deer also affects the flavor too. I worked for many years in a grocery store meat dept. in a smaller town. We processed deer and buffalo and elk and whatever the customer brought in. And we never soaked any deer meat, after cutting up and before wrapping. We might brine it if the recipe called for it, but thats not what this thread is asking. Like Midnight said I have soaked pheasent in salt water to get the last of the feathers off.
My thought on all this is you don't like the taste or flavor of deer then go buy beef.

Kookie
 
It's not that I don't like the flavor. I don't like the "gamey" flavor if the animal had a less than optimal diet, shall we say. Not really a concern right in my neck of the woods, but look at the Upper Pen. of Michigan, and imagine that diet.
 
when i hunted i would put my game, bunnies, squirrel, venison, in the downstairs sink with saltwater and change it every 6 hours for a couple of days especially for the venison and i never had a complaint about gamey taste
 
I don't like deer. I have ate it several ways by different cook it all taste the same . I even cook a ham each Thanksgiving everyone else love it but not me.P.S. I have soak it in milk that tend to take some of the gamess out of it.
 
My father in law did some deer ribs. Not worth the effort. Mostly bone with tough meat attached.

As far as freezing, it's not a matter of bacteria. Bacteria survive freezing fairly well and besides, they are killed at pretty low temps when cooking. I'm pretty sure it's a matter of microscopic worms (nematodes) that are the problem. I know it's a problem with fish, it's why most tuna is frozen before being served as sushi. I assume deer have parasitic nematodes that could live in the meat and pose a risk. I know squirrels do.

Cooking to 180 (I think that's right, may be a bit high) kills the worms, but some cuts of meat aren't too tasty if taken that high.
 
So many things affect game meat taste. The age of the animal, if it was run hard before harvest, how soon it was gutted and how quickly it was cooled down after harvest, the animals diet, if the animal was male or female can affect many kinds.

Here in Iowa, we have mostly grain fed dear, so they really don't have a Gamey taste to them, although an older buck (Ya know, the trophies everybody is after) are a bit tougher and gameier then the does. My preference has always been, if I'm lookin for meat, shoot a doe, lookin to hang it on the wall, go for the buck, then live with that choice at the dinner table.

Some folks do soak in milk to help with the taste. I guess it has never really bothered me much. Course, I make most of mine into sausage and save a few steaks for grillin.

I think it really comes down to personnel taste! There are probably as many ways of dealing with it as there are posters here on the board! And that is what makes this a cool place!

Hope this helps some. Good luck Rich!
 
Is is in fact recommended deer meat be frozen at 0 for longer than a week or several days well below zero. I could look it up, and the paper has been posted here. But I remember it's the nematode issue that prompts this.
 
Rich,
When we process our deer, we just do like your friend wants it done. We will pick off the excess hair as you mentioned and then rinse off the meat when it is all deboned. Then we will mix with pork and spices and stuff. Never have had a problem with any of it. If it is frozen, we might have to wait until the next day to debone it. Sounds like it is already deboned for you.

Let us know how it turnes out.

Happy Smokin

Steve
 
It turned out excellent. This particular batch was boned, but have since done a whole hind, and a complete deer. All from around me. The hind was not frozen, but the deer I got was basically frozen while hanging. Not to the specs above, but as it was all cooked to 160 min... I was not worried.

I did wash the meat, and soaked in weak chilled salt water for an hour or so. I was also very assiduous in removing all tallow and tendon I could.

I did a cured backstrap, had a strap fresh roasted, jerky and pork mixed sausage. All were extremely quality meats.
 
Rich, along with many variables to good wild game as described in your thread, I think you hit a very important step with removing " tendon and tallow". All my wife and I eat is Venison ( 5-6 a year), I Love the taste. That being said, I have had some terrible venison from processors and folks who just arent on the right path to properly processing there game.
We spend extra time trimming out all fat and especially that Shinny tendonY ( those are official terms) stuff. I am convinced that is a crucial step to the best tasting venison, also in Wild HOgs, antelope, heck everything. Course this is all just another opinion..
 
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