Need the forums help. Finally got a moose, 2 year old bull according to the outfitter. Shot it at 7:00 a.m. had it quartered and hung on meat pole by 11:00 a.m. Took a nap and then boned it out and put in coolers , packed in ice for the trip back home. Got home 30 hours later, still ice on the meat, next day cut up to roast and steaks, grind meat. The day after that I vac packed all the meat in separate packages. Long story short the meat is tougher than steel!! Any ideas what went wrong or how to cook/grill it? Tried marinating in REVLO only way you can eat it is if you SLOW COOK ALL DAY LONG! HELP!!!!!!
Hi Bundy,
I wouldn't take any venison (moose and elk, too) roast or steak past 140-145F internal temp when cooking them.
Or slow cook it all day long, like you did. :)
Carolyn
Thanks Carolyn, we marinated the back straps in the tumbler and grilled to med rare and you still couldn't chew them...just don't know why it is so tough, you can tell the mussels are just tense.
Have you ever killed, butchered and tried to cook a moose before or is this your first time?
1st time , have done lots of elk and deer.
Was just wondering. I wouldn't begin to know where to start. We don't have a lot of moose in KY. ;D The last time someone shot a moose locally here was when he got caught cheating at the card game in the Moose Hall. :) ::)
Hi Bundy,
Game animals are athletes compared to our farm animals..
They have more connective tissue and denser muscle tissue, too.
A 2 year old moose is young and I would think tender.
Could it be that you just sampled a tougher cut for your first taste?
How long did your moose meat age before freezing it?
We generally hang deer/elk for a week before we process them and have been really pleased if the resulting tenderness of the meat.
wish I could be helpful,
Carolyn
That is probably the problem Carolyn, from hoof to freezer was only about 4 days and then it was on ice the whole time. Don't know if that affects it on not, I even aged some chops in the frig after thawing in the cryvac package for a week, and still like leather!!
Guess we will be eating a lot of hamburger :'( :'( :'(
I'm sorry to hear that :(
Letting it age in the fridge after defrosting the individual cuts was going to be my suggestion but it sounds like that didn't help.
Maybe trying a papain-based meat tenderizer might help on the steaks. Adolph's is the one that come to mind :
http://www.lawrys.com/Products/Adolphs/Meat-Tenderizer/Adolphs-Original-Meat-Tenderizer.aspx (http://www.lawrys.com/Products/Adolphs/Meat-Tenderizer/Adolphs-Original-Meat-Tenderizer.aspx)
Or you can pound the steaks thin with a meat mallet and make chicken-fried steaks.
Carolyn
Ya gotta hold your mouth the right way :P
Bundy
Give this a try. I use this meat needle tenderizer and love it.
http://www.amazon.com/Jaccard-200348-Supertendermatic-48-Blade-Tenderizer/dp/B001347JK6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1352338087&sr=8-2&keywords=needle+meat+tenderizer
Take a few steaks and tenderize the crap out of them. I mean start with a steak the is 3/4 inch thick and smash it down until it is about 3/8 inch thick or less. Flip it and hit from every angle. Now dip it in egg and roll it in crushed cracker crumbs. Fry in Olive oil until a nice crust develops on the cracker crumbs. This is just chicken fried steak but using a tenderizer to do your chewing for you. A nice white buckshot gravy is good over the top but we most often skip the gravy.
This is one of my favorite meals.
Thanks Pikeman and all, have tried the Chiken Fried deal and that is the best so far, shame is I have like 300# of this stuff :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
My buddies take moose every year and they hang it for at least three days in a controlled environment. If the weather is to warm or to cold it will go to a meat locker. Most times it can be hung in someones garage.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O_8VKBBh91A/UJsWNl3nINI/AAAAAAAAD60/TlUQHdB8oIQ/s512/gallery_631_14_3446.jpg)
Have you tried to marinade any of that meat with some pineapple, lemon, lime or orange juice?
The acids in the juice will help make it tender
Also the vinegar in Italian dressing will work as a tenderizer
Bundy
Most beef is hung in a cooler for 10 days to age. The time gives the microbs some time to start to break down the protein fibers. But you have already passed that point. How much have you tried the old crock pot. We put a couple inches of beef broth in the pot and cook up some potatoes,carrots and onions with it. In the last hour we dump in a quart of sauerkraut. This is a common meal with our venison. Are you a sausage maker??
;D ;D ;D ;D
QuoteThis is a common meal with our venison. Are you a sausage maker??
If not send all remaining meat to Kirby and myself. We will make some very fine sausage with it. ;)
Quote from: pikeman_95 on November 07, 2012, 06:59:44 PM
Bundy
Most beef is hung in a cooler for 10 days to age. The time gives the microbs some time to start to break down the protein fibers. But you have already passed that point. How much have you tried the old crock pot. We put a couple inches of beef broth in the pot and cook up some potatoes,carrots and onions with it. In the last hour we dump in a quart of sauerkraut. This is a common meal with our venison. Are you a sausage maker??
Another great way to flavor and tenderize meat
Quote from: devo on November 07, 2012, 07:03:07 PM
;D ;D ;D ;D
QuoteThis is a common meal with our venison. Are you a sausage maker??
If not send all remaining meat to Kirby and myself. We will make some very fine sausage with it. ;)
It was on my mind Don but I thought it was pushing it too far to say it. One of those big boys mixed with some pork and spices would make one heck of a lot of sausage.
KC
I am Pikeman and plan on doing alot with the moose. Will get after it in a few weeks.
I was always told to inject or marinade moose in coca-cola. That the acids in the coke tenderize the moose meat
Quote from: Tenpoint5 on November 08, 2012, 07:19:00 AM
I was always told to inject or marinade moose in coca-cola. That the acids in the coke tenderize the moose meat
Could end up with a nasty coke habit, though. At least as long as you had moose meat. Then there's the withdrawl to deal with.... :o ::)
Sounds to me like just an old tough moose. No telling whats wrong. But if you ship it here in a cooler I'll try some experiments and help you figure it out. You know just take one for the board so to speak! ;D
I think you just got a moose that is tough due to some reason. I have hunted moose a lot and in fairly warm weather so it is imperitive to get it cooled and cut up. I have cut and wrapped quite a few moose within 3 days of shooting them and never had any problem. I find the most important things is to gut it right away and then skin it and depending on the weather hang iot or wrap and freeze. I live in southern Alberta and in the early season in October I have hunted in 75f weather and also -20f so you play it by ear. thks Piker
Thanks Piker and all, must have been a tough one then. As I said it was sot at daylight, gutted and guartered with in the next hour, hung from meat pole until early afternoon, then I boned it out and put in coolers with ice. Was back to South Dakota 30 hours later, next day trimmed all the meat,was still all the ice in the cooler, pakaged and put in the freezer.
Shot it SW of Edmondton about 100 miles. Cool morning, maybe got to 50* in the afternoon.
They told me it was only a 2 year old??
Well a 2 year old shouldn't be tough. May be it was running a lot before killing. Lots of deer are tough when their chased or shot running as the muscles are tense and stay that way. That's why a lot of farmers keep animals been before butchering. We had a beef one year that was hard to load and fought for quite a while before getting it on the trailer. It was worse then shoe leather. Ended up stewing and grinding it before eating.
We just cooked up a couple deer steaks for my soon. Between rare and medium rare. He said they were great and tender. We gutted,hung and butchered in less than 1.5 hours. Ground most and made a few special cuts including some steaks for him. So this deer went from eating to freezing in less then 2 hours. Same way as we always do. We don't hang deer at all except to butcher. Really no sense i can see. When you hang and it starts breaking down cells, well that a nicer way of saying it's starting to rot. Controlled but still rot! LOL! To me the fresher the better!
All the conditions were right for the moose meat to be in rigor mortis when it was put on ice. The muscles are contracted when in rigor mortis, making even a young animal tough.
Every large game animal I have ever harvested or butchered has been "stiff" when I started cutting. I believe that would be "rigor mortis" as mentioned in a prior post. That in my opinion has nothing to do with the meat being tough.
The three things I can say will make the meat tough are: Improper Handling, Adrenaline and Hormones or changes in the animal because of hormones.
My most tender and tasty deer are the ones I get in Archery season PRIOR to the rut. Post Rut they are not as good or tender. Deer that have been pushed around quite a bit tend to be tougher yet.
Age has always been said to be a factor as well and I do believe that but NOT nearly as much as Hormones or Adrenaline ..... and I guess it would be fair to say that with the Hormones Theory" it may have a lot to do with diet as well. With White Tail Deer a buck will go long periods of time without rest or food "Chasing Does"
When I say "Improper Handling" I split a doe with a friend of mine that was hit by a car at his lane. I quartered the deer up and removed the backstraps and we each took half. I Hung my half in a refrigerator with a catch pan for about 5 days.
he cut up and froze his.
His was tough as leather and mine would melt in your mouth. Same deer just different handling.
*EDit* When I said "he just cut it up and freezed it' The meet had a lot of blood in it. I think that may be why it was tough ..... Not mention the benefit of "Aged Meat" .... ;)
"Cutting up a deer in the first 24 hours after killing it is the worst thing you can do" says Field and Stream magazine: http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/other/recipes/2006/01/deer-hang-time
There is a difference between being stiff and having rigor mortis.
Well don't know what to say. As our procedure for over 40 years has been kill hang over night and butcher. By morning bloods gone. And the deer is always good and not gamely. I have eaten dear from friends that dry 3-4 days or some who put in a cooler 1-2 weeks. They haven't been more tender or taste better to me and my family. If an animal runs before dying it will be tough no matter what it is. But I dont loose any thing i can see doing it right away. Too me it's in the cleaning and care of the meat. Also never saw a bone and always debone before freezing. And we usualy limit out so some years we'll do any where from 8- 50 of our own groups deer.