Printable View
how long can you keep deer meat in the freezer for ?
After processing my deer, I vacuum sealed it and froze all the pieces.
now recently, some of the pieces are starting to get some sort of gamy taste to it !
been only 5 months since nov. so not sure if those pieces had something [hair, bone fragment, silver skin ... ] on it that caused the gamey taste or if it might be going bad ?
so far, noone could even tell its deer meat. no gamey taste whatsoever till now.
Going bad and tasting good can be two different things. Unfortunately freezing doesn't preserve the eating quality indefinitely. Particularly found this true for woodcock. Tried every freezing method to extend the availability of the birds(yes I do enjoy eating them) but found after a few months(esp late season birds) always had a very strong woodcock flavour.
Now I enjoy them through the season with none lasting more tha a few weeks in the freezer.
I have had some 2 years old, it was fine to eat but not sure of any taste difference as I had meat left from a few different deer.
I can’t see 5 months if it stayed frozen affecting the flavour. I’ve had 2 year old stuff that as long as it didn’t get freezer burnt tasted as good as fresh.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marker
Any chance you had a long power outage or are you eating a completely different cut of meat that maybe wasn’t as cleanly handled as it should have been?
As well, is it all from 1 deer you butchered or was it cut up by others and maybe someone elses deer got mixed in? I too have had 24 month old venison and the flavor never changed, just maybe the texture a bit.
John
Did you trim the meat, or did you leave fat on?
How long it lasts depends on how it was handled and processed. I've had professionally processed and packed deer meat in the freezer for over 2 years without an issue.
If handled properly when you got it there should not be any problems. Just ate some deer from November 2020 ( 1 1/2 year ago ) and it was absolutely delicious.
I agree with the others - I recently ate some of my deer from Dec 2019 and it was great. What cut of meat did you have?
Did you cook it differently? I know I've had game meat taste strong by over cooking it.
5 months is nothing for vacuum sealing. They should basically be as good as they day they went in the freezer. I routinely eat venison that is wrapped in butcher paper thats up to 8 months old.
Some cuts of meat are stronger tasting then others. Maybe that meat was handled a bit differently, made it has a bit of bloodshot to it.
all my meat is taken to a butcher and is wrapped in butchers paper. I just ate a roast from 2020 season and couldn't tell the difference between 2021 season meat.
If you left the fat on it then that would explain the gamey taste. Deer don't have grisle like on beef. They have tallow which is tough, waxey, and gamey. Always trim the fat off your deer meat.
Agree with above. If you left any fat on, that can account for the taste. Deer fat is gross, and could certainly account for effecting the flavour. We trim ours out completely and get all fat off, and as much silverskin as possible out of the meat! 5 months in vac pack is nothing and shouldn’t effect the quality at all!
The one of the greatest thing about deer is its freezer abilities, we constantly have deer for a year with no issues. We do not added pork trimmings to any deer as we do with bear sausage, best to eat all meat with pork within 3 months, that is our rule anyway
I do smoked sausage from my deer,with 40-50 % pork belly fat added,dry it out in the garage,and freeze it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardman
No issues.
Now this sausage seldom goes in the pot,and never on BBQ.
We eat it as cold cuts.
Thank you everyone, I think the problem was the fat left in between the meat, and overcooking.
thinking back, it was the top part of the back leg, where 3 different muscles come together basically. there was alot of missed silver skin and fat between the layers, which seems to bring out the gamey taste ...
I tried another piece last night, and it tasted alot better.
this was the first leg I processed, the other leg i basically seperated all muscles individually, trimmed it and packed it, which does not have this ISsue. I was trying to make "Steak cuts" with the first leg, which left alot of stuff in.
There's a lymph node located in the big chunk of fatty tissue in the middle of all the muscles of the hind leg. I make sure to remove that when butchering.
Did you forget to remove the glands by any chance?
this was from a Doe.
I did not know they have lymph node/ glands .. didnt remove anything specific I can think of. im sure I would have noticed a big lymph node though !
It just looks like big glob of fat inside the leg where the muscles intersect. Your description made me think exactly of this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ata83
Oh ya, they have them and if they get into your grind if can get gamey fast.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ata83
If you handle them and then handle the rest of the meat before washing your hands you can get it on the other meat too.
There are fatty ones in the back legs, there are also tarsal glands on the lower legs, if you skin it then start butchering you can easily transfer some from those tarsal glands to the meat.
https://iamhunter.net/into-the-wild/...at-tastes-bad/
From my experience, bone-in venison (usually cut with either a handsaw or meat bandsaw) will give you a slightly gamey/off taste after about 10 months in the freezer when the marrow starts to oxidize. Bone-out is the only way to butcher in my opinion. Re: fat - there are three different types of fat on a deer - encasing hard tallow fat (the thick rind fat on the outside of the muscle) should be removed during meat prep as this type of fat will oxidize during storage and will give the meat an "old freezer burnt" taste after 10 months +. Bear meat is terrible as well if you don't trim this off. If you want to taste something really nasty, take a nice bear roast and leave the tallow fat on, then cook it after 10 months in the freezer. The inter-muscle (soft) fat and the interstitial fat (pretty much only found in the neck) should not be removed during butchering ! This is what makes your cut tender when it's cooked. This fat will not add any off taste to the meat from prolonged storage. I agree with what others posted - 2 year venison is fine to eat as long as you took care when butchering - tallow fat removed, wrapped in plastic with no air, then wrapped in waxed butcher paper. Must be kept at -18C in freezer and free from freezer wall contact (to avoid freezer burn). If you add pork fat to your grind, then make sure you eat it before 12 months or you will notice an off taste. Same with sausages if any pork meat and fat have been added.
Thank you for good write upQuote:
Originally Posted by Fenelon
Just to clarify in the wall contact - once the freezer get full, some wall contact is inevitable. Do you explicitly use some spacers or something?
Thanks
Sent from my moto g(8) power using Tapatalk
Yes - I always put freezer goods in thick cardboard boxes so there is no chance of freezer wall contact, in addition to keeping things organized. I've never tried a vacume sealing machine due to cost and extra time involved, but it's very important to keep your wrapped meat free from air exposure. If using freezer bags for roasts or grind, I use a straw to suck air out before sealing. For steaks I usually put a tight layer of Saran Wrap on the meat. Then I wrap in waxed butcher paper and tape seal tight.