I have a moose tag in nh this year and this is my second,shot a young bull first time and was good eating.
Here's my question.
Would like to get a BIG one this time but I've been hearing that a bull in the rut will be like shoe leather.What's been your experence with moose meat,does the same thing happen with elk,would like to get one of them some day too.
Some say you have to age the meat,isn't that just really letting the meat rot a little.
Dave

quote:

Originally posted by 475cal:
I have a moose tag in nh this year and this is my second,shot a young bull first time and was good eating.
Here's my question.
Would like to get a BIG one this time but I've been hearing that a bull in the rut will be like shoe leather.What's been your experence with moose meat,does the same thing happen with elk,would like to get one of them some day too.
Some say you have to age the meat,isn't that just really letting the meat rot a little.
Dave

I had what was stated to be "mature" big bull moose meat in 2004 when I was in Maine, bear hunting. They served us moose steaks one evening and ground moose with pasta another. I never saw a pic of the moose but took the outfitter for his word. It was delicious and tender.

Letting meat age at cool temps for several days prior to cooking it is what usually tenderizes red meat. The "structure" if you will (muscle fibers) break down over time and become less tough. Your best restaurants age their beef for several days until it gets a greenish color to the surface, even a bit crusty. This is a preferred process.

Meat that is rotting is beyond "aging." It begins to stink and is not fit to eat. I consider rotting meat that which has been left at room temp or even outside.

When I killed a bull elk years ago, some meat was frozen upon processing and some was aged properly. I didn't care for the frozen meat as it was tough. We ended up making jerky and burger with the remaining frozen meat.

My preference is to kill the animal, butcher it, let it age for several days, then consume. You can freeze the rest then. Or, some will let frozen meat thaw in the fridge (which can take 2-3 days), then let it age for a few more prior to cooking.

I killed a mature bull elk in late November one year. He was big and everyone said, "Nice trophy, but it'll be like eating a boot." The weather was perfect and I hung him, un-skinned, in my garage for 14 days at a room temp of 20 to 30 above zero degrees F. (Note: I stuck a meat thermometer in the carcass at several points and the meat never froze.) Turned out to be excellent eating. I've done that everytime the weather has let me, temps at freezing or a bit below and it has always worked out well.

I killed two cow elk one year, on the same day(!), and they hung for 8 days before the weather took a cold turn, sub-zero for days, and they froze solid. I had to saws-all them into quarters and thaw them in the celler so I could cut them up. Still, they were excellent eating.

My one and only moose, a three year old accourding to FWP, went straight to the processor since it was early Sept and still in the 60's and 70's during the day. The guy has a giant walk-in and was nice enough to hang it for 2 weeks before cutting and freeezing. Best game meat I've ever eaten.

My friends in Helena used to hang beef until it had a green crust on it, absolutely fantastic eating. The meat must NEVER freeze. If the weather is so cold the animal freezes in the field you MUST process it asap. Thawed meat will ROT, not age. Has something to do with the bacteria and enzimes in the live animal which die if frozen.

+1 on HunterMontana's comments and experiences.

I have had bad, tough, beef, elk, bison, and moose. And the ones you expect to be like boot leather, turned out fine.

475

I shot several rutting moose and some very big ones when I lived in AK. I even got one whose liver was white from licking the cow urine. Meat on all animals was beautiful. As others have advised let the meat hang several days. It might get moldy on the outside and a litte snotty were the legs were removed from the carcass but just trim all that off and the meat will be delicious.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by HunterMontana:
My friends in Helena used to hang beef until it had a green crust on it, absolutely fantastic eating.

Looks like another attestation to the "green crust."

I watched a show last year on discovery or the food channel. It was about high end restaurants that serve steaks. One of them had an enormous walk in cooler where all of their hand picked beef was aging. The lady specifically pointed to an entire cut where ribeye is taken and the end was green and beginning to crust. She said that this is the sign the meat is ready and at the perfect age.

When I tried it with venison, I left it in the fridge for about 8 days. It was very good eating. My neighbors kids were over and asked for more.

Moose, caribou , and sheep are the targets here in rural Alaska. Got a small 38 incher last fall, mid Sept, and was fine. Neighbor got an upper 50's bull same time, was a little gamey. We usually get around 400-450 lbs of meat out of smaller moose & spikes; have seen 750 lbs out of big old bulls. That all being said, I'll take a spike everytime which we see the most of anyway and we usually need two of them for our family if we don't want to buy any meat. People here have screened in meat/fish shacks. Get quarters clean quick and hang for 4-5 days.

Now caribou really get to stinkin unless you shoot them early. We buy this jerky mix called Uncle Abes and use it alot.

When you get a tough old bull, try making canned meat in pressure cooker with some garlic. Now that is good stuff and good to have 100 jars on the shelf for stroganoff all winter long. In quart jars, 12-15 lbs for 90 minutes will tenderize any meat.

You go ahead and eat your "green crusted" meat, I'll stick to meat that isn't rotten. One thing I notice is a walk in cooler that has too much humidity will cause your green crust a lot faster than otherwise. I wouldn't hang meat if the humidity was to high, I'd rather cut it unaged and get it into the freezer.

Back to the moose question, some moose are tender and delicious while another moose of the same body size from the same area will be tough. So it really depends on wheter you want horns to hang or if you're willing to eat a whole moose that might or might not be a little tough. How's that for a "non-answer?"

Take a look in the AR recipe forum and look for "salt aging" I've been experimenting with this method and it works! Also much easier in some cases than trying to age meat if you don't have the correct conditions.

cheers

quote:

hang it for 2 weeks before cutting and freeezing. Best game meat I've ever eaten.

Truth!

I took a young bull a couple of years ago. The guides quartered, skinned, and hung the quarters in muslin bags for the better part of 5 days in 40- 50 degree weather.

I was a little worried about that temperature, but the meat was continually shaded, and it was the finest red meat - game or otherwise - that we've ever eaten!

friar

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
You go ahead and eat your "green crusted" meat, I'll stick to meat that isn't rotten.

Ok, I will! Because it is delicious! They remove the crusting prior to grilling.

I killed a rutting bull elk Sep 08. Put the boned out meat in the fridge for 14 days at 35 degrees. Very tender and wonderful. I age all my red wild meat this way.
Do a google search of "dry aged beef". Evidently some high end steak restaurants age their beef up to 21 days. It works.

quote:

Originally posted by aliveincc:
I killed a rutting bull elk Sep 08. Put the boned out meat in the fridge for 14 days at 35 degrees. Very tender and wonderful. I age all my red wild meat this way.
Do a google search of "dry aged beef". Evidently some high end steak restaurants age their beef up to 21 days. It works.

Yes they do. I respectfully disagree with calgarychef's comment about eating rotting meat. Here's a little article about the dry aging process

i have hung elk and deer with the hide on depending on temp for up to 30 days,with green mold growing inside the cavity.
some folks call that "rotten"
i call it fantastic and you don't need a knife at the place settings.
aging is nothing more than controled decomposition.
i also have a friend who is a meat broker
he handles 8 million lbs anually
his personal favorite and mine too is a
new york strip vacuum sealed and aged 60 days at 37 degrees,he says if air shows up in the package its no good.
at the end of 60 days if no air,look out cause it is the finest piece of meat you will ever put in your mouth
no knives at the dinner table!!

they key is low humidity and correct temps. No big deal. I LOVE my rotten, decomposed, green crusty chunks of flesh!

I helped a buddy kill a bull that made boone and crocket. To this day, I still think it is the best meat I ever ate. This bull stood up from its bed, and he put it right back in it, and that I believe is the secret with moose.

I had another buddy that killed a bull that he pushed closer to the road before he killed it. His wife wouldn't let him cook it in the house, it stunk so bad.

Thank's for all of you who replied.
Now I'm going to shoot a big one if I get a chance.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
Dave

Meat that's dry aged is indeed wonderful! I'm not against that at all. For the record I've eaten beef tenderloin that had 90 days of age, so I'm probably the winner if you want to make a contest out of it. We used to sell about $30,000,000 dollars of meat a year so I do understand a bit about it.

Most of us don't have proper conditions to dry age meat so that it actually improves like it should. And the reason that companies are using higher humidity than they have traditionally is to not loose as much product to evaporation. Evaporation means dollars lost because meat is sold by the pound not by the piece.

Properly dry aging doesn't produce rotting meat that you "just trim off" It produces deep dark, flavourful and yes tender meat. The meat should slowly lose water content and this concentrates the flavour while enzymes tenderize the meat. The outside shold get a dry crust not green mold, that's simply an indication of conditions with too much humidity.

This increase in flavour by the way can be counterproductive if you have meat that's "gamey" it can actually make it more so although it's still more tender than before.

Unfortunately when you freeze meat you don't do it any favours so I'm not generally in favour of much aging for the stuff that I'll freeze. I usually put a tenderloin,backstrap and one top round in the fridge for some aging and also simply to eat fresh not frozen meat.


Have fun eating that moose, and if it's not tender there's always the meat grinder!

I've shot quite a few moose up here in BC. The best way to guarantee good meat is to get the guts out of the animal as soon as possible. I also take the hide off to cool the meat. Hanging really depends on the weather/temp. A poorly field dressed spiker will taste like crap compared to a mature 60 incher that was dealt with quickly and cleanly.

I always hang meat for at least a week. One thing that hasn't been brought up here though is cooking. If you like meat "well done", no game meat will be fit to eat. Game meat is way too lean. I live in the land of corn and grass fed white tails, and a medium rare steak is a thing of beauty.

Aged meat = tenderized by enzymes that break down the collagen.

Rotten meat = tenderized by bacterial digestion and resultant waste products.

I prefer the first.

Oh, and good luck on the moose hunt my NH brutha.

375 hnh, I've cooked wild meat since grade school and could not agree more w/ your statement . Medium is cverdone. In college I came up w/ a marinade for deer backstrap. I would cut the bs to resemble small petie fillets, marinade it and grill it medium rare for my dates. This came to be known as the "panty' recipe. It still makes me smile/grin.