Thread: How to age meat

Hey everyone just wondering how people who dont have a chiller age their meat once they get home. I usually hang and let set or cool in the Bush for a night or 2 then bone out into 20l dry bags then put them straight in the fridge for 4 or 5 days when I get home. I am more interested to hear other ways of aging meat in the fridge rather than how long to age for.
Cheers guys

What I do is vacuum pack the backsteaks and place in fridge for 1 to 2 weeks, all the rest goes straight into the freezer for mince, sausages or patties

Hamish

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I age in the fridge with the meat sitting on paper towels and newspaper to catch any juices that run out.

Originally Posted by HNTMAD

What I do is vacuum pack the backsteaks and place in fridge for 1 to 2 weeks, all the rest goes straight into the freezer for mince, sausages or patties

Hamish

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This, vacuum pack anything that is going to be steaks and age in the fridge.

For beef rump I age for 5-6 weeks, sirloin and scotch for 3-4.


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Most venison don't need aging really, i used to hang them in the chiller for a fair while to dry age and then cut off the dry skin it makes, but now i dont bother. if you cant hang the meat and you really want to dry age you can buy something like the UMAi dry age membrane bags and dry age chunks of meat in your regular home fridge.

if the meat from a particular deer is tough for some reason i just grind the lot up, but probably in the last 2 years only 1 stag i can think of that was tough the rest was fine for steak and everything else, i usually shoot a mix of fallow and red though the year.

2x15ltr buckets...first one has holes drilled in its bum....the meat sits in this one,and the first bucket full of meat,sits inside 2nd bucket...small gap of about an inch between them...so blood drains through...take it out and tip out blood daily,giving meat a stir around...works a treat,can fit all front end of big deer in one bucket....small deer will fit in boned out.....

In a vacuum bag in the fridge. I know guys who have aged meat this way up to around 12 weeks. After about 2 weeks you are starting to see a result. As long as the vacuum bag has not puffed up the meat is good to eat. Its called wet aging, plenty of info online about this.

it doesnt last that long

Was told recently a serious commercial ven processor had done some systematic testing and the optimum result was a week at 6C. Make of that what you will.

Originally Posted by 6x47

Was told recently a serious commercial ven processor had done some systematic testing and the optimum result was a week at 6C. Make of that what you will.

A commercial processors ‘optimum’ probably differs a bit from that of the end user


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I have a fridge with a blower to circulate the air, so I wrap the meat in a old towel and change it as needed so that the meat stays dry . And keep it about a week .I also wipe the meat down to remove dirt/hair etc with a vinegar damp rag before refrigerating.

Fallow I got, last weekend, was in a chiller overnight, next day travelling 4hours, put bagged ice in the cavity, at home, removed ice from cavity, packed bagged ice around it and closed the top on the Ute with a small circulating fan in. Keep perfect temp, processor next day to hang in his chiller

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

2x15ltr buckets...first one has holes drilled in its bum....the meat sits in this one,and the first bucket full of meat,sits inside 2nd bucket...small gap of about an inch between them...so blood drains through...take it out and tip out blood daily,giving meat a stir around...works a treat,can fit all front end of big deer in one bucket....small deer will fit in boned out.....

Do you keep the buckets with the meat in a fridge?

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

2x15ltr buckets...first one has holes drilled in its bum....the meat sits in this one,and the first bucket full of meat,sits inside 2nd bucket...small gap of about an inch between them...so blood drains through...take it out and tip out blood daily,giving meat a stir around...works a treat,can fit all front end of big deer in one bucket....small deer will fit in boned out.....

Do you keep the buckets with meat in a fridge?

Meat spoiling is a function of bacterial load and time spent at high temperature.
In practice what this means is don’t open the gut where a zillion bacteria live, and cool meat as quickly as you can.
For meat tenderness, letting it rigor on the bone is good (eg hanging overnight) - allows fibres to stay stretched , hanging in a chiller until rigor passes off even better if you can (another day or 2 allows fibres to relax). Boning out hot is not ideal as meat fibres will shorten and toughen as they cool off the bone, ok though if there is no gut spillage it can go in the fridge for usually about a week as per OP.