Thread: Meat Storage Without Refrigeration

Back in the 80s in the deep South, Duck season I was out back of house at the woodshed chopping when a neighbour dropped off a couple of mallards. Being busy I tossed them up on the tin roof. Dry frosty cold weather for a week. About 8 days later I remembered them and went out with a bag to scrape them into. When I picked them up they were stiff and firm with no noticeable smell. No maggots. I tentatively plucked a few feathers and pretty quick I had two carcasses plucked clean. Easiest plucking I've ever done. The bellies were green on the skin and when I cleaned them per normal the guts was just a hardish tight ball, not dried out but going that way. Easy as to clean and again just a good aged meat smell. I roasted those two whole that night and it's still all these years later some of the best duck I've ever eaten. I spoke to the donor about it and he was aghast. But he also wasn't keen on duck because they were a pain to pluck and stinky to clean and tough to eat.

Bear in mind that the UK is a similar latitude to Otago. Similar cold winters. That experience made sense of what I'd read and been told by my Welsh grandmother, a grocer with an instore butchery in Birmingham about hanging pheasant by the neck in a cold store until the body dropped off. Then it was worth actually eating.

Also duck/pheasant waay back when would have been shot with lower velocity loads so not huge amount of damage vs high speed steel smashing right through puncturing guts etc. heck 24-48 hours is long enough these days and I make sure ducks are layed on backs with heads down so can drain.

Originally Posted by MB

I love fat! I'd eat fatty meat, if not pure fat over lean meat any time.

And it seems that the comparatively recent campaign against animal fat is misguided to say the least. I've read that some of the opposition came from companies who made seed oil and sold sugar. I guess moderation is still wise unless you are doing a lot of physical activity. I enjoy thick butter on bread and great chunks of fat on a steak. And pork belly etc

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

There is....it's called larding.... Basically you cut long bits of lard like the plastic counting blocks we had in school as kids, and poke holes through meat and thread the lard through them,fatty bacon works too. If corned beef is too salty. Soak it in milk first.or cook in milk. That's old trick for waterfowl shot by ocean. Our latest trick with corned beef is chuck in crockpot with small bottle of ginger ale...very very nice.

I've heard of larding but had forgotten about it. Never done it as you describe, but I recently acquired a decent amount of lard and a bit of fat pork belly. I've included chunks of that pork belly in venison casserole which I think improved the mouth feel quite a bit. Thanks for the corned beef tips. Didn't know about those.

Wow... thanks for all the comments. This is an enjoyable and informative thread. The forgotten ducks on the roof story is great food for thought.... and it was good to have your confirmation of the practice of hanging a bird until the body broke away from the neck. That degree of ageing worries me a bit, but I shouldn't knock it till I've tried it.

Originally Posted by Coote

And it seems that the comparatively recent campaign against animal fat is misguided to say the least. I've read that some of the opposition came from companies who made seed oil and sold sugar. I guess moderation is still wise unless you are doing a lot of physical activity. I enjoy thick butter on bread and great chunks of fat on a steak. And pork belly etc

That is my understanding too.

Originally Posted by Coote

Thanks for that MB. A lot of game meat can be unpleasantly dry so I reckon that is worth trying. Never done it before. I wish there was some way of infusing lean meat with fat (apart from frying)... but maybe brining will help improve the mouth feel. Corned beef is often too salty for me, but the texture is pretty good.... perhaps things can be tweaked a bit. Cheers.

@Coote

Thanks for that info Micky. My parents used to roast slabs of venison, and boy could it be dry. Sometimes they wrapped small roasts with bacon, but in my opinion it didn’t improve things significantly. The method in your diagram should be better.

When processing venison for the freezer I used to have three categories… steak, casserole and pet food. Lately I haven’t been labelling anything as casserole. I’ve been hanging my deer for longer periods and I’ve found that what I once may have classed as casserole can fry up into a decent steak or provide succulent slivers for a stir-fry. If I think some of the meat may be a bit chewy, I mince it with the hand-cranked cast iron mincer. Just a few weeks ago I cooked up deer shanks for the first time in my life. They spent a long time simmering in a Dutch oven and the finished product was really succulent. Up until then, the sinewy bits from the bottom of the legs were chopped up and frozen for the dog.

but it must be pointed out that with hanging meat our climate is not always good for that-- one needs dry cold- to often we have warm moist and that will turn meat off real quick - in the end a chiller is best even if its a big old fridge modified for the purpose

I do the ageing,for about a week in the fridge using the two buckets,inner with holes method. I have good steak,couple of bags of casserole and anything else is mince or into sausage bucket. The trick with steak to be non chewy..... Get rid of all the silver skin....and yes I know it's hard to cut up a fine looking steak to get rid of tiny bits so her indoors doesn't moan it's chewy.... But end results are better. I draw the line at round steaks...I leave them alone,will dissect hers before cooking (dogs love this) but usually I get cunning when bagging up and put bit of round in for me and couple of smaller bits In for her...it's all about what works for your household. Happy wife= happy life.

I've been the family grocery shopper for some decades now. The biggest problem with supermarket meat is lack of aging. Because you know, "fresh is best". So if its not pink they special it. I always check the meat racks for the dark looking meat on special, occasionally even half-price. But if its on special at a good price and is pink I still buy it and keep my freezer stocked so I'm never paying top dollar. Locally, lean beef mince recently hit $30+ /k. Bugger me! So when at the same time they put out hunks of whole rump at $19/kg, I got a couple of chunks. Before I froze them they went in a stainless (glass also good) bowl sitting on an upturned ramekin, out of any blood juices, with a loose tent of foil over the top(protect from any fridge odours). Goes in the old F&P frost-free garage fridge. FF is essential as it removes moisture in the fridge and gives the required dry cold. I turn the hunk every day or two. After about 7 days it is dark, smaller in size and may have a bit of crust and even a bit of mold on the crust. If the latter I trim and either cook or freeze. I can tell ya its no longer supermarket meat. Delicious plus.

And if they insist on chopping $19/kg rump into steaks I buy those instead of mince and either mince or cube them myself.

When I need it I can get meat from a couple of deer or 3-4 goats racked up in the same fridge. Usually I dont have more than one and it doesn't take a lot of room. Keep the fridge clean without odors and just rack the joints and turn regularly. Wipe up any liquid daily. You dont get much liquid after first couple of days.

My garage fridge has paid for itself over many times.

mate at Kaikohe rang the other day Jhon he has farmed beef for 55 years tells me he got the highest price for a steer that week that he has ever been paid out - my memory is not great but I think he said $8.50 a kg I quess that is carcass weight at works

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

mate at Kaikohe rang the other day Jhon he has farmed beef for 55 years tells me he got the highest price for a steer that week that he has ever been paid out - my memory is not great but I think he said $8.50 a kg I quess that is carcass weight at works

Yea beef is going really good at the moment and looks like it will continue , lamb is looking like winter schedule will be around $10, best ever
Last year we were getting $150for a reasonable lamb which i thought was ok . In context went out for tea the other night to Lone star - a steak for $56 lol( i didnt get it ) would have had to sell 1 lamb to buy only 3 of them !