# Dry aging deer meat ( day 11 )



## Castaway2 (Aug 8, 2013)

Hey guys, I decided to go for it, and document the outcome. I got 2 hind quarters dry aging in the fridge. I didnâ€™t do the whole deer as I am not sure what is to come from this (first time). So I did both hind quarters plenty of meat if they come out good not too much if it doesnâ€™t work out. So this doe was killed on 1/3/15, I had it in a cooler covered in ice as I researched this aging process. It was iced down for 6 days before I felt comfortable and ready to try this process. It has been in the fridge now for 6 days. And is looking like the descriptions and the pictures I have seen during the research. I am going to pull it out this weekend on Sunday which will be on its 15th day. I have some pictures of day 9 and 11 and will be taking more pictures every day from here on out, as it is really starting to change from day to day. I did not take any from it on day one or after the cooler as most of us know what that should and would look like in color; texture, etc. Notice on the day 11 pic the prints from my fingers when I flipped it. The meat did not just bounce back like normal it took it at least 30 seconds to reform to original. I can really tell a difference in the color and texture of the meat as if it is breaking down like described in my research. One of my concerns was smell. Is it going to stink? Well I do not smell it spoiling yet and the normal smell of the meat has not increased or grew stronger, which eases my mind, if it smells bad I donâ€™t think I would continue. I did tell my wife that I would eat the first steak by myself to see if I get sick from it and if I donâ€™t then we will proceed to eat it as normal. I really hope this comes out as good as people have said, as it is a little bit of work and nerve racking putting this much meat on the line. I do not buy beef from the store we use deer meat for everything beef related until we run out of deer. Last year only bought meat from the store 3-4 times in September. 
The first 3 pictures are day 9 and the last one is day 11 (yesterday) sorry nly got one that day. 
I Will post todays progress tomorrow for your viewing.
Feel free to comment if you would like, may not be able to answer all the questions but surely some 2cooler can.


----------



## Castaway2 (Aug 8, 2013)

Sorry guys the pictures did not upload in the order i had them day 11 is the second one i will post the pictures again in order this time sorry about that . 
these are day 9


----------



## Castaway2 (Aug 8, 2013)

*Day 11*

day 11 picture


----------



## snapperlicious (Aug 11, 2009)

The reason the meat didn't rebound back is because it's too cold to.


----------



## Castaway2 (Aug 8, 2013)

snapperlicious said:


> The reason the meat didn't rebound back is because it's too cold to.


cold fresh kill rebounds back alot quicker than this did i flipped it stepped back got my phone out went to the camera and took several bad pics before this one aproximantly 30-seconds -to a full minute and the prints were still there... my understanding is it has to do with the brakdown of the muscle fibers and the lack of fluid in the meat.


----------



## snapperlicious (Aug 11, 2009)

Let me rephrase that "cold dry meat".


----------



## Castaway2 (Aug 8, 2013)

Day 12 hope the picture comes out


----------



## Castaway2 (Aug 8, 2013)

Day 13


----------



## Castaway2 (Aug 8, 2013)

Day 13 getting nervous hard to tell by the pics but has gotten really dark. ..sorry ther side ways from the phone


----------



## Castaway2 (Aug 8, 2013)

Day 14 and the steaks. .. processed them last night. They did not smell as i thought it might that was a relief and encouraging. The bad... lost a lot of scrap meat for stew, chili, jerky, hamburger, etc. The good... didn't seem spoiled, the texture was definitely more tender feeling and the color was awesome deep red. I pan fried a small sample steak. I only seasoned with salt and pepper. The steak sample was awesome really tender the flavor was one of the best i have tasted. The best part i am not sick yet and don't feel like i will be at all. Will i ever do it again? Not to all my kills probably a couple hindquarters each season, mainly do to the scrap lose i make lot of hamburger meat and jerky out of it. But **** the sample was good....Sorry there side ways from the phone


----------



## BrandonH (Oct 15, 2006)

Those steaks look good...I may have to try this one day.


----------



## Svajda (Aug 31, 2004)

Why not muscle it out and age individual muscles? You could still have your trimmings for grinding.


----------



## Castaway2 (Aug 8, 2013)

Svajda said:


> Why not muscle it out and age individual muscles? You could still have your trimmings for grinding.


My fear with that would be more lose. The air would be able to dry out (crust) the entire muscle on every side and cause more trimming to happen. Doing a complete leg like I did allows it to only completely dry out (crust) the one side and on certain muscles only a Â¼ of it. you have to cut away all the crusted over spots.


----------



## Big Guns 1971 (Nov 7, 2013)

You shouldn't get sick even if it had salmonella bacteria on it if you cook it long enough....


----------



## huntinguy (Aug 22, 2005)

I prefer to dry age all of my venison. Ideally (I don't have a walk in), I'd hang all my deer whole, or by quarters for 10 - 14 days at 34-38 degrees, having never been submerged in water. (only rinsed when done cleaning)

.....and yes those steaks look fantastic.


----------

